PAC-10 TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS: USC DEFENDS TURF TROJANS HANG ON; UCLA WOMEN ROLL.Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer Individual titles are old hat for USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. sprinter Ryan Wilson For other persons named Ryan Wilson, see Ryan Wilson (disambiguation). Ryan Wilson is an American professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment in the Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental promotion as Jacob Duncan . Perhaps that's why he was more concerned with the team results in Sunday's 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 Track and Field championships. Not that Wilson didn't enjoy earning USC's lone double of the day - the rare 110- and 400-meter hurdle victories. For him, it was just another day at the office. But there was nothing ordinary about the Trojans, who as a team had 139 points to edge Stanford (128) for the men's conference title in front of 1,778 at USC's Loker Stadium. ``I'm more happy about getting the team 10 points,'' Wilson said. ``That's more important than winning to me. This was a nice way to say goodbye to this track.'' Wilson, a senior, was the first to win both hurdles races since UCLA's Steve Kerho in 1985. Wilson's victory in the 110 hurdles was the third time of his career, and he ran the 400 hurdles in 49.33, which broke Felix Sanchez's stadium record. Speaking of routine, the 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 women scored 155 points to win their seventh consecutive title and eighth in the past nine. Stanford was second at 140, though UCLA didn't run in the 1,600-meter relay because it already had won the title. ``The beauty about our team is that every year we have such a balanced program,'' UCLA coach Jeanette Bolden Jeanette Boldon (born January 26 1960). is a former American athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres. She competed for the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, U.S. said. ``We talked about them sticking together. We came in here 24 strong. We are in it together.'' UCLA's Lena Wilson won the 800 and 1,500 meters - for the second consecutive year - 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. won both hurdle races. USC sprinter Natasha Mayers, who won the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association 200-meter title last year, won the 100 (11.39 seconds) and 200 (23.32) in her first meet back from a left hamstring strain. She recovered just fine. ``I feel like I'm getting there,'' Mayers said. ``I ran an 11.3 (in Saturday's preliminaries) and I was shutting it down. I slowed down to qualify and a lot of people thought I was showing off. It's about running smart. Everything's about being relaxed and running smart.'' USC coach Ron Allice led the Trojans to their fourth conference title in nine seasons. Allice spent most of his waking hours working on the meet, which was at USC for the first time. Allice was doused with a bucket of water, and athletes threw two of his assistant coaches into the steeplechase's water pit. ``This is just the beginning of what we think we can do the next couple of weeks,'' Allice said. ``These kids did not give up. Young people bring freshness to everything. That is what makes track so unpredictable. They believed and they did not give up. We just kept on coming.'' USC's Wes Felix, a Valencia High product, won the 200 meters in 20.81. Perhaps the most exciting event was the women's pole vault pole vault Track-and-field event consisting of a vault for height over a crossbar with the aid of a long pole. It became a competitive sport in the mid-19th century and was included in the first modern Olympic Games. . Oregon's Becky Holliday had the stadium rocking as she vaulted her way into the record books after clearing 14-6. It was the second-best vault in the world this year. Only Stacy Dragila Stacy Dragila (born Stacy Mikaelson on March 25 1971, Auburn, California) is an American pole vaulter. She was a standout pole vaulter for the Idaho State University women's track and field team in the mid-1990s. has a better mark - 15-1 - and only seven American women have vaulted higher in the history of the event. And it was the third-best collegiate mark. ``To hear that was so amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. ,'' Holliday said. ``(Dragila) is my idol. And I'm not even close to her. I'm a foot below. Hopefully, I can do half of what she's done.'' USC freshman Tomasz Babiskiewiecz finished second in the 1,500 meters, quite a feat considering Stanford's bread and butter is the distance races. Babiskiewiecz finished in 3:45.85, the fourth-fastest time in USC history. UCLA sprinter 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. , the favorite to win the 400 meters, didn't run the 200 or 400 because of tightness in her hamstring. She's expected to be ready for regionals in two weeks. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: USC's Natasha Mayers won the 100- and 200-meter races at the Pacific-10 Conference Track and Field Championships at USC on Sunday. Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer |
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