W. track jumping ahead to next year

Tuesday, May 14, 1996Bruin coaches reel in several recruits to
keep team strongBy Scott Yamaguchi

Daily Bruin Staff

Not all members of the UCLA women’s track and field team trained
through last weekend in preparation for this week’s Pacific 10
Conference Championship meet, to be held on the Drake Stadium track
Saturday and Sunday.

In fact, some, such as sophomore Zalika Davis, were busy earning
the right to compete in the meet.

Davis, a member of assistant coach Eric Peterson’s distance
crew, travelled east to Eagle Rock, where she met the Pac-10
qualification standard in the 800-meters at the Occidental
Invitational.

Her 2:09.52 finish is a lifetime best by more than two seconds
and is the eighth fastest time in the conference this season.

"It was a brilliant run," UCLA assistant coach Monte Rucker
said. "She came from behind in the last 200 meters, just ran a
fantastic race ­ very smart."

Katherina Kechris and Githa Hampson both improved their status
in the Pac-10 1,500-meter mix ­ Kechris with a lifetime best
4:34.93 and Hampson with a season-best 4:38.46.

In the 5,000-meters, Cathy Lee finished in 18:27.79, while in
the triple jump, Zoe Shaw leapt 37-feet, 1-inch and Kiesha Porter
36-2.

* * *

The Bruins, who lost NCAA champions Dawn Dumble and Karen Hecox
to graduation at the end of last season, will be hit hard once
again when American collegiate shot put record holder Valeyta
Althouse’s eligibility expires at the end of the season.

But the coaching staff, which has landed the Track and Field
News High School Female Athlete of the Year in each of the last
three seasons, has again made gains with another outstanding
recruiting class.

Already signed are Kim Mortensen and Selala Sua ­ two
candidates for this year’s Track and Field News honor, as well as
Deana Simmons, a junior national champion in the triple jump.

Mortensen, a distance runner from nearby Thousand Oaks High
School, has run the fastest time in the country ­ among preps
­ in the 1,600-meters and 3,200-meters.

"She’s a really significant addition to our program because we
haven’t recruited somebody that caliber out of the high school
ranks since Karen (Hecox)," Peterson said. "She’s somebody that has
been regarded not only as one of the top athletes in the country,
but is consistently performing at that level in her senior
year."

In fact, Mortensen, who won the national cross country title at
this year’s Footlocker High School meet, might be better than Hecox
was as a senior in high school.

"Even today, Karen’s personal record in the 3,000-meters is
9:12," Peterson said. "At the Mt. SAC meet about a month ago, Kim
ran 9:15 ­ that’s pretty good running."

In the throwing events, where Dumble and Althouse have dominated
for the past four years, assistant coach Art Venegas has scored yet
another recruiting coup with Sua.

A product of Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fl., Sua
currently leads the country in the shot put and discus with marks
of 50-6 and 180-2, respectively.

Her mark in the discus is the third best by a prep in history,
and broke current Bruin star, and American junior record holder,
Suzy Powell’s meet record at the prestigious Arcadia
Invitational.

Simmons, who attends McArthur High School in Decatur, Ill., is
among the top five high school jumpers in the nation, though Mother
Nature has hindered her training this season.

"The weather back there has been pretty brutal," said Rucker,
who coaches UCLA’s jumpers. "They’ve had snow in April, torrential
rains, even tornadoes.

"They had a tornado hit not too far away from where they live,
and several administrators at the school lost their houses. It’s
just been a very rough spring."

Still, Simmons has posted a 19-11 in the long jump, and her
personal record 42-3 3/4 in the triple jump ranked her No. 25 among
all women in the nation last season.