Though the conditions were less than ideal, the Bruins still
showed up in force. The UCLA men’s track and field team
dominated the Cal/Nevada Championships at Fresno State over the
weekend, scoring a whopping 246.50 points. Despite soggy conditions
in Central California, the Bruins posted myriad impressive marks.
Most notably, sophomore John Caulfield threw a career-best mark of
63 feet, 8.25 inches in the shot put preliminaries on Friday,
though he came in second to senior Bruin Jake Knight in the finals
the following day. The sophomore’s throw stands as the second
best mark in the nation. Caulfield was also part of a UCLA sweep of
the top three spots in the discus. Sophomore Greg Garza won the
discus with a toss of 178-11, just over three feet ahead of the
second-place Caulfield. “I feel like I’m progressing
really well, and I think the throwers are starting to lead the team
back to the top again,” Caulfield said. “I think we are
doing a good job of showing the rest of the nation how good we
are.” Freshman Boldizsar Kocsor also got into the mix,
winning the hammer throw in a career-best mark of 198-6. Though
this young core of throwers has been solid during this early
season, UCLA coach Art Venegas knows this group can perform even
better. “I think that in general the throwers are close and
we are all moving in the right direction,” Venegas said.
“I still believe we will increase our level of performance
for Pac-10 competition.” The Bruins also achieved top-notch
performances in the jumps. Sophomore Dominique Easterling leaped to
the second-best mark in the nation, 51-2.75. In the pole vault,
junior Mike Landers had a career day. Landers won the event,
clearing a career-best height of 17-2.75, which currently ranks him
third in the country. On the track, Kevin Craddock continues to
turn heads in the 400-meter hurdles. Though the freshman finished
second, his time of 52.01 seconds was a career best. “Kevin
is really rounding into nice shape,” sprints coach Tony Veney
said. “He is injury-free, which is what we’ve been
working toward more than anything else.” Every time Craddock
has competed in the 400-m hurdles this season, he has posted a new
personal best, a trend he attributes to his training. “Being
able to run without hurting myself and having no soreness has been
a big part,” Craddock said. “I’ve had some great
training and have been pretty lucky so far.” While the bulk
of the team was in Fresno, seniors Martell Munguia and Erik
Emilsson were in Palo Alto competing at the Stanford Invitational.
The pair each posted strong opening-season times in their signature
events. Munguia ran 1:49.91 in the 800-meters to finish fourth.
Meanwhile, Emilsson took third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with
8:47.55.
POWELL HOSPITALIZED: First-year UCLA jumps
coach Mike Powell was hospitalized at a Fresno-area hospital on
Saturday after experiencing severe stomach pain. Powell stayed
overnight as a precaution and took a series of tests on Sunday to
try to find the cause of the pain, though surgeons have primarily
ruled out any major health problems. “We are very concerned
about coach Powell,” Venegas said. “They don’t
have a definite answer about what is wrong, but they don’t
think that it will require surgery.” The coaching staff is
optimistic Powell will be able to return to practice within the
next week.