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Track and field sees shining moments before falling to Trojans

Senior pole vaulter Elena Clarke scored five points for the Bruins with her meet-winning 13-3.75 clearance against USC. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)

By Matt Joye and Vikram Sairam

May 5, 2015 12:40 a.m.

With one final race left in the UCLA vs. USC men’s track meet Sunday, the Bruins were ahead 81-77.

Yet in all reality, UCLA had already lost.

Over the past four UCLA-USC men’s track meets, a recurring trend has developed: The Bruins have dominated the field and distance events, while the Trojans have assumed control in the sprints. So with the last event of the meet being a sprinting one – the 4×400-meter relay – USC was in the driver’s seat.

The Trojans’ top 4x400m time of the year was 3:09.56. The Bruins’ was 3:11.68.

It ended up not even being that close. USC handily beat UCLA by 6.02 seconds in the 4x400m, capturing the final five points of the meet to win 82-81.

The Trojan domination in the sprinting events was expected. The Bruins lost because they didn’t gain enough of a cushion during the field-events portion earlier in the day. That’s something they’d done in their past four dual meets against the Trojans, when the Bruins won each time.

Examining the trends

Over the past four years, UCLA and USC have developed directly opposing strengths on the track and field circuit: The Trojans’ strength has been on the track, the Bruins’ in the distance and field events.

The same theme held true for the most part in Sunday’s meet.

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Though the Bruins’ men’s team won the field-events portion of the dual meet once again this year, the team didn’t take the exact same route to get there.

For starters, freshman Idrees Bernard set the tone for a new era in the jumping game for UCLA. He captured first place in the triple jump – an event UCLA didn’t score a point in last year.

“It honestly happened so fast I didn’t even know what was going on, but as soon as I landed I knew it was a huge jump,” said Bernard, who triple-jumped a lifetime-best 14.95 meters.

With Bernard winning one of the few events that UCLA hadn’t historically succeeded in on the field, the Bruins seemed to be in a good place.

But then the Bruins lapsed backward by losing an event they’d pretty much commanded over the past three dual meets: the discus.

USC edged UCLA 5-4 in the discus. Over the previous three crosstown dual meets, the Trojans hadn’t scored a single point in that event, let alone won it.

The Bruins’ dominance over the shot put remained, however. UCLA won the shot put 8-1 on the men’s side and 5-4 on the women’s side, thanks to a first-place performance by redshirt sophomore Torie Owers.

“With all the spirit around the dual meet, I just wanted to do well and perform well for my team,” said Owers, who was participating in her first crosstown rivalry meet after transferring from Cal in 2013. “Hearing all the support from the people watching the meet is a huge deal, it was just wonderful.”

As Owers maintained the Bruins’ stranglehold over the shot-put event, senior Elena Clarke maintained the tradition of UCLA beating ‘SC in the pole vault. Clarke captured a season-best of 13 feet, 3.75 inches, leading the Bruin women to a 9-0 sweep in the pole vault.

“It just feels great. I can’t wait for Pac-12s to just hit a new best there and then hopefully qualify for regionals and nationals,” Clarke said. “My teammates will still be there cheering me on and being loud, they’re just the best.”

Despite the energy from the stands, the women’s team fell to the Trojans 93-70, as USC won nine of the 11 events on the track.

“I know our girls are going to come back strong next year,” Owers said. “We have a lot of young talent and we just have to keep working hard. Champions are made here.”

The final race

By 5:30 p.m., Clarke and Owers were in the stands with their teammates and fans. The men’s team was up 81-77 with only one event left, the 4x400m relays. As in all dual meets, relays are scored 5-0, instilling a win-or-nothing attitude in the race.

Though USC came into the event as the favorite, the Trojans held only a slight lead over the Bruins after the first three legs of the relay.

As the anchor leg approached, freshman Joe Herrera faced the task of catching up to and passing Trojan anchor Davonte Stewart, who clocked in at 47.17 in the 400 meters last season. Herrera trailed Stewart for the first 200 meters, but as the two approached the turn at the 300m mark, Herrera seemed to close the gap.

But as they came around the discus ring and approached the final 100 meters, Stewart picked up his pace to beat the Bruin freshman by more than two seconds.

Despite the men’s competition being decided by a single point, the trends that have held true for the last few seasons continued to be apparent again over the weekend. In order for UCLA to eclipse its crosstown rival and reverse its fortunes, the Bruins will need to improve final-stretch finishing power in both sprints and relays.

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Matt Joye | Alumnus
Joye joined the Bruin as a sophomore transfer in 2013 and contributed until after he graduated in 2016. He was an assistant Sports editor for the 2014-2015 academic year and spent time on the football, men's basketball, baseball, softball, men's soccer, women's tennis, track and field and cross country beats.
Joye joined the Bruin as a sophomore transfer in 2013 and contributed until after he graduated in 2016. He was an assistant Sports editor for the 2014-2015 academic year and spent time on the football, men's basketball, baseball, softball, men's soccer, women's tennis, track and field and cross country beats.
Vikram Sairam | Alumnus
Sairam joined the Bruin as a freshman in 2015 and contributed until 2018. He spent time on the football, women's soccer and track and field beats.
Sairam joined the Bruin as a freshman in 2015 and contributed until 2018. He spent time on the football, women's soccer and track and field beats.
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