M. track: Relay team’s win easy, encouraging

Jessica Bach
Published: Monday, April 11, 2005

At this time last season, the UCLA men’s 4x400m relay team established itself as a force with a strong performance at the Texas Relays. The quartet’s easy victory on Saturday at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational was one second slower than the time they ran in Texas last year. But, after taking into account a fierce cross wind and the lack of any serious competition, UCLA sprints coach Tony Veney said Saturday’s race was even more encouraging. “Overall a 3:05, winning by five seconds is a very nice run,” Veney said. “We ran 3:04 the same weekend at the Texas Relays last year, but we had all the Texas teams to compete with, so it was far more competitive. This was almost a solo run, so I was really pleased.” The Bruins were led by anchor Craig Everhart who ran his split in an impressive 45 seconds. His effort, combined with strong legs from Mario Bassani, Denye Versher and Brandon Johnson produced the sixth-fastest collegiate time this year and eclipsed their previous season-best time of 3:10.30 by almost five seconds. “(My anchor leg) just shows that I’m just so much better than I was last year,” said Everhart, who also won the 400m dash in 46.28. “The 4x400 guys all around just show how hard we have been training.” “I think it has a lot to do with maturity and letting Coach Veney guide us on and off the track,” he added. “We have been working on our confidence this year, and we have been working on letting our competitors know we’re out here and who we are.” This improvement in the relay team will certainly help the Bruins next week when they travel to the Sun Angel Classic, where defending Pac-10 4x400-meter champions Arizona State and perennial powerhouse LSU will also compete. “Next week is going to be a real strong test,” Veney said. “If there are any cracks, you will find them, and then you just sew them up before Pac-10’s and Nationals.”

THE NEXT GENERATION: Besides the strong results from UCLA’s regular quartet in the 4x400 relay, the B-squad put together a relatively impressive performance. The team, consisting of sophomores Mike Elbogen and Jeff Jacobs and freshmen James Rhoades and David Shipp finished in a regional-qualifying 3:10.51, coming from behind to finish ahead all the visiting teams. “Those guys really showed up today. I couldn’t have been happier for them,” Veney said. “I was surprised, but I knew they were capable,” Everhart said. “Over spring break, Coach Veney was killing us and a lot of them wanted to give up, but I talked to them and told them this isn’t a point where we’re going to have breakdown, but we’re going to have breakthrough. Everyone stayed committed and got rests and the results speak for themselves.”

ODDS AND ENDS: Former Bruin Juaune Armon, who is currently finishing his degree at UCLA, took first place in the long jump with a mark of 25 feet, 6.75 inches, the second-longest jump in the world this year. Johnson won the 400-meter hurdles in a regional-qualifying 49.65 seconds. Pole vaulter Yoo Kim, who is nursing an injured right hand, competed in the long jump for the first time in his collegiate career on Friday, jumping 22 feet, 4 inches.