SACRAMENTO “”mdash; Art Venegas’ squad came into the NCAA
Championships unnoticed. Without several of their top athletes, the
Bruins were not expected to make very much noise. But after this
weekend, with strong performances in a variety of areas, the team
probably will not be overlooked in the future. UCLA’s
men’s track and field team finished in a respectable 22nd
place on Saturday with 11 points, more than last year’s
heralded squad. The team received a balanced performance, scrapping
for points in several areas. “I was real pleased with the way
some of the kids performed,” Venegas said. “We had a
lot of balance, getting scores in the hurdles, the throws and the
sprints and even the pole vault.” The biggest points came
from redshirt junior Mike Landers, who stunned the field to finish
in third place, clearing a lifetime best height of 18-.50.
“It feels glorious,” Landers said, who earned the first
All-American honor of his career. “I felt pretty confident
and we have been working hard all year. I knew that this was the
time and the day that I had been training for, so I knew I’d
do my best.” Landers almost had a premature end to his
season, as he nearly missed his opening height of 17-2.75, having
to clear the bar on his last attempt. Nevertheless, Landers was the
team’s top scorer with his breakout performance, which was
long overdue, according to UCLA pole vault coach Anthony Curran.
“It’s just great to see a guy like Mike who is so
humble and works his butt off finally succeeding,” Curran
said. “I had a lot of people coming up to me and saying
“˜hey, that kid is a great vaulter.'” Landers
finished behind only Tommy Skipper of Oregon, who is one of the top
vaulters in the country, and Robinson Pratt of BYU, last
year’s national champion. The Bruins also received
significant points in the sprints as senior Craig Everhart placed
seventh in the 400 meters with 45.70, capturing the first
individual All-American honors of his highly successful UCLA
career. “I feel like I had a good race,” Everhart said.
“I have learned a lot and I think that my time at UCLA is
going to start me off to a great career after college.”
Everhart finds himself leaving at the same time as the UCLA sprint
program is witnessing a revival, welcoming in a bevy of the
nation’s top sprinting recruits to go along with a strong
returning core. Everhart sees the end of his Bruin career as the
beginning of new heights for the team. “I really wish I had
one or two more years left,” Everhart said. “We have a
great group of young runners with Kevin (Craddock) and Brandon
(Johnson), not to mention all of the field events. I see UCLA
winning a national title in the next few years.” Freshman
Craddock was able to snag eighth in the 110m hurdles in 13.76,
becoming the school’s first All-American hurdler since 1980.
In the throws, sophomore Greg Garza squeaked into the discus finals
and snuck into seventh place with a throw of 183-2.
Notes: Sophomore Joel Tuosto, the Western
Regional champion in the long jump, did not qualify for the finals.
… Freshman Boldizsar Kocsor finished twelfth in the hammer throw
qualifying round, missing a spot in the finals. But he still
received All-American honors based on the number of foreign
throwers who finished above him. … Senior Martell Munguia ended
his career as a Bruin with a lifetime best 1:47.95 in the 800m
qualifying first round, though he was unable to advance past the
semifinals.