It is a high stakes grudge match…

Wednesday, May 29, 1996

Powell looks to avenge Pac-10 discus loss with NCAA titleBy
Scott Yamaguchi

Daily Bruin Staff

Suzy Powell has never been one to hold a grudge. Then again,
Suzy Powell has never had reason to hold one.

In the two years that she has been at UCLA, Powell ­ a
discus thrower for the women’s track and field team ­ has
found nothing but steady improvement and success.

But as she heads into this year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships,
which begin with her event today in Eugene, Ore., the sophomore
All-American can’t help but feel a bit vindictive.

Two weeks ago, Powell entered the Pacific 10 Conference
Championships as the heavy favorite, having hurled an NCAA-leading
throw of 196-feet, 5-inches at the UC San Diego Invitational in
March.

Her closest competitor, Washington’s Aretha Hill, boasted a
personal best mark of 189-6, and as the meet winded down, it
appeared that the competition would play out as expected.

On her final throw, Powell let loose with a 190-11 throw, giving
her a comfortable, four-and-a-half foot lead on Hill, who had
thrown for 172- and 170-feet on her two previous throws.

But Hill, taking Powell’s mark as a personal challenge, unloaded
a 195-footer to upstage the UCLA star. And then, as if to add
insult to injury, she danced an exaggerated, celebratory number
across the Drake Stadium infield.

Of course, the soft-but-well-spoken Powell accepted the defeat
as any good sport would.

"That was fine," she said of Hill’s celebration. "It was a
personal record by six or seven feet, and it was the best throw of
her life so far, so she should have been happy ­ I would be
happy also.

"She should have enjoyed that moment, because I’m hoping it’s
not going to happen again."

But as much as Powell would like to shrug off the anger of that
conference meet defeat, it has no doubt fanned the competitive fire
that rages within.

"She’s very upset about that," UCLA throwing coach Art Venegas
said. "She’ll downplay it because it’s a new emotion for her,
perhaps, to be chasing people."

Indeed, Powell is more accustomed to the role of the chasee, not
chaser. Even in basketball, where she averaged 22 points, 10
rebounds, three assists and three steals in her junior and senior
seasons at Downey High School in Modesto, Powell was an All-State
selection, the one being chased, not giving chase. And in the
discus ring, her status as a favorite has been even more
pronounced.

Her first heave of the disc came in the fifth grade, when, while
running cross-country to stay in shape for soccer, she was
approached by her father.

"My dad, who had coached my brother in the discus in high
school, was like, ‘Hey Suzy, try the discus,’" Powell said. "And I
was like, ‘There is no way I’m trying the discus, because that’s
for fat girls. There is no way.’

"I seriously said that. I was like, ‘I don’t want to get fat and
have to throw this thing.’ But he made me do it, and it turned out
that I was pretty good for it."

Today, Powell’s worst nightmare has yet to be realized. At a
slender 5-feet, 10 1/2-inches tall, she is waifish by throwing
standards. And though she lacks the strength of her heavier
competitors, she compensates with sound technique.

"I think I’m a very efficient thrower, because I don’t weigh as
much as most other throwers, and I don’t lift as much, but for most
of my life, I’ve been able to throw further, or just as far, as my
competition," she said. "With my strength levels, I think that I’ve
done things that haven’t really been done before."

By the time she graduated, Powell had re-set every national high
school record in the discus, had won three State and CIF titles,
and was given Track and Field News’ Women’s High School Athlete of
the Year honor as a senior.

An invitation from Stanford caused her to waver on her decision
to attend UCLA, but in the end, she couldn’t pass up the
traditional success of Venegas’ program.

Here, she was thrown into the mix with Venegas’ group of
world-class athletes, and like most high school stars, suffered the
little-fish-in-a-big-pond syndrome.

"I had a difficult time with it at first because I was so used
to working with myself, just me and my dad," Powell said. "So to
have other girls in the ring with me kind of made me a little more
competitive, mad me press harder."

Nevertheless, she proved that she had made a successful
transition in May, when she broke her American junior record with a
personal best throw of 190-6. She was second to senior teammate
Dawn Dumble at the Pac-10 meet, and then earned All-American honors
at the NCAA meet with a fifth place finish.

Following her freshman season, Powell represented the U.S.
junior program for the fifth consecutive year and won a gold medal
at the Pan-American Junior meet in Santiago, Chile.

And this season, with Dumble graduated, Powell quickly
established herself as the class of the NCAA with the 196-5 in
March. She has consistently thrown in the 190s, a dramatic
improvement over last year, and with the Olympic Trials in June,
she is an excellent candidate to represent the U.S. in the Atlanta
Games.

At the moment, she is the No. 5-rated discus thrower in the
U.S., and of the four throwers ranked higher than her, she has
already beaten two this year in head to head competition. The top
three competitors at the trials will make the Olympic team.

But before she can worry about the Olympics, Powell has the
business of this NCAA title to tend to.

"We’re real thrilled to have her ­ it’s the kind of recruit
that you always dream about," Venegas said. "The only down-side is
that everybody’s shooting for them ­ Suzy’s taking everybody’s
best shot.

"And she’s handled everybody but one, and she’s about to avenge
that."

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Suzy Powell has thrown the NCAA’s best discus mark this season,
a 196-foot-5-inch bomb at the UC San Diego Invitational in
March.

In the two years that she has been at UCLA, (Suzy) Powell …
has found nothing but steady improvement and success.