O’Hara’s Win Vaults UCLA to Lead

BATON ROUGE, La. —  Practice is overrated.

At least it proved an unnecessary detail for UCLA’s Tracy O’Hara, who won the pole vault at the NCAA championships Wednesday despite a painful back that kept her from practicing most of the last six weeks.

O’Hara started to sit to talk after clearing 13 feet 91/4 inches to defeat Andrea Wildrick of Liberty in a jump-off, but her back quickly complained.

“Better to stand,” she said.

O’Hara has vaulted higher--she holds the collegiate record of 14-71/4, set in 2000. Although she hoped to set a personal record in her final collegiate meet, she had no complaints about winning her third NCAA title after being limited mostly to the pool and the chiropractor’s table recently.

“I was just keeping the faith,” said O’Hara, who won the NCAA outdoor and indoor titles two years ago as a sophomore and was second in both events last year.

O’Hara’s victory, worth 10 points, helped top-ranked UCLA take the lead after the first day of the four-day meet with 15 points--five ahead of Clemson and North Carolina State. Cari Soong took fourth in the hammer for the Bruins’ other points.

USC, the defending women’s champion, has three points off L’Orangerie Crawford’s sixth-place finish in the hammer.

USC’s Natasha Mayers--a transfer from L.A. Southwest College who competed in the Sydney Olympics for St. Vincent and the Grenadines--ran the third-fastest 200-meter time in school history, winning her heat in 22.80 seconds.

USC’s Kinshasa Davis also qualified for the 200-meter final, but Angela Williams--poised to seek four consecutive NCAA titles in the 100 meters Saturday--failed to qualify in the 200 by two one-hundredths of a second.

USC’s Aleksandra Deren qualified in the 800. The Trojans’ 400-meter relay team also qualified.

The Bruins’ Sheena Johnson won her 400-meter hurdle heat, but Tiffany Burgess failed to qualify in the 800.

The leader in the men’s competition is Georgia, with USC and UCLA scoreless.

The Bruins’ Kyle Erickson, hobbled because of a hamstring injury, tried to run the 400-meter hurdles but pulled up before the first hurdle.

USC qualified for the finals of the 400-meter relay.