Nicole Leach second in 400M hurdles
Junior Nicole Leach set a Drake Stadium record time in the 400-meter hurdles, but so did Nickiesha Wilson of LSU. Wilson beat Leach to win the NCAA Outdoor Championship event in Des Moines, Iowa.
Leach ran her race in 54.62 and finished second to Wilson's 54.45. Last year, Leach won the race and Wilson was second.
"I felt like I had a pretty good race," Leach said. "The biggest thing that Bobby (Kersee) and I wanted to work on in the race was alternating coming home and I had a problem at the 10th hurdle. I don't know if that kind of hindered my finish or not.
"I tried to stay in my race and focus on my step pattern. I didn't know she was there because I was focused on me."
Next up for Leach is the Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., at the end of June.
"This let's me know what I need to work on - the last hurdle," Leach said. "Anything can happen at Trials, so I'm just going to get back to practice, work on what needs fixing, and focus running well at Trials."
About Inside UCLA
This is Brian Dohn's sixth season covering UCLA after spending 4 1/2 years covering the Dodgers for the Daily News and other Los Angeles Newspaper Group papers. He graduated from Rutgers, where the first college football game was played in 1869. Sure, the Scarlet Knights suffered for a long time, but now RU is doing what Jerseyans always thought was possible. Winning at Rutgers also proves winning is possible everywhere else in the nation, so underachieving coaches better be careful. Now, if only men's hoops can turn it around.
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