UCLA track and field to host Jim Bush SoCal Championships

Not everyone gets to have a meet named after himself, but when it does happen, it might be because he’s had a storied career coaching 118 NCAA medalists and 30 Olympians.

UCLA will be hosting the Jim Bush SoCal Championships, which will take place Saturday. The competition is named in honor of the National Track and Field Hall of Famer, whose legacy at UCLA includes winning five NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships during his stint as coach from 1965–1984.

The championships will also be the last meet that athletes from the Bruins’ track and field team will participate in before the culmination of the season at next week’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore.

However, marks posted during the meet will not count toward qualifying for NCAAs. Instead, the Bruins will get the opportunity to pit their skills against open-level track athletes who will be representing their clubs with the hope of claiming the top prize – funds that will go toward the winning team’s travel expenses for the USATF National Club Track and Field Championships.

The UCLA contingent consists of 28 athletes including junior hammer thrower Ida Storm and redshirt junior discus thrower Julian Wruck. Wruck and Storm will be the only Bruins qualified for NCAAs who will be competing in the Jim Bush SoCal Championships.

Also representing the Bruins will be junior pole vaulter Mike Woepse, redshirt junior discus thrower Matthew Kosecki and redshirt freshman shot putter Nicholas Scarvelis. For them, the Jim Bush SoCal Championships will be their final meet of the season, after each missed qualifying for nationals by only one position, placing 13th in their respective events in last week’s qualifiers in Austin, Texas.