Courtney Mathewson & Kelly Rulon | Women’s water polo
Olympic Update
Led by former UCLA women’s water polo coach Adam Krikorian, attacker Courtney Mathewson, driver Kelly Rulon and the USA women’s water polo team were able to take home a gold medal in the finals match against Spain on Thursday. The two helped Team USA win by a score of 8-5. The team did not lose a match at the Olympics this year, but did draw with Spain in the preliminary round. Team USA finished with a silver medal in 2008, but with Mathewson and Rulon playing key roles on this team, they were able to turn that medal into gold this time around.
Westwood Reaction
“Just seeing them succeed on that level was really humbling and I’m just so proud of them and happy that they’re representing UCLA,” said recent graduate KK Clark. “They have a forged a path for other Bruins and Olympic hopefuls, like myself. The first gold for us is like unbelievable, so it’s just really exciting right now. It just encourages more people to get involved in the sport.”
Dawn Harper | Women’s track and field
Olympic Update
After winning a gold medal in the 2008 Olympic games, Harper won a silver medal in the women’s 100 meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 12.37 seconds. Harper finished the opening round in 12.75 seconds, second in the fourth heat, in order to advance in the semifinals. In the semifinals, she finished second overall and first in her heat with a time of 12.46 seconds, which stood as her personal-best before she beat that time in the finals less than two hours later.
Westwood Reaction
“She was training at UCLA and I gave her a lot of encouraging words. She was very positive, she was very confident. She’s trained really well, she’s an excellent technician, and she has practiced rigourously,” said women’s track and field coach Jeanette Bolden. “The difference between this Olympic games and 2008 is that (in) 2008, she had surgery on her knee in the early part of the year. This year, she’s had a couple of minor injuries, but nothing that’s significant … and she’s really training well.”
Adam Wright | Men’s water polo
Olympic Update
Current UCLA men’s water polo coach Adam Wright is a part of the USA men’s water polo team that was looking for redemption after losing in the finals to Hungary and obtaining a silver medal in 2008. However, Wright and the team were unable to avoid a disappointing finish to what was expected to be a return to the finals to compete for the gold. The team lost in the quarterfinals to Croatia in an 8-2 defeat on Wednesday. Team USA had a 3-2 record going into the quarterfinals from preliminary play.
Westwood Reaction
“It’s a really big bummer because they did so well four years ago, but they are a really good team and I think they represented the U.S. really well,” Clark said. “It’s definitely a bummer that I don’t think (Wright will) consider his Olympics a success in his eyes, but what he is doing is nothing short of amazing.”
Julian Wruck | Men’s track and field
Olympic Update
Julian Wruck, a 21-year-old junior at UCLA, transferred from Texas Tech in 2011. He competes in hammer throwing events for the men’s track and field team and represented Australia in this year’s Summer Games. He did not survive the qualification round as he finished 13th in Group A with a throw measured at 60.08 meters.
Westwood Reaction
“I know it wasn’t exactly what he wanted and not exactly what he expected, but when you just turn 21 and you’re competing in the Olympics against the best guys in the world, the nerves tend to get to you and you don’t always compete exactly how you want to,” said sophomore hammer thrower Alec Faldermeyer. “But just the fact that he made the Olympics at 21 years old is unbelievable and I think that’s something that he should be proud of.”