It’s on the line
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 3, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 PATIL ARMENIAN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Gina
Donnelly completes the water jump in the steeplechase in a
meet earlier this season.
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It’s that time again.
On the day before the annual show-down, you can bet that
it’s on everyone’s minds.
“All of us are focused on that meet,” senior
Michelle Perry said. “Usually two weeks before the meet
it’s ‘SC, ‘SC, ‘SC.”
“It’s probably one of the most hyped meets that
you’ll ever go to in the U.S. There’s fans galore and
the stands are filled,” Perry continued.
It’s one of the most important dates on the Bruins’
schedule and the UCLA women’s track and field team has been
preparing for this all season.
Not only are bragging rights on the line, but performances
during this meet may foreshadow results at nationals.
“To me, when we finally go up against USC, it’s the
first indication that we’re approaching the post
season,” Distance Coach Eric Peterson said.
“We’re trying to bring our team together to prepare at
the highest level.”
With the Bruins ranked No. 1 with 62 points in the national poll
and the Trojans right behind in No. 2 position with 61, this may be
one of the best meets in the country.
In most meets, attention is paid to the top two finishers in
each event, but at the UCLA-USC dual meet every single finish will
be watched.
“Once again on everyone’s dope sheet, it’s
going to be a close meet,” Peterson said. “And every
single point is going to have significance.”
As usual, the sprints will be the highlights of the meet. The
Bruins will pit their standout seniors Shakedia Jones and Perry
along with the young speed from freshmen Adia McKinnon and Sheena
Johnson, against the quick legs of junior Angela Williams, senior
Candace Young and junior Kinshasa Davis.
Jones qualified for the NCAA Championships over the weekend in
the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.41. She will face the duo of
Young and Williams in that race, who are number two (11.22) and
three (11.23) in the nation respectively.
The Bruins should dominate in the 400-meter hurdles, though,
with the talent of Johnson, junior Ysanne Williams and Perry. All
three of them are on the national list, with Johnson holding the
No. 2 time of 56.23.
Usually the fight in the distance races is uneven. But not this
year.
“It’s important for them to get psyched up, but you
have to be careful not to get distracted by everything going
on,” Peterson said. “Because they’re distance
races, we have to stay focused on task at hand.”
Though USC has senior Brigita Langerholc, who placed fourth in
the 800-meter at the 2000 Olympics, the Bruins have a deep middle
distance squad to combat the Olympic-level talent.
With freshman Lena Nilsson and junior Ysanne Williams leading
the squad, the Bruins will be able to contest Langerholc and junior
Aleksandra Deren, whose best is 2:06.17, for the third spot on the
national list in the 800m.
It’s the 1500m that Peterson is looking forward to the
most. With sophomore Jessica Marr and junior Elaine Canchola and
Nilsson competing in that event, they should put up a good fight
against Deren and junior Lucyna Ligaj.
“Lena is an incredibly strong 1500m runner,”
Peterson said. “They have (Ligaj) who ran 4:25, and Jessica
is also capable of running at that level.”
The throws will be close as well. UCLA senior Christina Tolson
and junior Chaniqua Ross are in the top three of the country in the
shot put, and Tolson has the No. 2 spot in the hammer throw. The
Bruin duo will be challenged by USC’s junior Cynthia
Ademiluyi and freshman L’Orangeril Crawford. Ademiluyi is
11th nationally at 52-7 1/2 while Crawford is 14th at 51-11
3/4.
“I know that they would badly like to have a great meet
against us,” Throwing Coach Art Venegas said. “That
shot is going to be crazy, that hammer is going to be unbelievable,
and that discus will be very competitive.”
With the exception of the triple jump, in which USC junior
Tatyana Obukhova looks to have a clear advantage with a personal
best of 43-02 1/4, the jumping events will be close. In the long
jump, Perry sits at 20-01 3/4, while Obukhova leads at 20-03 3/4.
The high jump will be close with UCLA junior Darnesha Griffith
holding a season best of 5-10 while Trojan sophomore Spring Harris
is at 5-9.
But when these two teams compete against each other, season-best
marks are not good indicators of what will actually happen during
the meet.
For instance, at last year’s showdown, the 1500m was one
of the deciding factors in the Bruins’ win. Then senior Tina
Bowen narrowly missed beating the Trojans’ Anna Lopaciuch in
the 3000m, but when Lopaciuch competed in the 1500m, she was so
spent from her effort in her previous race that she lost to four
Bruins.
“As we learned last year anything can happen,”
Peterson said, “and there’s a reason you don’t
score the meet on paper.”
