Oregon Holds Sizable Lead After the First Day

Most things went as planned at the Pacific 10 Conference track and field championships at UCLA on Saturday. It was the surprises that hurt, at least as far as UCLA was concerned.

After the first day, Oregon leads with 78 points, Washington is second with 45 and UCLA is third with 38. USC is in eighth place.

“I wouldn’t say it’s insurmountable,” UCLA Coach Bob Larsen said of the Ducks’ lead. “Obviously, Oregon had an outstanding first day. The points were where I thought they would be.”

The day began well, with the Bruins placing three throwers in the shot put. Mark Parlin won with a mark of 64 feet 8 inches, Johnathan Ogden was third and Wade Tift was fifth. UCLA lost potential points when Travis Haynes injured the ring finger on his right hand in the hammer throw and was unable to compete.

Collegiate rules require any athlete who scratches from an event to withdraw from the entire meet, but UCLA sought a medical declaration to allow Haynes to compete in today’s discus throw.

Another point loss came in the pole vault. While Scott Slover of UCLA won the event at 17-4 1/2, two other Bruin vaulters cleared only the opening height.

Matters grew worse for UCLA when Ibrahim Hassan strained his left hamstring and collapsed while coming off the curve in the 200-meter qualifying. Future points may go by the boards, too, because Hassan was also entered in the 400 and in both relays.

One unexpected gain came in the javelin when Josh Johnson, who was nursing an injured elbow, moved into second place on his last throw.

Oregon hoarded points everywhere it could and gained heavily in the distance events. The Ducks scored three runners in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and three in the 10,000 meters.

In the first event of the day, Trojan throwers went 1-2 in the hammer as collegiate champion Balazs Kiss won and Bengt Johannson finished second.

In the women’s competition, Oregon leads with 75 points, USC is second with 47 and UCLA has 33. Trojan Coach Ron Allice said he expected his team to win. So does Bruin Coach Jeanette Bolden, although she said today’s events will play to UCLA’s strengths.

UCLA’s field-event athletes scored 28 of the team’s points. Two defending NCAA champions won: Amy Acuff in the high jump and Valeyta Althouse in the shot put.

Acuff won at 6-3 1/4 then missed three tries at 6-5 3/4. Tanya Smith of USC was second at 5-10 3/4.

Althouse won the shot put with a mark of 59-6 1/4, teammate Nada Kava was second at 53-1 3/4 and Leslie Coons of USC was fourth at 47-7 1/4.

Emebet Shiferaw of USC was the surprise winner of the 3,000 meters in a time of 9:12.97.