Thrower Jeremy Silverman had been lighting it up in practice all
week, so it came as no surprise to anyone when the senior from
Pennsylvania turned some heads in the shot put ring over the
weekend. Silverman had a huge performance at the UC San Diego
Triton Invitational on Saturday to highlight an impressive showing
by UCLA throwers. Silverman’s mark of 60 feet, 3 inches was a
season-best by over four feet. “That was definitely a throw
that I needed,” Silverman said. “Now I have a platform
for the rest of the season that hopefully I can progress
from.” Silverman had been hampered most of the season by a
high ankle sprain that he sustained early in the indoor season.
However, Silverman’s ankle showed no ill effects on Saturday,
as he was the second highest collegiate finisher, leaving the
senior to believe that he can find continued success for the
remainder of his last year in Westwood. “I didn’t feel
any pain on Saturday,” Silverman said. “There were a
lot of great throwers there, and I have thrown well there in the
past, so it gave me a lot of confidence to return to such a
familiar venue and do well.” In the discus, sophomore Greg
Garza also had a big day, throwing a new lifetime best mark of
186-10, beating his old best by nearly seven feet. On Friday,
freshman Boldizsar Kocsor continued his streak of improvement in
the hammer throw. The Bruin posted a throw of 205-1 to break the
freshman record, which he had already set twice this season. His
mark was also just one inch shy of breaking into UCLA’s top
10 all-time list.
JOHNSON WINS, LOSES: For the women, senior
Chelsea Johnson jumped to a season best 14-8.75 to win the pole
vault on Saturday. However, Johnson now only owns the second best
mark in the nation behind Florida State’s Lacy Jansen. At the
ACC Championships on Friday, Jansen broke Johnson’s
two-year-old NCAA record in the pole vault as she cleared 15-0.25,
a quarter of an inch higher than Johnson’s old record. UCLA
redshirt junior Jackie Nguyen also had an impressive performance,
finishing third. Her jump of 13-5.25 equaled her season best. In
the throws, junior Kamaiya Warren also posted a new season-best in
the discus against a talented field. Her throw of 168 placed her
sixth among collegians and 11th overall.