The Man Who Teaches ‘Gladiators’ : Bruin Assistant Coach Art Venegas Sees Track as a ‘Fight to the Finish’

Art Venegas comes across as an easygoing man, the type who would take that extra half step not to squash an insect.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a competitive side to the UCLA assistant track and field coach in charge of weight events.

“Track’s a little bit like gladiators going at it. It’s a symbolic fight to the finish, and someone’s going to come out lying on their shield,” Venegas said.

But then the nice guy adds: “Sometimes we feel like the other guys are leaving on their shields, but sometimes we just walk out knowing we’ve done the job right. . . . The ultimate for me would be for us to win the next 10 NCAA titles by one point each. That would show we respect the other teams.”

Venegas, in his eighth season at UCLA, is one of the reasons that Bruin opponents more often then not get the symbolic thumbs down.

The Bruins are two-time defending national and conference champions and have a dual meet winning streak of 43 (with one tie) dating to the end of 1984, which ties the school record set in 1972-76. This season the Bruins are 5-0-1 in dual meets, tying Louisiana State a month ago at Drake Stadium.

The role of Venegas and his throwers has become more important this year for the Bruins, who for the last two seasons have been dominated by sprinters because of the loss of key team members. Kevin Young, who finished fourth in the Seoul Olympics in the intermediate hurdles, has graduated, and Danny Everett, who won two medals in Seoul in the 400 meters and 1,600-meter relay, has left to pursue commercial endorsements. Henry Thomas, who finished third in the 200 meters at the NCAA championships, is redshirting.

That leaves the throwers, whose accomplishments the last two years have been overshadowed by the sprinters, to pick up the slack and gain recognition.

The importance of the throwers was most obvious two weeks ago when the Bruins defeated USC for the 11th consecutive year, by the misleading score of 93-68. On the track, UCLA was outscored 56-35 by Trojan sprinters, but Venegas’ throwers dominated the field events, outscoring USC 58-12.

“The attention the sprinters have gotten has been well deserved,” Venegas said. “They’ve been winning national events and Olympic events. . . . There is a throwing community, and within that community our people are well-known and respected. Sometimes publicity is more important for high school athletes because college guys are more mature.”

Going back to last year’s national meet, Venegas’ throwers have been carrying more than their own weight.

At the national championships last year, Bruin throwers accounted for 25 of the team’s 82 points, led by Pete Thompson’s and David Wilson’s second-place finishes in the discus and hammer. Brian Blutreich, a highly recruited junior out of Mission Viejo, took third in the discus.

This season Wilson, Blutreich and Eric Bergreen have qualified for the nationals in the shot put and Dave Bultman, a freshman from Simi Valley, has qualified for the Pac-10 shot. Blutreich, Thompson and Wilson have qualified for the nationals in the discus and Wilson and junior transfer John Knight from Agoura have qualified in the hammer.

The Bruins would be even deeper in weight events were it not for the departure of Kami Keshmiri, the Track and Field News Prep Athlete of the Year in 1987 who holds the national prep discus record. After injuring his knee, Keshmiri redshirted for the Bruins last year and has since left school.

“We’ve scored in nationals every year since 1983,” Venegas said. “Last year we had the highest point total in the nation. It’s not like all of a sudden we have the people to do well. Perhaps sprinters is an area where we’ve had more people in the past, but this year is a temporary thing. The weight team is older this year, and more mature. They’ve been with me for a while. They’re cool under fire.”

Venegas, 37, of Northridge was born in Tepic, Mexico, and moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. After graduating from St. Genevieve High in Panorama City, he was a four-year letterman in the hammer at Cal State Northridge and was a Division II All-American in 1974. He coached at Cal State Northridge in 1974-79 and was an assistant at Cal State Long Beach for two years before then-Coach Jim Bush brought him to Westwood.

With the success of some of his athletes, notably John Brenner, who holds the American record in the shot and discus, Venegas has become one of the experts on throwing. Last November he delivered a speech on the shot put to the 11th World Congress of the International Track and Field Coaches Assn. in Barcelona, Spain. In 1987 he was the featured speaker at the International Amateur Athletic Federation European Coaching Congress. He has also worked with the British and Spanish national teams.

“From what I’ve seen, he seems to be technically one of the best coaches,” Blutreich said. “He catches little things no one else sees. He always has something to say and he’s always open for new ideas.”

Said Thompson: “He’s always looking for an opportunity to make a point to improve his throwers both psychologically and technically. If I’m watching another thrower with him, he’ll say something to make sure I’m learning something from that thrower, either something positive that he’s doing right or something negative that he’s doing wrong.”

Venegas also coaches UCLA women throwers and his successes there have included 1986 NCAA discus champion Toni Lutjens and 1988 All-American Kris Larson in the discuss. This year sophomore Tracie Millet qualified for Nationals with a javelin throw of 172-11, the best throw in eight years by a Bruin.

“It seems that the men are more intense in practice than the women but that the women come around more during the meets,” Venegas said.

“My primary philosophy is that the No. 1 thing is that this is a learning experience. I’m here to learn too. It’s a little bit like being in a classroom where they have to perform in an orderly fashion. It’s different because the kids are here to compete. They’re here because they want to do that.”