A notoriously slow starter in the past, UCLA’s Yoo Kim is out of the blocks quickly this season. The senior pole vaulter cleared the bar at 18 feet, 1 inch in his second meet of the indoor season to take first place at the Husky Invitational in Seattle on Saturday. The performance was an indoor career best for Kim, who had never cleared higher than 17-4 indoors before. “He’s very confident right now,” UCLA pole vaulting coach Anthony Curran said. “Usually he starts off slow and is tough by the end of the season, but not this year. This is big for him.” Such a strong start for Kim was not a surprise to Curran, who said Kim has been routinely clearing 17-6 in practice. Kim, a member of the Korean Olympic team in Athens, took second place overall at the NCAA Outdoor Championships this past June and seems to be picking up where he left off. “The difference is that this year he is opening up at 18 feet,” Curran said. “It’s a sign of his maturity. He’s reached the next level.” It was almost a very disappointing meet for Kim, who missed his first two attempts at his opening height of 17-1. But he cleared the bar on his final vault, and then easily cleared the next two bars on his first attempts. BYU’s Trent Powell failed on all three of his attempts at 18-1 to give Kim the victory. The UCLA senior took three attempts at a personal-best mark of 18-5, but missed all of them, ending the competition.
TAKING IT SLOW: Sophomore Brandon Johnson, one of the nation’s top young hurdlers, is still recovering from an offseason stress fracture in his fibula and will only participate minimally during the indoor season. Johnson, the Pac-10 400-meter hurdles champion a year ago, will not compete individually indoors, but plans to run a leg on UCLA’s 4x400m relay team at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
SHORT SPRINTS: Senior Anthony Golston matched his indoor season best in the 60m hurdles from a year ago on Saturday with a mark of 7.86 seconds. .... Senior Nick Thornton ran a personal-best 1:48.72 in the 800m on Saturday. ... Sophomore thrower David Shortenhaus competed in the heptathlon for the first time in his career, finishing fourth with 4,665 points.