The No. 7/8 UCLA men’s track and field team is in “Track Town, USA” today and Saturday to compete in the NCAA West Region Championships.
UCLA is slated to run, jump and throw at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon against schools from Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
Since there is no conference or national title on the line at regionals, this weekend is not solely focused on winning. Instead, the Bruins will use the time to improve on technique to shape up for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
After successful finishes at the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago, sophomore hurdler Kevin Craddock, senior hurdler Brandon Johnson and junior thrower Greg Garza are all working to qualify for nationals.
At the Pac-10 Championships, Craddock came out with a first-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. He ran a lifetime best of 13.48 seconds and said that he is capable of running faster before the season ends. According to Craddock, he may wait to use all of his speed at nationals and use this weekend to work on his form.
“The most important part is just getting to nationals and then doing something at nationals,” Craddock said. “This week I am taking as a technical phase to try to correct some things from (the Pac-10 Championships).”
Craddock is ranked No. 1 in the 110m hurdles in the West Region. Two of his biggest competitors are No. 2 Logan Taylor and No. 3 Kai Kelley, who are both from USC and have faced Craddock numerous times this season.
“(Freshman hurdler Darius Reed and I) wanted to go out and redeem ourselves from the dual meet. We went 1-2 at Pac-10s and they came in somewhere behind us,” Craddock said. “Those 1-2 finishes ““ hopefully for the rest of the year we can pull it off.”
After recovering from a torn hamstring and two fractured vertebrae, Johnson ran a season best in the 400m hurdles at the Pac-10 Championships at 50.03 seconds. Despite missing regionals last season, Johnson is familiar with the race at this level. He won the 400m hurdle West Region event during his freshman and sophomore seasons.
“I know how to stay grounded,” Johnson said. “It’s pretty much just staying within myself and making sure that I qualify to get to nationals.”
Johnson is aware that many of his opponents have been racing all season, while he has only been running the 400m hurdles since April. But he is still optimistic about this weekend due to his history of improving with each race at this stage of the season.
“I feel that I have an advantage just for the fact that I know that I’m going to be getting faster and faster,” Johnson said.
Garza is seeded No. 1 in the discus throw after throwing a lifetime best of 63.69 meters at the Pac-10 Championships. His closest competition was Mart Israel from Washington, but according to Garza, Israel will not be allowed to compete today due to his ineligible student status. Garza will still face plenty of competition with one goal in mind.
“This weekend is a little more about qualifying. Maybe we’ll have a little show, but we know that the job is qualifying and (getting) a fair mark,” Garza said.