The UCLA men’s track and field team’s chance to defend its West Regional title blew away over the weekend, as the howling winds in Eugene, Ore., proved to be the winds of change for an unfortunate Yoo Kim.
Kim, the runner-up at the NCAA Championships in the pole vault as a junior last year, no-heighted on Saturday, ending his UCLA career and costing him a berth in this year’s NCAAs.
Long before Kim entered the competition, the wind was already a factor, briefly forcing the vaulters to stop warming up. By the time Kim began vaulting, however, conditions had worsened.
“The wind affected the people coming in late,” Kim said. “As the lightning came, it brought the wind. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. I still think I should have made it. It was one of the situations I felt I had no control over.”
Officials, who considered turning the pit so that the wind was at the vaulters’ backs, were helpless to step in, as meet rules dictated that the pit remain in its original orientation.
“They were going to switch it because it became way too strong,” Kim said. “When it first started it was sunny and there was a slight head wind, but later it became almost dangerous. It was the worst I’ve been in.”
It wasn’t only Kim who was affected. Twelve of the 23 competitors were unable to record a height; Oregon’s Tommy Skipper, the defending NCAA champion, also no-heighted in front of his home fans and will be absent from NCAAs at Sacramento in two weeks.
“There were several of the top national guys in the competition that didn’t make it,” said pole vault coach Anthony Curran. “It was difficult to see some of the top athletes fall out of the NCAAs. It was hard to watch Skipper; everyone wants to see the No. 1 and No. 2 compete against each other in the championships.”
Kim’s miscue was just one of the reasons it will be difficult for UCLA to meet its preseason goal of a top-five finish at NCAAs. Jonathan Williams suffered a fall in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles on Friday, and none of UCLA’s three triple jumpers came close to qualifying on Saturday.
One of the few bright spots for UCLA was the performance of senior Jon Rankin, who won the 1500m and placed second in the 800m after a premature celebration that cost him the lead in the final 30 meters. Rankin will concentrate solely on the 1500 for nationals, since the Bruins almost certainly will not be a factor in the national title race.
“I can guarantee that if the team race was on the line, he would do both,” distance coach Eric Peterson said. “Now what we’re fighting for is a top-five spot. At this point in time for him and the team, it would be best for him to focus on the 1500.”
In all, eight Bruins automatically qualified for the NCAA meet by finishing in the top five of their respective events, a list including Craig Everhart in the 400m, Brandon Johnson and Jonathan Williams in the 400m hurdles, Martell Munguia in the 800m, Erik Emilsson in the steeple chase and Tony Golston in the 110m hurdles.
Unable to earn an automatic berth was the 4x400-meter relay team after Johnson collided with Oregon’s A.K. Ikwuakor in the exchange area, dropping the baton in the process. UCLA finished fourth, but is expected to receive an at-large bid based on its season-best marks from the national list.
“It was chaos,” Johnson said. “It was raining and windy, freezing cold. We should be able to get in, though.”
With reports from Jessica Bach, Bruin Sports staff.