Women’s track and field sends Lindsay Rowe and Ida Storm to represent UCLA at NCAA Indoor Championships
WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Friday and Saturday
College Station, Texas
No TV
By Chris Nguyen
March 10, 2011 1:47 a.m.
The UCLA women’s track and field team will be sending two of its own to College Station, Texas Friday and Saturday for the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship. Senior hurdler Lindsay Rowe and freshman thrower Ida Storm will represent the Bruins at nationals.
Rowe is making her fourth and final trip to the NCAA Championships of her successful career. As a freshman, Rowe placed 23rd in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.80 seconds before placing 21st in the same event the following year with a time of 13.77 seconds.
In Rowe’s junior year, her mark of 13.42 seconds placed her at 19th, once again in the 100m hurdles. This year, however, Rowe qualified in the 60m hurdles with the 11th-best time in the NCAA thus far of 8.16 seconds.
Hailing from Sweden, Storm qualified for her inaugural appearance at nationals with a weight throw of 67 feet, 11 inches, good for No. 9 in the NCAA. That mark is the farthest throw of all freshmen that qualified for the event as well as the best throw by a woman in Swedish history.
Still a very young team, UCLA will only have two athletes for this meet.
“We knew going into this season that unless we have a lot of depth going into the NCAA Championships, it’s going to be very, very hard to get those top spots,” coach Jeanette Bolden said.
Bolden remains hopeful about her team’s potential. With 28 true freshmen on the team, the Bruins will look for maturation as the season progresses.
“I’m happy that everyone is able to go out and perform at their individual best and that’s all we can ask for,” she said. “There were so many athletes who hadn’t done indoors before that were able to perform very well.”
This meet will conclude the 2011 indoor season for UCLA and the outdoor season will begin simultaneously with the indoor finale.
“We have a lot of building blocks with so many newcomers to our team, so we will be looking for a stronger outdoor season,” Bolden said. “You have to be competitive indoors to have a good outdoor season.”
Compiled by Chris Nguyen, Bruin Sports contributor.
