TRACK AND FIELD / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : UCLA Pair Falls Flat in Women’s Discus

EUGENE, Ore. —  After having watched an excellent men’s discus competition in which Kamy Keshmiri of Nevada Reno set an American collegiate record, the women came out for Friday’s discus final at the NCAA track and field championships in a curious mood--flat and uninspired.

Tracie Millett of UCLA, the event’s defending champion, finished second, and Bruin freshman Dawn Dumble was fifth in the competition before 6,302 at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

Anna Mosdell of Brigham Young won with a throw of 183-10.

Millett led after her first throw of 179 feet, but she was unable to improve after one of the worst series in her career. Three of her six throws were fouls.

Dumble did manage to improve throughout the competition and moved into fifth with her final throw of 170-6.

The marks were disappointing for the UCLA pair--Millett threw 187-2 only a week ago and Dumble threw 182-9 at the same meet.

The men’s competition was highlighted by Keshmiri’s NCAA record throw of 218-5. He bettered the record of 217-11 set by Mike Buncic of Kentucky in 1985.

Keshmiri, who attended UCLA in 1988, had three throws of more than 200 feet. He said he felt ready to break a record, even though Reno has had snow on the ground most of the spring.

“I’ve only had 12-20 days of real training,” he said. “I knew it was a good throw, but I didn’t think it was a national record. I wanted to do it in Eugene because of the crowd and it being the NCAA championship.”

Keshmiri won the event last season and is the two-time national TAC champion.

The men benefited from an excellent wind and sunny, warm conditions. An hour later, when the women threw, the wind had changed and the evening had grown cool.

Millett competed in the same fashion that had earned her criticism this season--she had one big throw and was neither consistent nor in command of herself technically. After she won the indoor shot title earlier this season, some coaches and athletes said Millett, who won both the NCAA shot and discus titles last season, was lucky and that she was cracking under pressure.

In fact, the bad-mouthing got to Millett so much that she made herself a T-shirt. She has worn it every day here. The front says, “I’m insane,” and the back says, “Just looking for a lucky throw.”

Millett, Dumble and UCLA’s Melisa Weis all compete in the finals of the shotput today.

In other events Friday involving UCLA athletes, Erik Smith was ninth in the javelin final with a throw of 218-8, Janeene Vickers advanced to today’s final in the 400-meter hurdles (56.36) and the 100-meter hurdles 13.16, and Marty Beck advanced to the finals in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing second in his heat with 50.23.

UCLA’s women were tied for fifth.

For USC, Quincy Watts turned in the fastest time in the semifinals of the 400 meters, running a personal best of 45.49. The time is the fourth fastest by a Trojan.

Travis Hannah, running in Watts’ heat, failed to advance with a time of 46.39.