This weekend in Eugene will mark the final push for 24 Bruin men as they lay everything on the line for a berth to the NCAAs.
Unlike other meets, for UCLA, regionals will be purely about individual performances. While finishing well as a team would be an added bonus, it is not a priority for this team.
“It’s purely advancing people,” UCLA men’s track coach Art Venegas said. “If we happen to have enough points to beat some people then that’s great, but it’s all about advancing.”
There are two ways to get to nationals in track and field ““ an automatic or at-large bid. To receive an automatic bid, athletes must finish in the top five of their events at regionals. At-large bids are given out later to athletes finishing in the seventh to 12th spots based on the national list.
In relays, the top three teams in each region will receive bids.
There are currently six Bruins and one relay team entering the meet ranked high enough for national bids. Leading the Bruins will be redshirt senior Boldizsar Kocsor, redshirt sophomore Johnny Quinn, sophomores Taylor Hobson and Jonathan Clark, freshmen Nelson Rosario and Karlton Rolle, and the 4×100-meter relay team.
All are ranked in the top five in their respective events. Hobson is the only Bruin ranked in the top five in two events. Having competed in all three jumping events all season, he will narrow his focus to the long and high jump this weekend, entering the meet ranked fourth in both.
“It’s just another day of work for me,” Hobson said. “I feel because of the ‘SC and Oregon dual meets I’ve learned enough about handling my time where I should be all right to try and save my energy. So as long as I do what I’m capable of doing, I’ll be fine.”
Hobson injured his knee at the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago but said that he is ready to compete this weekend.
Another formerly injured Bruin looking to make big things happen this weekend is redshirt sophomore Bo Taylor. Taylor spent six weeks out of action this season with a pulled groin and is hoping he has recovered in time to make it to nationals.
“He’s really feeling great now,” Venegas said. “He’s catching up.”
UCLA is also anticipating a strong performance from the 4x100m relay team. Coming off of a Pac-10 title, the team enters the meet ranked second in the region.
“I think we’re as good as anyone on the West Coast right now,” Venegas said. “It’s always a more dangerous event because that fine-tuning is critical; you make one mistake and your whole team is out. You have to get that stick around and make sure you run aggressively.”
With a do-or-die mentality and high level of competition, all of the Bruins expect to see some great performances at the regionals.
“It feels pretty good just to know it’s going to be good competition,” Hobson said. “A lot of people are going to be competing there for their first time, and the fact that it’s Hayward Field is going to bring out the best in people.”