Women's track and field on the run to set more records
Redshirt junior hurdler Ke’Nyia Richardson placed 19th in the 100m hurdles at the NCAA Championships last year. Richardson and the Bruins will participate in the New Mexico Classic.
The original version of this caption misidentified Richardson.
New Mexico classic
Friday and Saturday
Albuquerque, N.M.
After clinching first place in the 400
meters last week in Seattle, the Bruins will compete in the New Mexico Classic.
By Michael Dafter
Feb. 3, 2011 1:07 a.m.
Correction: The original version of this article contained an error. Lindsay Rowe is a senior hurdler.
After a promising start to the season that the UCLA women’s track and field team catalyzed last week, it’s no wonder that the talk on the track is still about personal bests.
UCLA will embark on its second meet of the indoor season Friday in Albuquerque, N.M., where it will compete in the New Mexico Classic. After clinching first overall in the 400 meters, as well as second-place finishes in both the 60-meter hurdles and the 4×400-meter relay at the University of Washington Invitational last week, the Bruins are focused and ready to go.
“I’m just expecting a lot more (personal records) than we’ve had before, or seasonal bests; that’s what I’m looking for this weekend,” coach Jeanette Bolden said. “I still have a lot of kids on my team that are freshmen.”
As a co-captain on the team, redshirt junior hurdler Ke’Nyia Richardson was certainly glad her young teammates got their collegiate-debut jitters out of the way. But if the Bruins’ past performance was permeated with nervous energy, Richardson expects the results to only improve from here on out.
“I’m really happy with some of the performances we saw last weekend,” she said. “It was good to have the freshmen out there, have them start their first meet, … but I’m expecting a higher degree of success from some of our older athletes.”
Given that she did not compete in Seattle, Richardson, who has battled injuries in the past, will officially be jump-starting her season Friday when she participates in the triple jumps.
As for senior hurdler and fellow co-captain Lindsay Rowe, she is expected to compete in the 200 meters, 400m, 60m hurdles and the 4×400m relay. And although she had a stellar showing last week after having recorded a time of 8.26 ““ 0.01 shy of matching her personal best ““ in the 60m hurdles, Rowe isn’t looking to slow down just yet.
“Now that I’ve gotten a good opening race under my belt, I know that I just need to continue to work as hard as I’ve been working, and my time should keep dropping,” she said.
And as was the case last week, the Bruins won’t be heading to Albuquerque in full force, as only 16 of the team’s 64 athletes will be traveling.
“Overall, I’m just looking for my jumpers to have a great meet, to get out there and show what they are made of,” Bolden said.
