There was talk about the lingering injuries that just wouldn’t go away. There was talk about how the UCLA women’s track and field team was finally ripe for a letdown. But once the dust had settled, UCLA came out on top once again – even if a few not-so-familiar faces needed to chime in.
The Bruins trounced the visiting Trojans on Saturday by a score of 90-73, marking their 14th consecutive victory over the crosstown rivals. While the women of Troy had a number of impressive individual performances, it simply was not enough to overcome the Bruins’ depth.
“It’s always a big win when you beat the Trojans,” UCLA coach Jeanette Bolden said. “They had a tremendous team and did some big things today, but our team just stepped up across the board.”
From the throws to the long-distance races, the Bruins scrapped for every point, never giving USC any hope. The win is especially satisfying for the squad because the Trojans had engaged in a bit of trash-talking in the days leading up to the meet.
“At the press conference, there were a lot of things said,” senior Dawn Harper said. “Throwing a lot of stuff out there, just knowing they were going to win. But it’s not like that. It’s a team thing – one person or two can’t do it.”
Harper took second in the 100-meter hurdles to USC’s Virginia Powell, who ran the second fastest time in the world at 12.70 seconds.
Powell also won the 100m and led off the Trojans’ winning 4x100m relay team. In the 200m, Powell took second to teammate Carol Rodriguez, who also won the 400m while setting the Puerto Rican national record in 51.51.
But even with these exceptional performances, USC was simply besieged by UCLA’s balance.
The Bruins swept four events and scored in each individual competition except one (the hammer throw). In particular, redshirt sophomore Renee Williams provided a huge lift for the team in both the long and triple jumps as she defeated USC’s Michelle Sanford, one of the conference’s elite jumpers.
“I just had to go out and get points for our team,” Williams said. “We weren’t really supposed to score first-place points in (the long and triple jumps) but I just had to put it down and help our team out.”
Williams had a career day in both events, with a season-best mark of 20 feet, 6.50 inches in the long jump and a lifetime-best in the triple at 42-8.75, which places her eighth all-time at UCLA.
The Bruins made their biggest mark in the distances sweeping the 1,500m, 5,000m and 3,000m steeplechase. Freshmen Claire Rethmeier and Ciara Viehweg took first in the 5,000m and steeplechase, respectively, while junior Ashley Caldwell won the 1,500m in 4:31.30 to secure the victory for UCLA.
With the win, Bolden improves her pristine record over the Trojans to 13-0 and also gives her a 72-0 career mark in all dual meets. Overall, the Bruins own a 20-3 edge in the all-time series.