The pole vaulters on the UCLA men’s track and field team keep setting new heights. In the last week of competition before the Pac-10 Championships, senior Mike Landers and sophomore David Murphy both had a big weekend at the Modesto Relays, finishing first and second, respectively.
Landers continued his successful senior season as he posted a new season best at 17 feet, 9 inches. His mark moved him up to the No. 2 pole vaulting spot in the nation. Since he set his previous season-best mark of 17-6.50 at the UCLA Invitational in early March, Landers has attempted to push his best mark. This weekend, something just clicked for him.
“I have been really close each week,” Landers said. “I feel like this weekend I did a few things a little better that helped me jump it. I have been working hard this whole year and I got the opportunity, and it happened.”
The Modesto Relays took place at Modesto Junior College, a familiar setting for Landers. In high school he jumped 17-0 at the same location, and his hometown of Merced is approximately half an hour away.
“It was kinda like my hometown,” Landers said. “I had some friends and family there, and I saw some people I used to compete against a long time ago.”
Landers’ achievement at the relays also helped him garner the Pac-10 Male Field Athlete of the Week Award. This is the first time Landers has received this award in his career, and the first time this season the UCLA men’s track and field team has been awarded the honor.
“I am very honored to get it because there are a lot of great athletes in the Pac-10,” he said. “As a senior it means a lot, since it is my last year at UCLA.”
Murphy’s weekend consisted of a new lifetime-best record at 17-5. He cleared a full six inches higher than his previous season best of 16-11. Murphy attributed his successful jump to his desire to improve on his performance from last weekend and the chance to earn a higher national ranking.
“I didn’t do as well as I wanted to at the ‘SC meet, so I think that gave me a little more fire,” Murphy said. “I also felt that Modesto was a great opportunity to get a higher ranking on the national list and maybe help me get to nationals later in the season.”
PAC-10 DECATHLON: Freshman decathlete Casey DiCesare picked up the Bruins’ first team point with an eighth-place finish at the Pac-10 Decathlon Championships at Stanford over the weekend. In the two-day event, DiCesare was in 10th place after day one, but had a strong showing on the second day.
He ran a lifetime best in the high hurdles with a time of 16.86 seconds to finish 10th in that event. He then finished third in the pole vault with a mark of 15-3. DiCesare finished with 6,468 points, totaling the points he accumulated for each event in the decathlon. The points that DiCesare earned will go toward the Bruins’ team points, as the rest of the team competes in the Pac-10 Championships next weekend.
CORRECTION: The story should have said that Casey, not Scott, DiCesare competed at the Decathlon championships.