UCLA T&F Ready To Compete for Bru-104
by Nestor on Jun 10, 2008 6:30 PM PDT
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PrintFrom the official site:
The No. 6 men and No. 9 women's team will begin competition at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, IA on Wednesday with the goal of a top national team finish. Both squads have several athletes ranked in the top-10 in their respective events and many who are poised to win NCAA individual crowns.
The men's team will have 13 athletes competing, while the women will have nine, plus a 4x400m relay. Last season, the Bruin women placed fifth and the men's team was ninth. This year, both teams will vie for a top-three team finish as each squad boasts a very competitive and talented group of athletes.
The women's team has two reigning NCAA individual winners in Nicole Leach (400m hurdles) and Rhonda Watkins (long jump) as both will look to defend their respective crowns. The 4x400m relay has come on strong in recent weeks and could vie for the top spot come Saturday. Freshman Tori Anthony, the pre-season favorite to win the vault crown, is returning to her mid-season form after having suffered with mononucleosis during the last month and a half and will be in the hunt for the title and the second All-American honor of her career. Fellow vaulters Katy Viuf and Tori Pena have had phenomenal meets in recent weeks and will also be contenders for All-American honors.
In the horizontal jumps, senior Renee Williams will attempt to earn double All-America honors as she competes in both the long and triple. Senior Keneisha Creary and Allie Miller will compete in the high jump as Creary looks to be a probable All-American, as well.
Sophomore Krishna Curry has had a stellar sophomore campaign in the 800m, dropping her lifetime-best in the two-lap event in almost every race during the last month and a half and could be a breakout performer for the Bruins.
In the sprints, senior Jolanda Diego leads the way as a double-event qualifier in the 100m and 200m. Freshman Lindsay Rowe is coming off of a lifetime-best performance at regionals and will gain valuable experience during the meet.
On the men's side, the field event athletes lead the way highlighted by two-time All-American Greg Garza. Garza is ranked second in the nation and was the pre-season favorite to win the discus crown. Fellow indoor All-Americans John Caulfield and Darius Savage will look to score in the discus as well as the shot put to add to their national status. Junior Boldizsar Kocsor is having a career year after winning his second Pac-10 hammer crown and breaking the school record, and is ready to finish in the top-eight this week. Freshman Bo Taylor also joins the large throws squad as he competes in the discus.
Full details here.
May be the T&F junkies on BN can chime in here with their thoughts on our team and their chance for bringing home Bru-104.
GO BRUINS.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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My somewhat optimistic take
For those of you that are Hoops fans, the men’s Bruin Tracksters are equivalent to maybe a #3 seed in the NCAA Hoops tourney. (Read: A decent chance, but some good things have to fall their way). The women are more like a 6 or 7 seed. A bit of a darkhorse, but they do have lots of bodies at the meet. If the gals, such as Frosh Tori Anthony (in the Pole Vault) can pull out some surprising performances and other teams falter, it could get really interesting.
My hopeful/slightly optimistic predictions for the men are thus:
110H —8 points (Kevin Craddock)
SP -- 5 + 2 = 7 points (John Caulfield and Darius Savage)
Disc - 10 + 3 + 2 = 15 points (Greg Garza, Caulfield, Savage)
Hammer - - 4 points (Boldi Kocsor)
PV - 10 + 3 = 13 points (Dustin Deleo, Johnny Quinn)
3kST - 2 points (Harry Hagenbuch)
800m - 1 point (Freshman Cory Primm)
This adds up to 50 team points, which would put UCLA in the top 2 or 3 and with
a dropped baton or two from the sprint schools, LSU and FSU, who knows…
Mind you, I would not advise anyone to go to Vegas with my picks. They are what
they are—optimistic picks from a die-hard Bruin. For all of the athletes to perform
that well in the same meet is very likely infeasible. BUT… it is within the realm of
possibility.
It’s also within the realm of possibility that we finish with less than 15
points and way out of the top 10. Quite a bit like the NCAA hoops, we could go all the way or get knocked out in the 3rd round….
BTW: the weather in Iowa - the meet site - absolutely sucks right now. Major flooding and thunderstorms from hell. Somebody is going to thrive in this weather, others are going crash and burn. Let’s hope our Bruins do the former.
Easy money and faithless women, red-eye whiskey for the pain...
1st day qualifiers
rich-
please let me know what stocks to buy. Your powers of prediction are clearly first rate. All of your predicted point providers who competed on day 1 came through except Prinn in 800 and Caulfield in discus, and no Bruin men’s team member who you did not mention did qualify on day 1.
Based on optomistic results above, Bruins only lost 4 potential points, which is not bad.
Go Bruins rest of the way.
by islandbruin on Jun 11, 2008 10:28 PM PDT up reply actions
2nd day- ouch
Savage did not qualify for the SP finals, but the real shocker is that Kevin Craddock finished last in his preliminary heat in the high hurdles. His time was almost a second behind his winning time in the West regionals. He had the slowest time of any of the 24 hurdlers who finished today. With the 3rd best time in UCLA history, this was a less than perfect result.
Perhaps somebody has more insight as to what went wrong with Kevin today?
Done....
With Craddock (who must’ve tripped and fell or something) and Savage out, the men are now looking at finishing way out of the top 10. Disappointing. (For a hoops analogy, it’s like Kevin Love and Collison both fouling out in the first half while playing a top-5 team) .
The Women are going to get some points from Nicole Leach and Rhonda Watkins is defending her title in the Long Jump now, but outside of those two, nobody else looks like they will score and they will need a lot of good bounces to finish in the top 10. (possibly Viuf in the PV and probably a couple points in the 4×400). Disappointing.
Easy money and faithless women, red-eye whiskey for the pain...
Craddock
UCLA website is attributing poor performance to groin injury which occured last week in practice. Could have adjusted expectations if they had publicized the actual state of affairs. Oh well.
by islandbruin on Jun 12, 2008 10:13 PM PDT up reply actions
Watkins fouls out...
Rhonda Watkins, defending NCAA champ in the Long Jump, finished last in the final with no legal jumps. I think this hideous Iowa weather is killing our warm-blooded Bruins. Only Nicole Leach, who’s from Philly, is performing well.
Easy money and faithless women, red-eye whiskey for the pain...
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