Texas Women Run Down UCLA

It came down to the final event in Saturday’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but all UCLA could do was watch as Texas took the women’s title.

The win completed an indoor-outdoor title sweep for the Texas women in 1998.

On the men’s side, it was Arkansas picking up its seventh consecutive outdoor title, finishing 7 1/2 points ahead of Stanford.

Trailing the Bruins by five points going into the 1,600-meter relay, the Longhorns won the event and collected 10 points. UCLA didn’t have a team in the race, thus giving the title to Texas.

Texas trailed UCLA by 30 points when the day started, but Bruin Coach Jeanette Bolden knew her team would have problems without the relay team.

“We needed to have a really big day,” she said. “It’s hard to win when you don’t have a mile relay.”

One of the big reasons UCLA stayed at or near the top the entire event was the running of freshman Shakedia Jones, who overcame a leg injury during the 100-meter finals to finish second in the 100 and third in the 200.

The USC women weren’t far behind, finishing fifth with 35 points. It was the Trojans’ best finish since coming in third in 1987.

Junior sprinter Torri Edwards scored nine points alone on the final day with a third-place finish in the 100 and a sixth-place finish in the 200.

The Razorbacks also used a big comeback on the final day to capture the men’s title, 58 1/2 to 51, over the Cardinal.

Arkansas trailed Stanford, 39-25 1/2, at the start of Saturday, but began shrinking that deficit when Seneca Lassiter won the 1,500 meters for the second consecutive year. A second consecutive long jump-triple jump double from Robert Howard gave the Razorbacks the lead for good.

The UCLA men finished sixth with 38 points, while USC finished seventh with 29.

The Trojans’ Jerome Davis, a junior, won the 400-meter title with a career-best mark of 45.18.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Davis said. “At the 200 mark, I just wanted to keep building into the turn.”

The Bruins’ best finisher was senior Mebrahtom Keflezighi, who finished fourth in the 5,000 meters.

Mel Moultry placed sixth in the triple jump for UCLA.

Leonard Myles-Mills of Brigham Young ended the unbeaten season of Washington freshman Ja’Warren Hooker, winning the men’s 100 in a wind-aided 10.20.