Bruins soar ahead with early lead

Friday, June 5, 1998

Bruins soar ahead with early lead

CHAMPIONSHIP: Wind lifts team above Texas, Seilala Sua sets
record

By Alvin Cadman

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Day one in the quest for collegiate track and field’s most
coveted prize began yesterday afternoon for the UCLA women’s track
and field squad. Coming into this weekend the NCAA Outdoor
Championships, the Bruins were ranked second in the nation behind
1998 NCAA Indoor Champion Texas.

With the injury last week to junior Joanna Hayes, keeping her
out of the the 400-meter hurdles, the remaining Bruins would have
to step it up in order to make up for points that Hayes would have
accumulated.

Sophomore Seilala Sua set a NCAA Championships meet record with
her opening throw of 210-8, which ensured her a victory by more
than 18 feet. Sua fouled her second attempt during a light rain
that lingered throughout the afternoon in Buffalo. She then got off
a toss of 201-1 in the third round. She fouled the remainder of her
attempts in Wednesday’s finals competition.

"All day the wind was changing and shifting and I wasn’t really
sure what direction it was coming from, so the wind was a factor in
everybody’s flight," Sua said. "On the winning throw, there was a
little bit of a tailwind."

NCAA women’s discus record holder, Aretha Hill of Washington,
took second with her top throw of 192-5 in the third round. Bruin
senior Suzy Powell finished fourth at 187-2, Nada Kawar finished
sixth at 184-0 and Rachelle Noble finished seventh at 181-4, giving
the Bruins 20 of the first points awarded in the team
competition.

"I wanted to get a big throw in the first flight," Sua said. "I
feel very lucky to have won today. As a team, we are happy with the
20 points. We’re all just trying to contribute team points."

In the women’s 4 by 100 relay, Texas responded to the early
Bruin outburst by clocking a 43.45, securing a smooth victory in
heat one of the semifinals over Texas Christian’s time of 43.90.
UCLA ran 44.32 for third place in the heat and qualified for the
final on Friday, with a team consisting of freshmen Michelle Perry
and Shakedia Jones, junior Andrea Anderson and senior Bisa
Grant.

Track powerhouse Louisiana State solidified its number one
ranking in the 4 by 100-meter relay with a heat two victory in
43.32 seconds, overcoming close competition from fellow qualifiers
Georgia (44.02), Illinois (44.04) and Florida (44.59).

In the preliminary trials of the women’s 200-meter sprints,
Texas qualified three athletes for the semifinals, including heat
three winner Angie Vaughn, who clocked in a wind-aided time of
23.19 seconds.

Lakeisha Backus finished second to her teammate Vaughn in a time
of 23.34 seconds, while fellow Longhorn Nanceen Perry’s 23.21 mark
enabled her to finished second in heat two to a blazing, wind-aided
22.98 time by LSU’s Peta-Gaye Dowdie.

UCLA freshman Shakedia Jones claimed the fastest qualifying time
with her 22.91 second victory over Georgia’s Debbie Ferguson in
heat one, who crossed the finish line in 23.11 seconds.

In the women’s 10,000-meter run, junior Amy Skieresz defended
her 1997 NCAA Outdoor title with a time of 33:04.12 for the
Wildcats. Emily Ay of BYU was third with a time of 34:10.62. UCLA
freshman Julie Ott, testing the waters in NCAA competition for the
first time, ran well for a 12th place in a personal best time of
34:58.20.

Thursday’s action saw the Bruins try to build on the success
from Wednesday that put them in the overall team lead.

Junior Joanna Hayes, still hampered by her right hamstring, an
injury she sustained at the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago,
qualified in the 100-meter hurdles. She clocked a preliminary time
of 13.69 seconds to take fourth in her heat and a spot in the
semifinals tomorrow evening.

Fellow Bruin Bisa Grant took eighth place in her heat with a
time of 14.33 seconds. Vaughn Texas had the top trial time of the
afternoon with a heat winning time of 13.21 seconds.

In the women’s 400-meters, junior Suzianne Reid of Texas had the
top time of the evening in New York with a time of 50.86 seconds.
Junior Andrea Anderson of UCLA finished her preliminary race in
53.86 seconds and will now focus on the NCAA relay events.

The current team scores have UCLA leading the way with 20 early
points. Tied for second are George Mason and Arizona with 10
points. Pittsburgh, Washington and Wisconsin are tied for fourth
place with 8 points each.

The Associated Press

Seilala Sua releases her record-setting discus throw during the
NCAA Track and Field Championships.