W. track: Crosstown meeting could be closest in years

Jeff Eisenberg
Published: Friday, April 29, 2005

To a chorus of laughter from the cardinal and gold crowd and an array of bewildered smiles from the Bruins in the room, USC track and field coach Ron Allice ushered in the 70th crosstown dual meet in a manner only he could.

UCLA women’s coach Jeanette Bolden was explaining to a group of reporters gathered at a pre-meet luncheon why it will be difficult for the Bruins to extend their 12-year winning streak against the Trojans, when Allice interjected.

“Can you hold on a second?” Allice said, getting out of his seat and climbing up onto a table.

“I don’t want to interrupt,” he continued, “but when she starts talking like that, come on.”

That was the scene at USC’s Heritage Hall four days before the fifth-ranked Bruins and ninth-ranked Trojans will renew their tradition-rich rivalry on Saturday in a dual meet that almost everyone – except perhaps Allice – expects to be hotly contested on the women’s side.

Bolden, who has won all 11 of her previous match-ups with the Trojans, said that streak could be in serious jeopardy this year.

“Ron Allice knows that on paper he has a lot more depth than I do,” Bolden said. “I was trying to be frank and honest saying they were the favorite, but obviously he’s not buying it. Or at least not publicly anyway.”

This isn’t the first time that Allice has caused a ruckus prior to the dual meet.

Two years ago he told reporters that UCLA would win by so much it would look like his team got run over by a train. And last year he apologized in front of several members of his team for not doing a good enough job recruiting to make the meet closer.

“It’s just gamesmanship,” UCLA sprinter Monique Henderson said.

Chuckled Bolden, “I tend to bring something out of him every year.”

But that Allice would launch into his usual antics again on Tuesday surprised Bolden a little bit, particularly since Saturday’s meet doesn’t figure to be another UCLA rout.

The Trojans, perennially strong in the short sprints and hurdles, will bring a more well-rounded team into the dual meet this year, boasting some of the top throwers and middle-distance runners in the nation.

That could spell trouble for the defending national champion Bruins, whose depth has been depleted this season in the sprints and middle-distance events due to a slew of injuries and a pair of underwhelming recruiting classes.

“Things are definitely more even this year,” said Henderson, one of two senior co-captains along with thrower Jessica Cosby.

“There’s a lot at stake. We haven’t lost to USC before, and I don’t want to this year. That wouldn’t be a good way for me to go out.”

To extend their unbeaten streak against USC to 13 and keep Bolden’s career dual meet record unblemished, the Bruins will likely have to rely on a core group of athletes to score the bulk of their points.

Henderson, the NCAA runner-up in the 400 meters last year, is scheduled to compete in three sprinting events and both of the relays. Cosby and senior Lara Saye are entered in a pair of throwing events apiece. Candice Baucham and Renee Williams will each compete in both the horizontal jumps. And Dawn Harper, UCLA’s top hurdler, will run in the 100-meter hurdles and on the 4x400-meter relay.

“All of those athletes (except Saye) were at NCAAs last year,” Bolden said. “If they could handle that pressure, they can handle the USC meet.”

Bolden, who grew up in Compton, has been a part of the crosstown rivalry for more than two decades, first as a five-time All-American at UCLA, then as a coach.

Though she’s never lost to the Trojans, she has had her share of close calls, most notably a narrow eight-point victory in 2001 during which she spent the last 15 minutes in the tunnel at USC instead of watching UCLA’s decisive victory in the 4x400-meter relay.

This year, for the first time since that season, the dual meet figures to be competitive again, and Bolden said she is already losing sleep – no matter what Allice says.

“It’s going to be a very tough meet,” Bolden said.

“Ron Allice knows his team is better than it has been in the past, but he also knows that we will be ready.”