Convincing wins extend streak

Monday, April 13, 1998

Convincing wins extend streak

RECAP: Bruins dominate field events, short sprints, garner
experience in distance races

By Donald Morrison

Daily Bruin Contributor

Hard rain fell on a cold and gloomy Saturday afternoon, but that
couldn’t dampen the spirits or the performance of the No. 8 UCLA
men’s track team in its tri-meet against the University of Houston
and Cal State Northridge.

Despite poor weather conditions, the Bruins managed to extend
their dual-meet winning streak to 53 with an 81-26 win over Cougars
and a 75-33 win over Cal State Northridge.

UCLA (8-0) also won the tri-meet with 72 points, followed by No.
23 Houston with 33 and the Matadors with 32. Even though the
weather was bad, head coach Bob Larsen felt the team had confidence
and needed to run in poor conditions.

"I thought we were pretty ready to compete," Larsen said. "The
guys that went out there were pretty strong. Nobody was complaining
about the weather.

"We may get this type of weather later in the season. It’s
unusual but the NCAA Championships are in Buffalo, NY and you never
know. It may get cold."

The cold weather in Buffalo won’t be the cause of cancelled
field events like the rain was Saturday. The triple jump, high
jump, pole vault and discus throw were all cancelled due to unsafe
conditions. The officials decided that the rain posed a threat to
the safety of the field athletes.

The Bruins dominated the events which were held. In the field
event, Luke Sullivan continued to impress as he captured victory in
the hammer throw with a mark of 196 feet, 2 inches. Teammate Wade
Tift, followed with a throw of 193-4.

Tift ended the day winning the shot put with a mark of 60-6 1/2.
Mael Moultry earned a win in the long jump. Moultry, a triple jump
specialist, jumped 22-8 1/2. With Josh Johnson, one of the nation’s
best javelin throwers, sitting out the meet for UCLA, Joe Franklin
captured victory in javelin with a throw of 166-6.

Jess Strutzel, third in the 800 meters in the Pac-10 Conference,
exploded into the last 100 meters to fend off looming Houston and
CSUN runners to easily win the event in 1 minute, 53.16
seconds.

"(Strutzel) has such an impressive ability to finish off a
race," Larsen said. "When he gets up and moves, he’s at a different
level. That’s going to serve him well in most races."

Larsen was also pleased with Brian Fell’s 400-meter hurdle race.
Fell won the race in 53.25 seconds. The 4 by 100-meter relay team
of Jacob Glickman, Bryan Harrison, Damian Allen and Jim McElroy
also won. Jim McElroy sat out the 100 and 200 meter runs but did
compete in the 400 meters, placing third in 49.47 seconds.

"(McElroy) asked to run that event," UCLA assistant coach John
Smith said. "He’s getting himself in shape. He’s been doing a lot
of things for professional football scouts so his training is not
where he’d like it to be. I thought (McElroy’s) race was very good
considering the track was heavy and it was cold."

After a slow start, Will Bernaldo finished second in the 3,000
meters in 8:39.40 while Kevin Bowes and Dan Brecht placed third and
fourth, respectively. Matt Olin finished second in the 1,500 meters
in 3:59.10 and Michael Granville, competing outdoors for the first
time this season placed fifth. Granville, coming back from a
hamstring injury, ran in the 1,500 meters for the first time in his
collegiate career and finished in 4:06.62.

"The guys got a little more experience in racing against pretty
good people," Larsen said. DERRICK KUDO/Daily Bruin

Senior Scott Slover prepares to vault at a previous meet.