Bruins deliver strong individual performances at indoor track meet

When Boldizsar Kocsor left for Seattle to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships on Friday he expected to do well, but did not know he was going to do something he had never done before.

The redshirt junior won his first MPSF Indoor title in the weight throw with an impressive mark of 69 feet 9 1⁄2 inches, and highlighted the weekend for the Bruins.

“It was good to win and represent UCLA,” Kocsor said. “I was hoping to throw a little farther, but I was pretty consistent.”

The throw was more than 7 feet farther than his closest competitor. The distance qualified Kocsor for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will be held in two weeks in Arkansas.

As a team, the Bruins did not fair so well, finishing sixth with 64.50 points. Oregon won the conference title with 90 points, followed by Cal and Stanford, with 84.50 points and 83 points respectively.

Despite the team results, there were a lot of strong individual performances. Having athletes qualify for NCAA Championships was one of the main goals for the weekend.

Redshirt junior Dustin DeLeo also provisionally qualified for nationals with a new lifetime best of 17-6.25 in the pole vault. DeLeo finished third and posted a top-15 height nationally.

“I felt like we could have done a little better as a team,” DeLeo said. “But I got a national qualifier, which is what we were looking for so I was pretty satisfied.”

In the shot put, senior John Caulfied finished third with a throw of 62-1 and sophomore Darius Savage placed fifth with 59-6.75. The distance was a lifetime best for Savage, and gives him a good chance to go to nationals with the provisional mark.

On the track, more athletes posted lifetime bests and ran well.

In the 3000m, senior Henry Hagenbuch (8:13.11) finished eighth, sophomore Alex Crabill (8:19.32) placed 14th, and redshirt junior Drew Shackleton (8:22.27) finished 17th. Sophomore sprinter Stan Griffin achieved two lifetime bests in the 60m dash (6.99) and 200m (21.86).

The distance medley relay had a great meet, finishing third and improving their qualifying time to 9:35.02. They were one second off the automatic qualifying mark, but will probably compete at nationals with their time.

“I was pleased with the way our kids ran across the board,” distance coach Eric Peterson said. “We improved our time and did much better than we did a month ago.”

With the conference meet over and the indoor season coming to an end, the team will shift its focus to the NCAA Indoor Championships and the outdoor season.

There is a last-chance meet next week for those who want to try to still go to nationals, but coach Peterson said he will hold his athletes off.

“We will hold off the last-chance meet and hope the times hold up,” Peterson said. “We’ve gotten a lot out of the indoor season.”

The team is more oriented for the outdoor season, so indoor titles are not a top priority. They use the indoor competition as practice to prepare for outdoor.

“Consistent training really is the key,” Kocsorm said. “We have to make each practice a little better and improve a little each day. Make each practice a little better than the previous ones.

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