W. track aims to keep a healthy state in match

Friday, April 26, 1996

By Scott Yamaguchi

Daily Bruin Staff

So maybe this whole state championship thing has become a little
boring to Jeanette Bolden, whose top-ranked UCLA women’s track and
field team will pay a visit to the Woody Wilson track on the UC
Davis campus this weekend for the third running of the annual
California-Nevada State Championships.

"The first two years of competition, I was trying to win this
meet," she said. "This year, I’m not even doing a dope sheet. I’m
not going to harp a lot on having to beat this person, having to
step up."

Perhaps Bolden, whose Bruins did in fact sweep the event and all
honors with which it is associated the past two years, just isn’t
interested anymore in California’s only statewide collegiate track
and field meet.

Or maybe, and more likely, Bolden is simply more focused than
ever before on bigger and better things, like the Pacific 10
Conference and NCAA Championship meets.

With the outdoor nationals just over a month away, the Bruins
have only three more opportunities, including this weekend’s state
meet and the conference meet May 18-19 at Drake Stadium, to meet
the qualifying standards.

In between those two competitions is UCLA’s most important dual
meet of the season, with USC and Brigham Young visiting Drake on
May 4.

For now, Bolden is concentrating on steady improvement and the
health of the team, which has been a concern through the first half
of the season. Even this weekend, Bolden is holding 400-meter
hurdler Erin Blunt out of competition, and the status of 400-meter
specialist Cicely Scott wasn’t to be determined until today or
Saturday.

But if the rest of the squad can maintain its health and
continue its progress in Davis, then winning their third
consecutive championship should fall into place for the Bruins.

"My goal is for those athletes who walk into the meet healthy to
leave healthy, and to leave with some personal best times," Bolden
said. "If the individuals perform like they’ve been trained to
perform up to now, we should win the meet."

As usual, UCLA’s best competition in the two-day event will come
from Fresno State and California, whose strong roster forced Bolden
to shuffle her lineup in a dual meet earlier this season.

The Bruins did emerge with a victory over the Bears, though
there will be no such lineup changes this time around.

On paper, UCLA is favored to win eight of the meet’s 21 events,
with Amy Acuff and Valeyta Althouse the clear-cut favorites in the
high jump and shot put, respectively. Suzy Powell has thrown the
best mark in the discus this season among her competitors in this
meet, while Nada Kawar has the second best marks in the discus and
the shot put.

Andrea Anderson is favored in the 100- and the 200-meters, while
Joanna Hayes ran the fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles and the
second-fastest in the 100-meter hurdles.

Darlene Malco is the projected winner in the 400-meters, as well
as a member of the 400-meter relay.

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Andrea Anderson is favored to win at this weekend’s meet.