COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD : UCLA Plays Host to Invitational

With several big-name athletes gone from the USC and UCLA teams, there has been a new call to order on the local collegiate track scene this season.

USC, dominant in recent seasons, lost four top athletes; UCLA lost only one and appears to have considerably more experience. Both teams, though, are relying on new talent in several events.

There also have been new stirrings on the women’s teams for each school. Both are relying on athletes who did not fare well at last year’s NCAA championships because of injuries.

UCLA’s first home meet of the season, the Gail Devers Invitational, begins at 10 a.m. today at Drake Stadium. Also competing will be Houston, Colorado and Cal State Northridge.

Both UCLA and USC will compete in the Mt. San Antonio Relays April 16-17.

The USC men lost all but one qualifier from last year’s squad, which finished third in the NCAA meet. Its biggest losses were quarter-milers Quincy Watts, the 1992 Olympic and NCAA champion in the 400 meters; Travis Hannah, who finished fourth in the NCAA meet, and Mark Crear, who won the NCAA high hurdles. All completed their eligibility. Sprinter Curtis Conway gave up his final year of football eligibility to make himself available for the NFL draft and is not competing in track this season.

The Trojans’ returning veteran sprinter is Jeff Laynes, a senior who finished fifth in the 1992 NCAA 100 meters. He has run it in 10.23 seconds this season.

Laynes is one of four seniors on USC’s roster. There are 16 freshmen.

Balazs Kiss, a freshman from Hungary, has already broken the school record in the hammer throw with a throw of 249 feet 9 inches this season.

Coach Jim Bush, 66, is having a good time coaching the Trojan youngsters.

“We’re having more fun than I’ve had in years,” Bush said. “I feel like I’m a young, 45-year-old coach again.”

At UCLA, however, Coach Bob Larsen has a more balanced group with respect to age.

The Bruins’ biggest loss was the graduated Marty Beck, who placed second in the 1992 NCAA 400-meter hurdles and seventh at the U.S. Olympic trials.

UCLA, however, has six All-Americans back, as well as Tony Miller, the 1992 Pacific 10 Conference champion in the 100 and 200 meters.

Miller suffered a hamstring injury during the 1992 conference 200-meter final and failed to qualify for the sprint finals at the NCAA meet. He has run 10.6 and 21.15 in the events this season.

Miller, a senior, is being pushed by freshman Gentry Bradley of Pius X High. Bradley has run 10.62 and 21.01 this season.

In high school, Bradley was the state Division I champion in the 100 meters and set the state record in the 200 with a 21.19.

The throwers are the strength of UCLA’s team. The group is led by sophomore John Godina, whose put of 60 feet 8 inches was good for seventh place in the shot at last year’s NCAA meet. Godina also placed ninth in the discus at the Olympic trials with a throw of 184-2. He has already qualified for the NCAA meet in both events.

UCLA lost at Cal on March 27, 86-76, only the second dual-meet loss for Larsen during his nine-year career, the other having been to Texas in 1991. Larsen’s teams are 57-2-1 in dual meets.

Barbara Edmonson, in her first full year as coach of the USC women, hopes for a similar record.

Edmonson, who won the gold medal in the 100 meters and the silver medal in the 200 at the 1968 Olympics, led the Trojan women to 43rd place at the 1992 NCAA meet.

But this season, if everyone stays injury-free, the Trojans are expected to fare much better.

Inger Miller, a junior, set a USC record in the 100 last year with a time of 11.16 and has matched it this season. She also has a personal best of 23.04 in the 200 meters.

Miller, daughter of former USC track star Lennox Miller, suffered an injured hamstring last year during the NCAA meet and did not run in either sprint final.

Likewise, the UCLA women’s team features a highly regarded sprinter making a comeback from injuries. Angela Burnham was an All-American as a freshman in 1990 but suffered an injured hamstring in 1991 and was involved in a car accident last season.

Burnham will not compete in the Gail Devers Invitational but Bob Kersee, UCLA’s coach, expects her to be ready by the Pac-10 meet at Berkeley in late May.

“I’m trying not to put too much pressure on her this year,” Kersee said. “I just keep reminding her that the last three Olympic champions in the 100 meters have come from this school, and they have all had (injuries) at one time, but perseverance pays off.”