Bruin digest

UCLA’s Yoo Kim broke his own Korean national record in the
pole vault Saturday in Seattle, helping the Bruins capture their
fourth consecutive MPSF Indoor Championship. Kim, a senior, cleared
the bar at a lifetime-best 18 feet, 4.75 inches on his second
attempt to easily surpass second-place Tyson Byers of Washington
State. UCLA’s 15.5 points in the pole vault, the
second-to-last event of the meet, allowed the Bruins to vault past
Stanford and into first place for good. Having already cleared the
bar at 18 feet, 1 inch at the Husky Invitational last month, Kim, a
top contender for the NCAA indoor title in two weeks, was very
comfortable competing in Seattle. He continued his hot streak on
Saturday, taking three attempts at UCLA’s school record of 18
feet, 5.25 inches, but coming up short. Kim was one of UCLA’s
three individual event winners Saturday, along with senior Nicholas
Thornton (800m) and junior Craig Everhart (400m). Sprinters Mario
Bassani and Denye’ Versher, hurdler Jonathan Williams and
thrower Jeremy Silverman also had standout performances. Bassani
and Versher, both seniors, ran indoor lifetime bests in the
preliminaries of the 400 meters, taking sixth and seventh place,
respectively. Williams, a senior, followed a lifetime-best 7.91
seconds in the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles Friday with a
7.93-second time in the finals, and Silverman broke out of his
early slump to take fourth place in the weight throw with a
lifetime-best mark of 57 feet, 10.25 inches. UCLA won with 117.50
points, followed by Stanford (93.5), Arizona (93) and Cal (90). The
Bruins will open the outdoor season at home this Saturday at the
UCLA Invitational before heading to Arkansas for the NCAA Indoor
Championships.

WOMEN’S TRACK: Kamaiya Warren and Dawn
Harper each captured conference titles on Saturday, but the
shorthanded UCLA women’s track team could not win the MPSF
Championship, taking fourth place on Saturday in Seattle. Warren, a
sophomore, took first place in the shot put with a lifetime-best
mark of 52 feet, 6 inches. Harper also posted a lifetime best,
continuing her quick start by posting a time of 8.12 seconds in the
60-meter hurdles. Stanford took first place at the MPSF meet with
180.5 points, followed by Cal, Washington and UCLA. Perhaps the
most significant performance of the weekend for the Bruins came
from junior Chelsea Johnson, who was making her indoor season debut
after injuring her hamstring last month. In her only chance to
qualify for this month’s NCAA Indoor Championships, Johnson
succeeded, taking sixth place with a mark of 12 feet, 11 inches.
Johnson, the collegiate record-holder in the pole vault and
defending NCAA Outdoor Champion, was the runner-up at indoors a
year ago.

Compiled by Jeff Eisenberg, Bruin Sports senior
staff.