Running in the Shadows : Phillips Tries to Leave Her Mark as She Winds Up Career at Star-Studded UCLA

When Monica Phillips and Gail Devers were freshmen at UCLA, they soon discovered that they had a lot in common, including the same birthday.

“When we turned 18, we went around school handcuffed together,” Devers recalls. “I had a badge on saying I was two hours older; hers said she was taller. We both wore our hair in ponytails and people thought we were sisters.”

Their friendship has remained strong, but while Devers is being billed as the premier collegiate women’s sprinter in the nation, Phillips, despite Andy Warhol’s contention that it will happen to everyone, has yet to have her moment alone in the spotlight.

During her freshman season, Phillips was overshadowed by a senior named Jackie Joyner, who was well on her way to world-class status. The shadows grew even longer for the former standout at Kennedy High in Granada Hills: Phillips’ sophomore season ended prematurely when she suffered a stress fracture in her right tibia that sidelined her for six months.

UCLA women’s Coach Bob Kersee said that the injury might have prevented Phillips from getting her share of recognition.

“She would have qualified for nationals and I think she would have made the Pan Am team,” Kersee said. “She definitely would have been on the winning 1,600 relay team that I coached. She was on her way, progressing, and the injury really set her back.”

Now recovered and ready to establish herself, Phillips is trying to emerge from the shadows cast by Devers, her best friend.

“She’s been underestimated in her talent because she’s been in the era of a Gail Devers or a Jackie Joyner,” Kersee said. “In terms of her durability, when it comes to this program, she’s been as involved as anyone else. . . . For four years she’s really put out a great deal of effort.”

Her accomplishments would get more attention at a school without a star. Last season Phillips finished second in the 400 meters at the Pacific 10 Conference meet with a career-best of 53.31. This season she has qualified in four events--the 200 and 400-meter races and the 400 and 1,600-meter relays. The conference meet starts Saturday at UCLA.

The relay teams already have qualified for the NCAA meet. In the 400 relay, Phillips has participated in five of the school’s 10 best all-time performances; in the 1,600 relay, six of the top 10.

The comparisons with Devers persist, however, and there Phillips is no match. Devers briefly held the American record in the 100 hurdles, won the 100 at the Pan Am Games and the U. S. Olympic Festival last year and has qualified for six events in the NCAA meet, to be held June 1-4 in Eugene, Ore.

Phillips, for one, doesn’t mind being known as one of the other people on “Devers’ relay team.”

“There are a lot of people on the team who are envious of Gail,” Phillips said. “She deserves all the credit she gets. Some people can’t accept that. I’m very close to Gail. I root for Gail, I root for everybody on the team. Even if we’re in the same race, we root for each other until the race starts.”

Said Devers: “I think of Monica as a sister, especially when I lived with her. I call her mother mom, her father dad. When we met, we found that we had a lot of things in common.”

The NCAA meet will be Phillips’ last chance to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Phillips is a year away from graduating but has exhausted her eligibility. But she still will be second in line to her friend one more time. When Devers gets married in late June, Phillips will be her maid of honor.