To win its first Pac-10 title in seven years last May, the UCLA
men’s track and field team had to be close to perfect. The
Bruins needed to be close to perfect again to defend that title on
Sunday at Drake Stadium, but the they couldn’t quite
recapture the magic.

There’s always been plenty of emotion at the annual
UCLA-USC dual meet, and that intensity finally boiled over
following the 4×400-meter relay Saturday afternoon at USC’s
Cromwell Field in Loker Stadium.

Talk to any athlete on the UCLA men’s track and field
team, and he will tell you why the annual crosstown dual meet is so
unique.

A pair of solid races from sophomore Brandon Johnson highlighted
a relatively quiet weekend for the UCLA men’s track and field
team at the UCSD Triton Invitational in San Diego.

With so much on the line this past weekend, running back Manuel
White just tried to distract himself from what lay ahead of
him.
White even went bowling the day before the NFL draft, but every
time he looked at his phone, it only made him more nervous, so he
finally stopped checking it.

After a grueling three-month process of being timed, measured,
poked and prodded, it all comes down to this weekend.
For at least six former Bruins, the results of this
weekend’s National Football League Draft has the potential to
permanently alter the rest of their lives.

It seems as if every weekend senior Jon Rankin does something
impressive, and this weekend was no different. At the Mt. SAC
Relays in Walnut, Calif., Rankin finished with a lifetime best in
the 800 meters with a time of 1 minute, 47.11 seconds, placing
second in the race.

Everything UCLA could have hoped for was there ““
high-caliber competition, spectacular performances, good-quality
facilities and gorgeous Los Angeles weather. The only real variable
last weekend’s Rafer Johnson/ Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Invitational needed to be considered a complete success was more
people watching it.

At this time last season, the UCLA men’s 4x400m relay team
established itself as a force with a strong performance at the
Texas Relays. The quartet’s easy victory on Saturday at the
Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational was one second
slower than the time they ran in Texas last year.

Jon Rankin’s feet pounded toward the finish line in the
mile on Saturday afternoon, but his eyes were riveted to the
scoreboard.
He didn’t need to look.