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Mixed results for men's track

Bruins record three

life-time bests, but

falls short on relays

By Tim Costner

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

In one of the biggest meets of the season, the UCLA men's track and field team had a chance to make its mark in the NCAA track world.

The Bruins, however, only revealed half of their potential at last weekend's Penn Relays in Philadelphia, dominating the field events but suffering difficulties and setbacks in the running events.

UCLA shotputter John Godina led the field with a mark of 67 feet 9 inches, while fellow Bruin Mark Parlin finished second with a throw of 61-4 1/2. Both marks were lifetime bests. UCLA's Jonathan Ogden finished fifth in the competition with a throw of 58-2.

"That was a great job for those kids," said UCLA throwing coach Art Venegas. "Parlin will now go to the nationals very confidently with that mark."

In the javelin, UCLA's Greg Johnson finished third in the invitational competition with a throw of 234-1, while teammate Josh Johnson (no relation to Greg Johnson) had a big break-through in the collegiate portion with a lifetime best of 229-5.

Josh Johnson's mark was nearly a 17-foot improvement on his former mark, giving him a provisional qualification for the NCAA Championships in June.

In the sprints, UCLA's Ato Boldon provided a glimpse of the Bruins' potential by running the 200-meter leg of the sprint medley in 19.5 seconds. The UCLA relay team failed to finish among the top, however.

The Bruins had even greater difficulty in the 4x100m relay, failing to make the final heat due to problems in the hand-off between the third and the anchor legs.

In the distance events, Mebrahtom Keflezighi battled illness through the 10,000m, finishing the race in 30:40 -- about 50 seconds shy of a provisional NCAA qualification.

Rounding out the field of UCLA athletes, high jumper Rich Pitchford finished fourth in the collegiate competition with a jump of 6-10 3/4, Greg Hodel finished third in the collegiate hammer with a throw of 190 and Avery Anderson ran the 110m hurdles in 14.20 -- just missing the finals.

"We'll regroup in the running events for the 'SC meet," Venegas said. "The travel was tough and sometimes you just have a little bit of bad luck."

UCLA's meet against USC is this Saturday at USC, and will be the Bruins' last dual meet of the season.

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