One half of the season ends, and another begins.
The UCLA track and field team is now at the halfway point after wrapping up its indoor season this past weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Bruins took five athletes to the meet, featuring junior jumper Kylie Price, junior runner Kelsey Smith, senior thrower Ida Storm, senior pole vaulter Mike Woepse and senior decathlete Marcus Nilsson.
Considering the number of athletes taken to the meet, the Bruins felt they performed well, but they know they could have done better.
“Based upon the numbers we brought, and some of the situations of the athletes we brought, it was a good weekend,” said coach John Frazier. “It wasn’t fully what we expected but we’ve got to focus on the positives.”
And the positives left their mark.
Storm performed incredibly well, throwing a personal best of 21.90 meters in women’s weight throw and finishing second overall.
“I felt very confident going into the meet as opposed to nervous,” Storm said. “Coming into the weekend I was ranked No. 7 so it feels good to finish second and PR.”
Nilsson also performed well by placing eighth in the men’s heptathlon.
“Overall, it was a good weekend. I did really well in a few events and I didn’t have a bad event so I’m happy with my performance,” Nilsson said.
The rest of the Bruins could have fared better, however, with no other athlete cracking the top 10 in their respective events.
Woepse finished 13th in the pole vault, Price finished 14th in the long jump and Smith ended 16th in the women’s 3,000 meters.
Still, the Bruins must look past this weekend and move on as the outdoor season begins this coming weekend at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.
“We’re a much better team outdoors than we are indoors and everybody is excited especially in a home meet,” Frazier said. “There are a lot of uncontested events in the indoor such as the javelin and discus and we can finally get those athletes out there to compete.”
Since the Bruins only took five athletes to the indoor championships, the rest of the team is well rested and ready to start the outdoor portion of the track and field season.
Preparation will also be easier and the athletes will be far more ready to go than they had been prior to the indoor season.
“We were without a track to train on from November till January, but now we have our track and we have our practices rolling in an organized manner, so I think everybody will be a lot more prepared from a running, jumping and throwing standpoint.” Frazier said.
The indoor season could have ended on a better note, but the Bruins take it in stride and move on toward a more promising outdoor campaign.
“We’re getting stronger and I think we’re definitely going to be better in the outdoor season,” Nilsson said.