BRUINS IN A ROMP UCLA WOMEN BEAT NO. 1 USC IN DUAL MEET.Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News The battle for the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association women's track and field title will be far from a runaway for USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. . UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX sent a message to the defending national champion Trojans in a 111-92 dual-meet victory at Drake Stadium Drake Stadium is a stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. It is primarily used for the Drake Relays, and is the home field of the Drake University Bulldogs. It opened in 1925 and currently holds 14,557 people. A large scale renovation of the stadium was completed in 2006. on Saturday. Trackwire had ranked USC first in the nation all season, with UCLA slipping to fourth in the latest poll. Saturday's showing, however, will undoubtedly shake up the rankings. UCLA dazzled the crowd of 8,094 with national collegiate-leading performances by Monique Henderson Monique Henderson (born February 18, 1983 in San Diego, California) is a track and field athlete, competing internationally for the United States. She was a gold medalist in the 4x400m relay at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. in the 400 meters, Tiffany Burgess in the 800 and Sheena Johnson Sheena Johnson (born 1 October 1982) is an American hurdler. She finished fourth at the 2004 Summer Olympics and eighth at the 2006 World Athletics Final. Her personal best time is 52.95 seconds, achieved in July 2004 in Sacramento. in the 400 intermediate hurdles for its 10th consecutive victory over USC. The Bruins men, who had their 22-year winning streak Noun 1. winning streak - a streak of wins streak, run - an unbroken series of events; "had a streak of bad luck"; "Nicklaus had a run of birdies" ended by USC last year, coasted to a 121-81 victory over an injury-plagued Trojans squad. Henderson, the 2001 national high school female athlete of the year Athlete of the Year
Henderson's performance was followed two events later by a 1-2 finish in the 800 by Burgess and Lena Nilsson in 2:03.73 and 2:03.89 for the top two collegiate marks in the nation. Johnson turned in a 56.56 effort in the 400 hurdles in the next event. The Bruins picked up unexpected points with a 1-2 sweep in the shot put on season bests by Cleveland of Reseda graduate Jessica Cosby (54 feet, 10 inches) and Briona Reynolds (54-2), and clinched the meet in the penultimate event with a 1-2 finish in the 1,500 by Nilsson and Alejandra Barrientos. Last year, UCLA defeated USC in the dual meet and the Pacific-10 Conference The Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I. Membership Full members championships but finished second to the Trojans at the NCAA championships. Johnson took the defeat especially hard after failing to advance past the first round of the 400 hurdles. ``I finally got the good rhythm,'' Johnson said. ``I am just putting last year behind me and starting to progress for better times the next two meets and hopefully, it will all pan out at the NCAAs. ``We were ranked fourth but today was the meet where we were going to lay it out there and go for (personal records). If we keep going with this momentum, we'll be OK. I think we were really confident last year. Now, we just have to play it down a little bit.'' Based on Saturday's showing and UCLA's Nilsson already leading the nation in the 1,500, USC coach Ron Allice is tabbing the Bruins as the new national-title favorite. ``They flat-out beat us,'' Allice said. ``They beat us every which way on the track and in the field. They go up to No. 1. It's how bad they want to win.'' UCLA's breakthroughs overshadowed the exploits of USC's Angela Williams Angela Williams (born 30 January 1980 in Bellflower, California) is an American athlete. Starting for the American national team in 2001, she won a silver medal in the 60 metres competition at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships. , Disia Paige and Tatyana Obukhova. Williams, the three-time NCAA 100-meter champion, won the 100 (11.30), 200 (23.56) and joined Paige on the Trojans' 400 relay that equaled LSU's collegiate-leading mark of 43.71. Paige sailed a career-best 20-3 3/4 in the long jump. Obukhova, the two-time Pac-10 triple jump champion, set a career best, 43-5 1/4, and finished second in the long jump. ``We still know that we can do it at NCAAs,'' said ninth-year UCLA coach Jeanette Boldon, who improved her career record to 68-0 - 9-0 against USC. ``That's what we have been building up to. Whatever the charts had us really didn't matter to us because we knew that we could do it. Today was just a steppingstone step·ping·stone n. 1. A stone that provides a place to step, as in crossing a stream. 2. An advantageous position for advancement toward a goal. for that.'' The UCLA men continued their dual-meet dominance over the Trojans. USC football USC football refers to either of two NCAA Division I-A college football programs:
UCLA senior Michael Lipscomb, however, overshadowed USC's gridiron stars, winning the 100 (10.41) and 200 (20.5) and anchoring the Bruins' 1,600 relay to victory in 3:07.54. Lipscomb took the blame for last year's loss after dropping the baton in the 400 relay. The Bruins won 14 of 19 events, including victories by Scott Moser in the hammer (210-11 1/2) and discus (200-3) and a school sophomore long jump record of 26-3 by Juaune Armon. ``I feel a huge burden has been lifted off me,'' Lipscomb said. ``I feel pretty responsible for last year's disaster. I feel that it got the ball started on a bad roll. This time our team was hyped up and excited. Everything just clicked. It was vengeance and redemption against USC. We were a powerhouse today.'' CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) UCLA's Tyrone Hazen clears the bar in the men's pole vault at Drake Stadium on Saturday. (2) Kinshasa Davis, right, takes the baton from Natasha Neal as the USC women's 400-meter relay team equaled the collegiate-leading mark of 43.71 seconds. (3) The Trojans' Laurence Mason hits the sand during the men's long jump. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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