UCLA’s Henderson Had Some Catching Up to Do

“You’re back!”

Monique Henderson of UCLA has heard that a lot lately, and she appreciates all the well-meaning people who have encouraged her with those words.

But she doesn’t totally agree with them.

Although Henderson has set career bests in the 100, 200 and 400 meters this year, she views this season as long overdue, not as a return to the record-breaking form she displayed as a junior at San Diego Morse High in 2000.

“It’s been great,” Henderson said. “But I know it’s something I should have done two years ago.”

Henderson, a contender for the 400 title in the NCAA track and field championships that start today at the University of Texas, was an age-group phenom from the time she was 10 and won an unprecedented four consecutive state titles in the 400 for Morse. She ran what was then a national junior (under 20) and high school record of 50.74 seconds to win the 400 in the 2000 state championships before finishing eighth in the Olympic trials that summer.

Her eighth-place finish earned her a spot as an alternate on the 1,600 relay team for Sydney. And though she did not run in the Games, great things were expected of her from then on.

Adjusting to life away from home, adapting to new coaches and training regimens, and nagging injuries all contributed to seventh-place finishes in the NCAA championships as a freshman and sophomore at UCLA.

“I wasn’t used to losing, and then I just started to accept it,” Henderson said.

She hit bottom at the USA Track & Field championships last June when she ran 54.43 to place eighth -- and last -- in a semifinal.

Jeanette Bolden, the women’s coach at UCLA, remembers a meeting after that race in which Henderson’s father, Adam, calmly but firmly asked Monique whether she still had the desire to train for and excel in the 400.

When she answered with a soft “yes,” he posed the question again and she gave him the loud, firm reply he was looking for.

She has been on a mission since then.

The USC-UCLA dual meet May 1 served notice that she was rejuvenated. She sped past USC’s Dominique Dorsey on the anchor leg of the 400 relay, won the 400 in 51.20, the fastest time in the world at the time, and won the 200 in a career-best 22.71.

In the Pacific 10 Conference championships, she won the 400 in 50.90 to break the school record of 50.94 set by Florence Griffith Joyner in 1983, won the 200 in 22.89, and ran anchor legs on victorious 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

Then came the West Region championships at Cal State Northridge on May 29, when she won the 400 in 50.65 to break her career best.

The time makes Henderson the No. 3 entry in the NCAA championships behind defending champion Sanya Richards of Texas, who has run 50.49 this year, and Hazel-Ann Regis of Louisiana State, who has run 50.64. But Henderson says she has none of the doubts that plagued her in the previous two NCAA meets.

“There were all these questions in my mind before,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if I could run with the girls who had run faster times than me and I wasn’t sure if I could run well” in the heats, semifinals and final. “But I don’t have any of those doubts this time.”