UCLA track and field makes major strides at invites

Veterans stepped up and records were broken as the UCLA track and field team split up for three events this past weekend.

The Bruins participated in the Battle on the Bayou in Baton Rouge, La., the Stanford Invitational, and the San Francisco State Distance Carnival.

A few seasoned throwers from the men’s team stepped up in a big way this past weekend.

At Baton Rouge, redshirt senior thrower Julian Wruck led the way in the discus with a winning mark of 61.51 meters. Teammates redshirt senior thrower Matthew Kosecki and redshirt sophomore thrower Nicholas Scarvelis finished third and fourth respectively, placing three Bruins in the top five of the event.

Scarvelis participated in and won the shot put with a mark of 19.27m. Wruck also participated in the shot put, placing third.

Junior pole vaulters Elena Clark and Natasha Kolbo for the women’s team went on to place first and second respectively. Clark also reached a personal record with a mark of 4.12m.

From the men’s side, senior pole vaulter Mike Woepse stepped up as well by winning the men’s event with a mark of 5.48m.

At Stanford, new records were set in the women’s distance categories as junior runner Bronte Golick moved to second all-time at UCLA in the 10,000m with a time of 34:34.55. Fellow redshirt junior runner Kelsey Smith would also move to second all-time at UCLA in the 5,000m with a time of 16:01.30.

At San Francisco, senior runner Elle Sanders and freshman runner Sabrina Seay not only placed first and second in the 1500m, respectively, but both also recorded personal records with times of 4:31.42 and 4:33.73, respectively.

The Bruins are beginning to hit their stride as some of the veterans have stepped up with encouraging performances – some even record-breaking.

The Bruins return home this coming weekend and will compete at Drake Stadium in the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational against TCU and BYU.

Compiled by Alexander Hyun, Bruin Sports contributor.