Bruin Women’s Team Is the One to Catch

The last time a team other than UCLA won the women’s title at the Pacific 10 Conference track and field meet, Monica Lewinsky was an unknown White House intern, Shaquille O’Neal played for the Orlando Magic and Kobe Bryant was in high school.

Since USC won the title in 1996, Coach Jeanette Bolden’s UCLA teams have won eight consecutive championships, including a 21.5-point victory over second-place Stanford last year.

Senior Monique Henderson and the Bruins will try to keep their streak alive this weekend at Drake Stadium.

“It’s my last Pac-10 and I want to go out with a bang,” said Henderson, who ran on the U.S. Olympic gold-medal winning 1,600-meter relay team last summer in Athens and is the defending Pac-10 champion in the 200 and 400 meters.

Henderson is a favorite to repeat her double this weekend and also is running legs for UCLA’s 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams. Candice Bauchman, two-time defending conference champion in the triple jump, and Jessica Cosby, Pac-10 record holder in the hammer throw and the top shotputter in the league, are other Bruins hopeful of winning a title.

UCLA’s biggest challenge is expected from Stanford, runner-up the last two years.

In the men’s competition, UCLA will also be looking to repeat as champion.

With Jon Rankin, who has the top outdoor times in the 800 and 1,500 meters; Brandon Johnson, defending 400-meter hurdles champion, and Erik Emilsson, the league’s top steeplechaser, the Bruins will be looking for their first back-to-back league titles since 1992-96, when they won five in succession. “But that’s the thing with this meet,” Coach Art Venegas said. “You can make all the plans you want but you have to be there on Sunday” for event finals.

Arizona State will be a threat, with sprinters Domenik Peterson, Steven Koehnemann, Seth Amoo and Kelvin Love. The Sun Devils have the league’s top 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams, and Quinley Trevell, Pac-10 leader in the long jump.

Although USC will be without freshman sprinter Lionel Larry, who suffered a hamstring injury last week, the Trojans are expected to be in the mix with Wes Felix, defending 200-meter champion; Allen Simms, defending triple jump champion; Jesse Williams, conference leader in the high jump, and Adam Midles, the league’s top hammer thrower.

Stanford, Arizona and Oregon, teams that rely heavily on distance runners, are also expected to challenge.

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TRACK AND FIELD

* What: Pacific 10 Conference Championships

* Where: UCLA Drake Stadium, today and Sunday.

* When: Field events 10:30 a.m., running events 1:20 p.m. each day.

* Update -- UCLA won the men’s and women’s championships last year. Oregon State will have a women’s team competing for the first time. The Beavers had dropped their program in 1988, three years before the Pac-10 began awarding team titles in women’s track. Mostly trials today. Meet scoring is 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

* Two-day tickets -- Adults $12; students/senior citizens $7.

* Single-day tickets -- Adults $7; students/senior citizens $5.