Pacific 10 Track and Field Meet : UCLA’s Men and Women Favored to Repeat

The Pacific 10 Conference track and field meet begins today at Drake Stadium, and the favored UCLA men’s team will be relatively quiet on the first day of competition.

Sunday, however, is the Bruins’ coming-out party as their sprinters, hurdlers and relay teams are expected to supply more than enough points to retain the team title they won last year at Corvallis, Ore.

It will most likely be a UCLA show in every aspect. The Bruin women, most notably Gail Devers, are heavily favored to repeat as conference champions.

Oregon, which upset UCLA for the men’s title in 1986 at the Coliseum, had figured to threaten the Bruins again.

But that was before recent knee surgery on J.J. Birden, who was co-favored to win the long jump, along with teammate Latin Berry, and expected to get points in the high hurdles. Birden was injured at a Cleveland Browns mini-camp for draft choices.

Oregon was also hurt by an earlier injury to Spencer Williams, a long and triple jumper.

“There was a point this year, after our quadrangular meet in Texas, when we were in line to do what we did two years ago,” Oregon Coach Bill Dellinger said. “But the injuries to Birden and Williams pretty much take us out of being a contender. The (Pac-10) coaches concede the meet to UCLA. They are clearly the favorite.”

UCLA Coach Bob Larsen acknowledged that his team should be favored but was cautious, saying: “One injury, or a miscue, would tighten up the score quickly.”

Larsen is mindful of the 1986 conference meet, in which sprinter Henry Thomas pulled up in the 400-meter relay with a leg injury, relegating UCLA to fourth, and the Ducks went on to win the title.

Thomas, who was bothered by an allergy earlier in the season, is sharp now, as evidenced by his school-record time of 20.18 seconds in the 200 last Saturday night at Occidental.

His teammate, Mike Marsh, also set a school record by running 10.12 seconds in the 100 in that meet, and a third UCLA record of 38.94 seconds was recorded in the 400-meter relay.

So the Bruins are peaking at the right time. On a 10-8-6-4-2-1 scoring basis, UCLA could score as many as 88 points in the 100, 200, 400, 110- and 400-meter hurdles, and sprint and 1,600-meter relays.

Thomas, Danny Everett and Kevin Young are defending conference champions in the 200, 400 and 400-meter intermediate hurdles, respectively; Marsh won the 100 as a freshman in 1986, and the relay teams have the best times in college ranks.

UCLA should also pick up some points in the weight events with Dave Wilson, Peter Thompson and Brian Blutreich, and in the long jump with Young.

The Bruins won last year’s meet with a record Pac-10 score of 176 points. It isn’t likely that they’ll score that many points this weekend, but barring mishaps, they should win by a comfortable margin.

USC has modest aspirations. Coach Ernie Bullard just hopes that his Trojans can be among the top five teams.

“Our depth and strength appear to be in places where the conference is strong,” Bullard said. “We need a good effort out of our sprinters and relay teams. We do have some solid points in the hurdles.”

USC’s Robert Reading is projected as a winner in the high hurdles, and George Porter could finish second or third in the 400-meter hurdles.

Ibrahim Okash has the conference’s best time in the 800 with a 1:46.45, but his Trojan teammate, Joey Bunch, suffered a leg cramp in the Occidental meet, which could inhibit his performance. Bunch won the 800 title in 1986.

As for the women’s portion of the meet, it should be D-day again. Devers won the 100, 200, 100-meter hurdles and long jump and ran anchor on UCLA’s winning relay teams in last year’s meet.

Her schedule may not be as arduous this weekend, if the Bruins are clearly in command of the meet by Sunday.

Janeene Vickers (400 hurdles), Laura Chapel (1,500), Choo Choo Knighten (400) and Kris Larson (discus) will provide additional points, among others.

The USC women’s team figures to place third behind UCLA and Oregon, but the Trojans will get their share of individual honors.

Wendy Brown has already won the heptathlon, and she and Yvette Bates should place high in the triple and long jumps.

Lesley Noll, who has already set a Pac-10 record in the 1,500 of 4:17.25, will concentrate on the 800. Her time in the 800 of 2:03.30 is three seconds faster than any other Pac-10 runner. Michelle Taylor is apparently the class of the 400 field.

Track and Field Notes

Hammer throw competition will be held at Cal State Los Angeles at 10 a.m. today. Events at Drake Stadium begin at 1 p.m. today and Sunday. . . . William Reed, the outstanding high school quarter-miler from Central High in Philadelphia, recently visited the USC campus. Reed is inactive with a broken bone in his foot. He had a nation-leading prep time of 45.17 seconds in the 400 last year as a junior and is credited with a hand-timed 20.5 in the 200 as a sophomore. . . . USC has won 29 conference track and field championships, but none since 1977. UCLA is the runner-up with 9 titles. . . . Women’s competition in the Pac-10 didn’t begin until last year.

Oregon’s women’s team lost some projected points when Camille Jampolsky had to drop out of the heptathlon with an injured Achilles’ tendon. She was also projected for points in the high jump. . . . Best men’s races of the meet could be the 200, with UCLA’s Henry Thomas and Mike Marsh opposing California’s Atlee Mahorn, and the 800, involving USC’s Ibrahim Okash and Eric Schermerhorn, Stanford’s Dave Strang, Cal’s David Ottaway and Arizona’s Doug Herron. . . . UCLA’s Gail Devers will be trying to reclaim her American record in the 100-meter hurdles. She had it in April with a time of 12.71, only to have Jackie Joyner-Kersee break it with a 12.70 May 7 at Modesto. . . . As usual, the Oregon men are strong in the distance races and in several field events.