Young squad proves mettle, steps up to fullest potential

  MARY CIECEK/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sophomore
Nate Marum reacts in javelin competition at the
NCAA championships.

By Glen Worthington
Daily Bruin Contributor

The 2001 Bruin men’s track and field team was a work in
progress. Combining a few upper class leaders with an otherwise
young squad, the team found itself in the awkward position of
competing in the present while building for the future. UCLA showed
flashes of brilliance and moments of immaturity in breakthrough
performances and painful mistakes.

According to Track and Field News, UCLA boasted the No. 4
recruiting class in the nation, ensuring good things to come.
Experience was the word of the season. Coaches asked the young
athletes to step up to the next level on numerous occasions, and
more often than not, the new Bruins were up for the task.

Both men’s Head Coach Art Venegas and Sprint Coach John
Smith pointed out the team’s potential early in the
season.

“We’ll have a very good team this year and a great
team by next year,” Venegas said before the first outdoor
meet of the season.

“I have a good group of young people who are going to do
some fantastic things in the future,” Smith agreed.

The team proved its ability.

In the national team power rankings, which reflects dual meet
strength, UCLA finished the season third after being ranked No. 1
much of the year.

The Bruins also had a strong showing in the Pac-10, placing
third in the difficult conference. Junior Scott Moser won the
Pac-10 discus title, with redshirt freshman Dan Ames as runner-up.
Sophomore Scott Wiegand nearly completed the sweep with a
fourth-place finish.

UCLA was the only team to place in 17 of 21 Pac-10 events. The
freshmen came out strong in the sprints, hurdles, jumps and pole
vault. Now that they know they are capable of big performances at
big meets, the young team should excel next season.

Men’s Pole Vault Coach Anthony Curran was especially
impressed with the potential for his group.

“We had four UCLA Bruins, all youngsters, over 17 feet at
(the Modesto Invitational),” Curran said. “I
don’t think that’s ever been done in Bruin history. For
sure we’ve never had four 17-footers on one team and this
year we have five.”

At the national meet, however, the Bruins were simply
outclassed. Only five athletes qualified for the NCAA championships
“”mdash; not enough for a strong team presence. All five will be
back next year for another chance at glory. Yoo Kim, Nate Marum,
Kyle Erickson, Moser and Ames have the taste of success, now they
need the fire to reach it.

Moser placed third in the discus, the sole NCAA point winner.
But Moser and Ames have the ability to do much more.

“I think both of them have a chance to get on an Olympic
podium in the future,” said Venegas, also the throws coach.
“Whether they reach that or not depends on how serious and
motivated they remain and how well they handle adversity, because
every athlete will face adversity at some point.”

The same can be said for the team as a whole. The potential is
unlimited; whether it will be realized or not is the question. If
things work out as planned, an NCAA championship run is a definite
possibility in the near future.

“We’ve always been a competitive dual meet team
every year, including this year, and usually very competitive in
the Pac-10, if not outright Pac-10 champions,” Venegas said.
“But the national level is about the bigger points. My
concept is I’m not into the dual meets or the Pac-10s;
I’m into the nationals. So that’s what I’m trying
to build right now.”

The team is possibly the most balanced in the nation. With
freshmen like Kim returning in the pole vault, Juaune Armon in the
jumps, Denye Versher in the sprints, Jon Rankin in distance,
Chuckie Ryan in the hurdles and Ames in the throws, the Bruins have
the cast to make them a force to be reckoned with next year.

And that’s to say nothing of the returning sophomores and
juniors. Whereas teams like USC lost their top competitors at the
end of the season, the Bruins have most everyone coming back.

The leadership of the likes of sprinter Bryan Harrison and
distance runner Will Bernaldo will be missed, but there are plenty
of replacements in the ranks.

For the UCLA’s men’s track team, the future is
now.