W. track falls before Pac-10’s even begin
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 12, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Monday, May 13, 1996
By Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Staff
When it finally gets down to the business of defending it’s
Pacific 10 Conference Championship next weekend, the UCLA women’s
track and field team will find itself in a 15-point hole.
That is because, while the Bruins took this weekend off to train
for next week’s individual competition, several representatives
from other schools were on the Drake Stadium track for the
seven-event heptathlon competition.
USC, which received a 1-4 finish from Nicole Haynes and Tanya
Smith, will open next-week’s championships with a 15-point
headstart on UCLA, while Oregon, which received a 2-7 finish from
Jennifer Thomas and Tish Henes, will have a 10-point advantage.
Arizona State, with a third-place finish from Adra Hysong, has
six points, and Washington State and Stanford each have four.
Haynes, who entered the competition with the conference’s best
score this season, scored 5,786 points to run away with the title.
Her total, a lifetime best, is the highest posted by an NCAA
athlete this year.
Haynes won the high jump (5-feet, 9 3/4 inches), long jump (20-2
1/4) and javelin (134-4) portions of the competition, and finished
lower than third in only one event, the 800-meters, where she was
fourth in 2:23.99.
Thomas, who finished with 5,280 overall points, won the
100-meter hurdles in 14.36, while Stanford’s Katrina Jackson won
the shot put (44-6), Hysong won the 200-meters (24.55), and Henes
won the 800 (2:16.90).
***
In Modesto, UCLA assistant coach Art Venegas’ throwers turned in
another weekend of solid performances, this time at the Modesto
Invitational.
Sophomore Suzy Powell, the American junior record holder in the
discus, was second in that event with a 193-4. Powell, a graduate
of Downey High School in Modesto, was second only to Lacy Barnes,
who has thrown the best mark in the United States this season and
went for 198-8 Saturday.
Senior shot put specialist Valeyta Althouse fell below 59-feet
for the first time in the last month, throwing 57-9 for a second
place finish. Connie Price-Smith won the event with a mark of 61-7
1/2, while UCLA’s Nada Kawar was sixth at 51-2 1/4.
Kawar had a better performance in the discus ring, going for
178-feet.
"Overall, Powell’s was the best performance of the day," Venegas
said. "There was no air, it was pretty dead, and hot.
"We’re looking forward to the Pac-10s, and the kids did a pretty
good job."
Jocelyn Chase was fourth in the pole fault for the Bruins with a
jump of 11-5 3/4 , while Fresno State’s Melissa Price won at 13-5
1/2.
