Track and field takes two first-place finishes at Pac-12 championship

The Pac-12 championship always marks the start of the final phase of the outdoor track and field season.

And while track itself may be winding down, the Bruins are doing just the opposite as they enter the most competitive part of their year.

The team made the trip up to Eugene, Oregon, over the weekend for the last major conference meet of the season. The Bruins will come home with just two event wins, but many athletes still logged top performances.

Sophomore hurdler Rai Benjamin took home the 400-meter hurdle title with a time of 49.52 second. In addition to being a personal best, that time now ranks fifth all-time at UCLA.

“The performance really goes to show how much work I’ve put in all season,” Benjamin said. “It definitely came down to fitness because technically I wasn’t really sound on those last three hurdles. It felt great just to get the win.”

Another hurdler, junior Misana Viltz, took home third place overall in the 110-meter hurdles with an time of 13.99.

Redshirt sophomore Pattriana Perry was the only sprinter on the women’s side to represent UCLA in a final heat Sunday. She took home seventh in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking in at 13.84.

There were 25 entrants in the mens’s 100-meter dash, and after qualifying for Sunday’s final on Saturday, junior sprinter Leon Powell came in fifth overall with a time of 10.40. Oregon’s Kyree King took the event win with a 10.09, currently 13th overall in the country.

The open 200-meter featured fewer sprinters, but Powell again came in fifth with a time of 20.87. King was equally consistent, winning again and clocking in at 20.27, a time that pushed him up to eighth in the nation.

In the men’s open 400, freshman Logen Casavant and junior Joe Herrera came in fifth with a time of 47.09 and eighth at 47.76, respectively. Sunday was the first time in two years UCLA track was represented in the 400-meter final at Pac-12s.

In the distance events, redshirt senior Austin O’Neil qualified for the final heat in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meter. He was the runner-up in the 3,000 steeple, logging a time of 8 minutes, 46.78 seconds. Later in the day in the 5,000, final he finished sixth overall, coming in at 14:6.03.

“I was really disappointed in the steeple, actually. … I thought there was about a 99 percent chance I was going to win that race,” O’Neil said. “But the main focus was just the steeple, the 5K was just the icing on the cake at that point.”

O’Neil said overall that the distance team accomplished its goals and ran well, despite the stiff competition from the other Pac-12 teams.

“Team-wise, the Pac-12 is really good, but in the distances no one comes close to the Pac-12,” O’Neil said. “10K guys ran really well. (Redshirt freshman colin Burke) and (senior Jonah Diaz) ran really tough, and (freshman John Carter Blunt) qualified for the 1,500 final. As a freshman, that’s a really big deal.”

Blunt was the only Bruin in that 1,500-meter final, but finished last with a time of 3:58.02.

Sophomore Julia Rizk was the first woman to represent UCLA in the open 800-meter final for the first time in four years. She came in third overall with a time of 2:05.71.

In the field events, freshman Isaiah Holmes took home UCLA’s second first-place finish in his first ever Pac-12 championship meet. His mark of 2.12 meters in the high jump was enough for an event win. He was also the runner-up in the long jump, clearing a distance of 7.90 meters.

“Coming into the meet I knew something was going to pop off, but I didn’t know it was going to be both (events),” Holmes said. “The Pac is incredible. There were three guys jumping at 2.20. I thought the event was going to be won at 2.20. Then the rain started pouring and all those marks went out the window, but it was still a lot of fun.”

Holmes’ teammate sophomore Michael Burke finished right behind him in the high jump with an identical mark of 2.12. Holmes was given the event win because he logged fewer fouls throughout the event.

The Bruins took home two more second place finishes in the women’s throws. Redshirt sophomore thrower Ashlie Blake threw 16.68 meters in the shot put, and senior javelin thrower Zaybree Haury put up a mark of 48.89 meters. Their second-place finishes are the best either of them has done at the Pac-12 championship meet.

Some Bruins struggled

Members of the men’s team were able to score in every event in which they were entered, save for the 4×100-meter relay. The women’s team also had some success, albeit to a lesser degree. Despite this, some Bruins did not match the success of their counterparts.

Sophomore sprinter Suzie Acolatse didn’t qualify for either the 100-meter or 200-meter final over the weekend. And sophomore Jackie Garner placed 30th out of 36 entrants in the women’s 5,000-meter, and 14th out of 19 entrants in the 10,000-meter.

While Powell took home two fifth-place finishes, senior Darnell Roberson, sophomore Damion Marshall and freshman Brett Morman all failed to qualify for the 100-meter final. Morman and Marshall were left out of the 200-meter final as well.

Junior Daniel De La Torre and freshman Garrett Reynolds fell behind O’Neil in the 5,000-meter, coming in 10th and 14th, respectively.

Redshirt sophomore thrower Dotun Ogundeji failed to put up a single mark in the shot put, as he fouled on his first attempt and passed on the final two.

Senior long jumper Austin Hazel, who placed third at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships earlier this season, was not even entered at the meet.

The Bruins will have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA West regional when they will head to Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, to compete for a chance to qualify for the NCAA championships.