W. track: Thrower beats illness to get berth
By Jeff Eisenberg
May 30, 2005 9:00 p.m.
Weary, weak-legged and increasingly short of breath,
UCLA’s Jessica Cosby had every reason to surrender to the
effects of a bout of pneumonia and withdraw from the shot put
competition on Saturday. But with a berth to next week’s NCAA
Championships hanging in the balance, Cosby, a senior, would not
quit. She took three throws, qualifying for NCAAs by finishing
second in the shot put with a mark of 54 feet, 1 1/2 inches, before
being rushed to the hospital, where doctors gave her an oxygen tank
to help her breathing. “Jessica’s our hero,” UCLA
coach Jeanette Bolden said. “That was what athletics is all
about. When you feel the weakest, that’s when you shine the
most.” Had the NCAA not tweaked the format of the Regional
meets this year, Cosby probably would have sat out Saturday. She
would have qualified for the NCAA Championships in previous years
due to her season-best mark in the shot put, but this season,
athletes must finish in the top eight at Regionals to have a chance
at earning an at-large bid in their events. That’s why Cosby,
who was diagnosed with pneumonia before she left for Oregon last
week, never considered not competing once UCLA’s team doctors
cleared her to throw. And compete she did. Cosby, a national title
contender in both the shot put and the hammer throw, took first
place in the hammer competition on Friday with a throw of 213 feet,
11 inches, just a few feet shy of her lifetime best. But as she
took her warm-up throws in the shot put on Saturday, it was clear
the pneumonia had begun to take its toll. Once UCLA throws coach
Art Venegas was confident she had done enough to qualify for NCAAs,
he pulled her out of the competition. “She was pretty
angry,” Venegas said, “but it was a coach’s call.
I could tell right away that she was not at her best. I
didn’t like the way she looked out there.” The effort
from Cosby was a source of inspiration for her teammates.
“When I turned to cheer her on, I saw the fight and desire in
her eyes,” said fellow co-captain Candice Baucham, who was
competing in the triple jump next to Cosby in the shot put.
“To see her do that is to know you can count on her,”
hurdler Dawn Harper added. The Bruins will be counting on Cosby
once again next week at NCAAs, whether she is at full strength or
not. Cosby will enter both the hammer and the shot put, and hopes
to score big in both of them.
NO DOUBLE DUTY: UCLA’s Monique Henderson, perhaps the most
versatile collegiate sprinter in the nation, will focus only on the
400 meters at NCAAs next week. Henderson, who won the 200 meters at
the West Regionals on Saturday in a season-best 22.71 seconds, was
projected to contend in the event at NCAAs. But Bolden and
Henderson talked and agreed that it wasn’t worth risking an
injury that could hamper the senior in the 400 meters either at
NCAAs or a few weeks later at the U.S. National Championships.
“My decision was based on her ability to stay healthy,”
Bolden said. “I wasn’t really comfortable with her
health after Regionals. It was nothing outrageous, but she was a
little tighter than I would have liked to see.”
INJURY UPDATE: UCLA’s Lara Saye, a would-be contender for
the national title in the discus, has been hampered by a back
injury in recent weeks and was not at her best again Saturday.
Saye, No. 3 on the national charts heading into the meet, managed
only a throw of 170 feet, 2 inches, enough for fourth place at the
West Regionals and a berth to the NCAA Championships next week. The
mark, however, was nearly 20 feet shy of her personal best and
likely would not score at NCAAs. “She’s starting to get
healthy and I thought it would show on Saturday,” Venegas
said. “It didn’t, but I’m still optimistic she
can get her rhythm back in time for NCAAs.”
