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  MARY CIECEK/Daily Bruin Freshman pole vaulter Yoo Kim tied his personal best at the NCAA track championships in Eugene, Ore.

By Glen Worthington

Daily Bruin Contributor

EUGENE, Ore. — On a perfect day in a stadium built exclusively for track and field, the best athletes in the NCAA did not disappoint. The three Bruins competing Wednesday were not expected to place, and they didn’t, but they still put on a great show.

The first day of the NCAA championships at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field gave UCLA freshman Yoo Kim and sophomores Nate Marum and Kyle Erickson their last opportunity of the season to prove their ability.

The highlight of the day, however, came from a Tennessee Volunteer. Freshman Justin Gatlin ran a 19.86-second 200-meter dash. Not only was that a huge personal best over his entry time of 20.29, but his time is the fastest in the world this year.

The Bruins did not steal the spotlight in that fashion, but they put on a good showing for themselves.

Kim soared to tie his lifetime best of 17-feet-4 1/2 inches, only the second time he has ever cleared that height.

A strong tailwind aided Kim, but he also faced challenges. The wind forced him to use a bigger, stiffer pole than ever before. The opening height of the competition was 16-10 3/4. Kim usually opens at 16-1. He may be a freshman, but he rose to the occasion – literally.

But Kim got off to a slow start. He faced an early exit after missing his first two jumps. On the brink of elimination, Kim buckled down and made his opening-height vault on his final attempt look easy. He scared Bruin fans again by waiting until his third and final attempt at 17-4 1/2 before clearing that bar. Kim placed 11th overall – not too bad for a guy who entered the meet seeded last of the 24 competitors.

On his second attempt at 17-10 1/2, Kim barely missed moving himself into a scoring spot.

“I just came down on the bar,” he said. “It was my first time on the biggest pole of my life. If I had one more chance at it, I think I would have had it.”

Erickson also came just short of scoring points for UCLA. In the semifinals of the 400m hurdles, he placed ninth, about two-tenths of a second from advancing to the finals in the eighth spot.

Erickson came out strong at the gun. He pushed the lead on the first straightaway even before the stagger evened out. Coming off the turn into the final straightaway, Erickson simply ran out of gas. He managed to hold on for a third-place finish in his heat. His time of 50.97 disappointed him.

“I had a good race technically, but my time was still slow,” Erickson said. “I felt bad in the last 50 meters. I shouldn’t be that tired in this race. I should be in better shape than that.”

Although the result was disheartening, Erickson can hold his head up high. He came to Oregon seeded 18th; he’s leaving ninth in the NCAA.

Marum, UCLA’s top javelin thrower, also felt he had more in him. He, too, failed to advance to the finals. His javelin toss of 211-5 earned him 13th overall after three throws, but only the top nine went on.

Marum really wanted this one. His warm-up was focused, his face determined. While everyone else took one javelin onto the practice field, he took two. Marum even showed a little team spirit during his preparation, giving Kim a wave and a word of encouragement as Kim readied himself for another vault.

“I would have liked to have done better,” Marum said afterwards. “I came in a little too tight and a little too nervous. I didn’t perform to my ability. I wasn’t focused enough mentally on what I needed to do.”

UCLA doesn’t have any points to show for Wednesday’s events, but it has three athletes returning next year who now have NCAA championship experience. The Bruins fought hard, but the best in the NCAA proved themselves to be just that.

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