Squads fare well at indoor tournament

By J. P. Hoornstra
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Saving its best for when it counts, the UCLA men’s track
team stunned 10 schools by winning the team title at the Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships Saturday.

Although they have been weak at times in some events, and
stronger in others in smaller indoor meets thus far, everyone came
to play for the Bruin men in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Men’s head coach Art Venegas called it “an across
the board victory.” UCLA took individual titles in six events
and second place in four others.

The most notable performance was Scott Moser’s mark of
70-10 in the weight throw, establishing a school record.

The unranked Bruins scored 132 team points (based on a
10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 format), besting Washington State (117), Arizona
(89), No. 25 Oregon (73) and No. 6 Stanford (57).

“It’s the first indoor title in I don’t know
how long,” said hurdler Charles Ryan, who tied for fifth in
the hurdles, earning four points for the team.

In addition to Moser, individual titles were won by Michael
Lipscomb in the 200-meter dash, Nick Thornton in the 800-meter run,
Jon Rankin in the mile, the 4×400-meter relay team and Juane Armon
in the long jump.

Martin Brix, who competed on the second-place distance medley
relay team, said, “There were a lot of good teams there.
That’s what made it fun.” The team ran 1200 meters in
10:24.39.

“I think we’re a better team than people give us
credit for,” said Venegas, “but we have to keep
improving to be a nationally ranked team.”

The No. 5 Bruin women were focused on qualifying individuals for
the national indoor finals, but had a legitimate shot at the team
title this weekend. No. 2 Arizona proved to be the superior team in
the end, winning the championship with 137 points.

UCLA came away with two first-place titles: the 4×400 meter
relay team and pole vaulter Tracy O’Hara.

“I had mixed emotions. I wanted to jump higher, but I did
jump really well,” she said.

“She was competing against the top girls in the country,
Amy Linden out of Arizona and (Tamara) Diles out of Washington
State,” pole vaulting coach Anthony Curran said. “And
Tracy went out and beat both those girls.”

Six other athletes finished in second place, including Cari
Soong in the weight throw (61-11 1/4).

“I did poorly,” she said, “but part of getting
to the good (meets) involves finding out what doesn’t
work,” in reference to her preparation technique.

Both teams will split squads next weekend for meets in Irvine
and Seattle.