June 2, 2001

Final Women's Team Scores (Top 10):
1. USC 64,
2. UCLA 55,
3. Arizona 44,
4. South Carolina 36,
5. Arkansas 31,
6. LSU 30,
7. Clemson 28,
8. Stanford 27,
9. Rice 25,
10. Texas 25.

UCLA Women

The UCLA women placed second with 55 points, behind winner USC 64. During her eight-years as the Bruin women's head coach, Jeanette Bolden has led UCLA to seven, Top 3 NCAA Outdoor finishes, including second-place in 1995-98-99-2001 and third-place in 1994-97-2000. She has also led the Bruin women to the last two NCAA Indoor Championships.

Jeanette Bolden - "I knew we'd have to have a perfect day and USC would have to make some mistakes. For a meet like this, USC has a lot of veteran athletes, we have more young athletes. Our team had a great effort. I know going back to Los Angeles we have had a great freshman class, a great recruiting class coming in and we will reload.

Michelle Perry is the MVP of this meet. She competed in 11 events. I wish we had today's results on Wednesday. Today we had our senior co-captains (Perry, Christina Tolson, Shakedia Jones). I wish I could reverse Wednesday and Saturday. The experience of USC was the difference in this meet."

The Bruin women came into the meet ranked No. 1 in the U. S. and were co-favorites to win the 2001 NCAA Outdoor with No. 2 USC (the Bruins had already beaten USC twice this season, in the dual meet and at the Pac-10). UCLA was in five women's finals on Saturday - senior Michelle Perry in the heptathlon, senior Christina Tolson in the hammer throw, junior Darnesha Griffith in the high jump, senior Shakedia Jones in the 100m and UCLA's 4 X 400m relay.

Heptathlon - Perry, in just the second heptathlon of her career, placed second , with 5,759 points (a personal-best,, No. 3 in UCLA history, No. 7 in Pac-10 history, previous PR was 5,657, on Friday, Perry also set a first-day PR of 3,430 (second-place), previous first-day PR was 3,370). Here's a breakdown of her three events on Saturday. She earned eight points for the Bruin women and her third All-American honor of this meet (on Friday, she placed seventh in the 400m hurdles and also on Saturday, she ran the opening leg on UCLA's 4 X 400m relay that placed fifth). In all Perry competed in 11 events at the 2001 Outdoor.

Long Jump - Perry's mark of 19-2 was the seventh-best mark and earned her 801 points. After five events, she was in third-place, with 4,231 points.

Javelin - Her mark of 124-2 (personal-best) was the ninth -best effort and earned her 626 points. After six events, Perry was in third-place, with 4,857 points.

800m - Perry's time of 2:14.36 (personal-best) was the No. 2 mark, earning her 902 points and moving her up to second-place in the final standings.

Michelle Perry - "Coming into the 800m, I knew I had to run it, I just didn't want to! It was a gutsy performance. The first time I ran the 800m (in the heptathlon), my pace was too slow. The important thing for me in this 800m was to run a comfortable pace. You have to stay strong and tough. You don't think about it, you just go out and do it. Coach (Bob) Kersee has helped me out so much. When I'd get down on myself, he'd keep me going. I came into this meet with the sixth best mark. I'm excited to perform this well, it's just my second-time ever in the heptathlon."

Hammer Throw - senior Christina Tolson, who won the shot put on Thursday, came into the hammer throw with the No. 2 mark (214-7). She placed second in the hammer with a mark of 215-0. She earned eight points for the Bruin women.

Christina Tolson - "We needed every team point we could get, I knew that going into the event. I was focused. I knew I had to do it for the team. It was expected of me. This is my senior season and it's a nice way to go out (winning the shot put, second in the hammer).

High Jump - Junior Darnesha Griffith, who placed second in this event at the Pac-10, was 13th, with a leap of 5-9 ².

100m - senior Shakedia Jones, who came into this meet with the No. 2 mark (11.13), placed second, with a wind-aided time of 11.10 (+2.9, her best ever wind-aided mark, her best legal mark is 11.11), behind winner USC Angela Williams (11.05). Jones picked up eight team points for the Bruin women and earned her 10th career All-American honor.

Shakedia Jones - "With about 20 meters left, Angela went into another gear. I ran the race I was supposed to run. I ran a fast time. There was no pressure. I was confident. I'm glad I was able to get eight points for the team. I was hoping for 10, but I'm happy."

4 X 400m Relay - UCLA's relay of senior Michelle Perry, freshman Sheena Johnson, junior Ysanne Williams and freshman Adia McKinnon placed fifth, in a time of 3:36.09. The relay earned four points for the Bruin women.