The UCLA women’s track and field team cannot win a national championship when it heads to Stanford to compete in the NCAA West Regionals today and Saturday.
It can, however, lose it.
Since the No. 3 Bruins are already a bit of a long shot in the national title chase behind favorites LSU and Texas, they cannot afford to have any major qualifying slip-ups if they hope to finally exorcise their championship demons this year.
“We have six top athletes who will determine how far the team goes,” UCLA distance coach Eric Peterson said. “The way they perform will have a huge impact for us.”
Those six Bruins – middle-distance runner Lena Nilsson, sprinter Monique Henderson, hurdler Sheena Johnson, and throwers Chaniqua Ross, Jessica Cosby and Cari Soong – should score the bulk of the points for the squad at the NCAA Championships in Sacramento.
Consequently all six must first qualify – a task that is now decidedly more complicated because of the new regional format.
Instead of using individual qualifying standards – in which athletes have to meet a set mark – to determine the make-up of the NCAA field, the new system shifts the emphasis to head-to-head competition.
Thousands of the top collegiate track and field athletes in the nation will descend upon one of four regional sites, with the top five finishers in each event qualifying for Nationals. In addition, six wild card entrants will be selected in each event based on their season-long performance.
“It’s going to be good for the spectators, but for the athletes it’s tough,” UCLA women’s coach Jeanette Bolden said. “We’ve had to completely readjust our training cycle simply because of regionals.”
Of the Bruins’ six top performers, all should qualify in their respective events if they perform up to their capabilities.
The rest of UCLA’s 19-member squad will have to work considerably harder. A host of potential national scorers including Ysanne Williams (400-meter hurdles), Chelsea Johnson (pole vault), and Candice Baucham (triple jump) each have a good chance to qualify for the Nationals, but will need extraordinary outings in Sacramento to help the team on the scoreboard.
With the 11th best national mark in the long hurdles, Williams has perhaps the best chance to help the team in Sacramento. But she – like all of her teammates – must first survive regional qualifying this weekend.
“We were all recruited to score points at nationals,” Williams said. “That’s my job, and that’s what I am going to try to do.”
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The decision to switch to the new regional format was wrought with controversy, and UCLA was right in the middle of the upheaval.
Bolden and men’s head coach Art Venegas were among a large group of high-profile coaches who were dead set against the addition of regional championships to the track and field slate.
“It was a controversial decision,” said Boston College Associate Athletic Director John Kane, the chairman of the NCAA Track and Field Committee. “It was closer than Bush-Gore. Both sides were very passionate.”
The new regional format had been bandied about the halls of the NCAA offices for over a decade, however, it picked up steam in the past few years. Ultimately the track and field coaches association decided to approve the changes last year in order to allow more athletes the chance to compete in the playoff format.
But the changes could be a detriment to the sport as well.
Although it provides four huge meets in which the fans can take part, it also lengthens the season for the athletes. The change also detracts from the conference meet because athletes are forced to train through the weekend in order to peak in time for regionals.
“We had reservations about it because it diminishes from the conference championship,” said Pac-10 spokesman Jim Muldoon. “That’s our biggest concern.”
Despite the controversy, the NCAA expects to keep the changes in place for at least the next several years.
“I don’t see this as a one-year thing,” Kane said. “We’re going to re-evaluate it and see how it goes, but this will be a fixture for the foreseeable future.”