W. track: UCLA revels in second place finish
By Jeff Eisenberg
June 12, 2005 9:00 p.m.
They mobbed each other on the infield, huddling together to form
a blue and gold sea of jubilation.
Jessica Cosby hoisted the trophy above her head. Monique
Henderson and Candice Baucham raised their arms in celebration. And
UCLA women’s track and field coach Jeanette Bolden led a
victory cheer as if the Bruins had just won the national title.
The only problem? They didn’t win it. Defending national
champion UCLA, which sent only nine athletes to the NCAA
Championships in Sacramento this past weekend, finished in a tie
for second place with 48 points, just seven shy of first-place
Texas.
“We’re the happiest second place team in
history,” Bolden said. ” I think we made more noise
accepting our trophy than Texas did.”
It was an odd reaction to surrendering the national title, but
an appropriate one considering how brilliantly the Bruins performed
in Sacramento.
UCLA, which had by far the smallest contingent of athletes of
any of the top five teams, wasn’t expected to contend for the
team title this year, especially after collegiate record-holder
Chelsea Johnson failed to make it out of the preliminaries in the
pole vault Thursday evening.
But after consecutive spectacular days on Friday and Saturday in
which they recorded seven top-four finishes highlighted by
victories from Henderson in the 400 meters and Baucham in the
triple jump, the Bruins found themselves back in the top three for
the 10th time in 13 years.
Even after Texas slipped past them in the standings by winning
the 4×400-meter relay, the final event of the meet, not one member
of the UCLA team seemed to feel a twinge of disappointment.
“Everyone was thrilled,” Henderson said.
“There were nine of us compared to the arsenals that other
teams brought. It was beyond all expectation.”
“No one really paid attention to us because we were
bringing so many less people than we usually do,” Bolden
said. “But by the end of the meet, it was like there’s
UCLA again.”
That the Bruins were able to hold their own against top-ranked
Texas and Southeastern Conference powerhouse South Carolina is
largely due to the performance of their three senior co-captains
““ Henderson, Baucham and Cosby. The trio combined to score 36
of UCLA’s 48 points, all but four of which came on the final
day of the meet.
The Bruins, buoyed by third-place finishes from Dawn Harper in
the 100-meter hurdles and Kamaiya Warren in the discus on Friday,
were fourth in the team competition when they arrived at the Alex
Spanos Sports Complex Saturday morning.
Sparked by their three senior leaders, however, they quickly
gained ground.
First Henderson, an Olympic gold medallist for the U.S.
4×400-meter relay team last summer, set an NCAA meet record in the
400 meters, taking first place in a personal-best 50.10 seconds.
Then Cosby, still fighting the effects of a bout with pneumonia,
took third place in both the shot put and the hammer competition to
earn 12 points for the team by herself.
And finally it was Baucham’s turn. Just two days after
taking fifth place in the long jump, the senior unexpectedly won
the triple jump Saturday night, vaulting UCLA into the lead in the
team competition with an incredible mark of 46 feet, 2 inches.
“I wouldn’t have had it any other way than to end
the meet with our three clutch hitters,” Bolden said.
“Candice’s quiet leadership, Monique’s
follow-me attitude, and Jessica’s grit and determination
““ their impact will be missed.”
Baucham, Henderson and Cosby ““ all key members of the team
that delivered Bolden her first title a year ago ““ leave UCLA
having finished in the top two at the NCAA Championships three
times in their careers.
Though the threesome very easily could have captured a second
title on Saturday with a few more breaks, each of them will
remember their final weekend of collegiate competition fondly.
“I’m really happy with how the meet went,”
Cosby said. “For us to have had a shot of winning with only
nine people shows how strong our team really is.”
