With only a week to go before the indoor NCAA Championships, the Bruins are now ready to change their focus to the outdoor campaign.
Instead of sending athletes up to Ames, Iowa for a last-chance qualifying meet for the NCAA Championships, the coaches are content with their position and will focus their energy this weekend on the UCLA Invitational.
“We are pleased with how we have done indoors,” men’s coach Art Venegas said. “But with the exception of the athletes who will be competing next weekend, we are ready to open up the outdoor season.”
This weekend is the last weekend for athletes to pick up either automatic or provisional qualifying marks in order to have a chance of making it to the NCAA Championships next weekend hosted by the University of Arkansas. However, both the men and women will forgo this opportunity to try to squeeze some borderline athletes into the championships and will stand pat with their current marks.
As it stands, the No. 14 men look to have up to six athletes qualify for the championships, based on the athletes’ marks and ranking nationally. Among these, pole vaulter Mike Landers, shot putter John Caulfield and hurdlers Darius Reed and Kevin Craddock seem the most likely to make the cut.
The No. 12 women’s team also looks to have a small but potent contingent of athletes make it to Arkansas. Pole vaulter Ingrid Kantola, jumpers Rhonda Watkins and Keneisha Creary, and middle distance runner Allie Bohannon all rank in the top 15 nationally in their respective events and should be poised to score big points for the Bruins next weekend.
Official qualifiers will be announced Monday evening.
UCLA INVITATIONAL: Both the men and the women will be staying at home this weekend as they will play host to the UCLA Invitational, which will take place on Saturday at Drake Stadium. The meet will feature several local university teams, mostly from the Big West Conference, as well as club teams and unattached athletes.
For UCLA, this will be the first outdoor competition of the year and gives the team a comfortable environment in which to begin the outdoor season.
“A lot of the guys who we did not run indoors will be opening up their seasons this weekend,” Venegas said. “Most of these athletes have not competed all year or they have been doing different events indoors.”
The meet will allow those athletes who have been running indoors to taper off and get ready for the championships next weekend.
The events will begin at 9 a.m. with the hammer throw while running events will kick off at noon with the steeplechase.