Runners surprise with edge-of-seat races

Monday, June 8, 1998

Runners surprise with edge-of-seat races

CHAMPIONSHIP: Bruins finish sixth, as Arkansas captures sixth
consecutive team title

By Donald Morrison

Daily Bruin Contributor

The last two days of the NCAA Track and Field Championships
provided not only excitement in the team race but excitement in
every individual event at Buffalo, NY.

For the UCLA men’s track team, every individual in every event
created thrill and surprises.

Collectively, these individuals led UCLA to a sixth place finish
in the championship meet with 38 points.

On Friday, Jess Strutzel had the crowd on its feet in the
800-meter final. Strutzel was second with 50 meters to go after
running an extremely fast first 600 meters.

Then, after falling to third place, two runners edged Strutzel
out of third place, literally, with two strides to go.

Strutzel managed a surprising fifth place finish at his first
ever NCAA Championship meet in a personal best time of 1:47.15.

"To get fifth for the first time at his NCAA meet is great,"
said UCLA head coach Bob Larsen. "Everyone was talking about him
after the race."

Third place finisher Robin Martin of Pennsylvania ran 1:47.10,
and fourth-place finisher Derrick Peterson of Missouri ran 1:47.14,
only one-hundredth of a second ahead of Strutzel.

Another surprising performance was turned in by the 400-meter
relay team. After qualifying for the final round on Wednesday with
the fourth fastest time, the Bruins finished in fourth.

Despite the extremely cold weather, making sprinting conditions
not so good, the Bruins turned in a seasonal best and blazing time
of 38.96 seconds.

The team, consisting of Brian Fell, Brandon Thomas, Damian Allen
and Jim McElroy clicked with solid handoffs and strong efforts in
the fastest collegiate 400-meter relay race of the year.

"I knew it was going to be close for third," anchor McElroy
said. "It was my last collegiate race and I went out as hard as I
could."

The winner, Texas Christian, set a new NCAA Championship record,
a new stadium record and a new collegiate best with a time of 38.04
seconds. TCU broke their previous meet record and collegiate best
of 38.23 seconds set in 1989.

"Our relay team had real powerful performances," Larsen said.
"They really clicked well. They did that on a really cold evening.
It was pretty amazing that the guys could have a performance like
that. You’ve got to respect those guys."

One runner that deserves respect for his performance at the NCAA
Championships is, perhaps the greatest distance runner in school
history – Mebrahtom Keflezighi.

Keflezighi, after placing fourth in the 10,000-meters Thursday
evening, came back and finished fourth in the 5,000-meters on
Saturday.

Keflezighi, though not returning home with a fifth NCAA title,
still turned in very solid performances in one of the toughest
doubles in track and field.

Keflezighi ran 13:44.68 after recovering from a grueling
10,000-meter run that saw Stanford athletes place first, second and
third.

Colorado’s Adam Goucher, won the race. He was followed by
Arizona’s Abdi Abdirahman.

"(Keflezighi) was with leaders with 800-meter left before the
leader pulled away," Larsen said. "You have to respect his double.
It’s pretty amazing to finish fourth in the 10,000-meters and then
comeback and do it again, two days later in the 5,000-meters."

Mel Moultry also had an excellent meet. Moultry, a senior in the
last meet of his collegiate career and his first ever trip to the
NCAA Championships, placed sixth in the triple jump.

Moultry’s mark of 52 feet, 3 inches gave him a top 10 finish and
the team three points.

"It was great to see (Moultry) score," Larsen said. "He came in
ranked tenth. He did really well."

Luke Sullivan finished seventh in the discus throw with a heave
of 188-1. Sullivan’s throw earned the team two points and gave him
his first top eight finish at his first ever NCAA Championship
appearance.

Wade Tift had one of his best performances of the year in the
shot put. He finished sixth with a mark of 60-9. Tift came into the
meet ranked 10th in the nation.

Mark Hauser, competing in the 5,000-meters with Keflezighi
placed 15th, running 14:00.29.

Arkansas wrapped up its sixth straight team title with 58.5
points. Stanford, after finishing seventh at the Pac-10
Championships, finished second with 51 points.

The Pac-10 had four teams in the top 10 with Arizona finishing
fourth, UCLA in sixth and USC in seventh.

After the four-day championship meet, UCLA goes back to Westwood
with nine individual All-Americans.MARY CIECEK

Senior Jim McElroy anchored the second fastest 400-meter relay
in UCLA history.