Athletes on the UCLA track and field team had a breakout weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational.
Redshirt senior thrower Nicholas Scarvelis, junior jumper Austin Hazel and sophomore multi Steele Wasik all took first place in their respective events against a handful of other Division I programs, and redshirt freshman thrower Ashlie Blake added more than 3 feet to her personal record on her way to second place in the women’s shot put.
In addition to taking first, Hazel also added to his personal best. On Friday, the junior saw a Texas Tech freshman post a mark of 7.40 meters in the first round of the long jump. Five rounds later, on Hazel’s sixth and final attempt, the Bruin flew past the mark by 3 centimeters, and added a quarter of an inch to his personal long jump record.
“It shocked me at first finding out that I did PR, because I was telling everyone that I tied my personal best,” Hazel said. “But as soon as I found out that I actually had PR-ed, I was really excited. It made the win a lot more sweet.”
His previous personal best came at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championship last year, but he hurt his shin, which put a stint in his training and competition and prevented him from improving on his record.
Nevertheless, Hazel qualified and took 41st place in the 2015 NCAA Division I West Preliminary round. With his mark this weekend, he’s tied for 47th in the nation.
“24-4.50 puts me at 48th (T-47th) but 25-0.00 puts you at No. 16,” Hazel said. “I feel like these next two meets are definitely going to be something for me to look forward to. I think I’m going to hopefully PR and get 25.”
Blake also looks to continue to improve on her score this weekend.
After throwing for 49 feet 11 inches at the Razorback Invitational last weekend, Blake said she needed to come back and have a better showing. Throws coach John Frazier helped Blake change her technique – she now starts with one arm down while the other holds the weighted ball, which she says helps her get more power from her legs – and the tweak paid off.
“I was completely shocked at the throw,” Blake said. “But coach Frazier always says, ‘Trust the process and it will come’ … the 54 really meant a lot to me. It was a lifetime PR and it just gave me a sign of relief. I haven’t thrown 54 ever.”
Normally, technique changes take a while to show results, but Blake took second place in Nebraska and is now 19th in the nation for the women’s shot put.
In the heptathlon, sophomore Steele Wasik took first place by a commanding 84 points.
Two weeks ago before the DeLoss Dodds Invitational in Kansas, coach Jack Hoyt said the target score for Wasik this season was 5650. Fast forward to this weekend, and he is now within 1 percent of that goal with a score of 5599.
Wasik did not complete the entire heptathlon event set in Kansas, opting out of the pole vault and not finishing the 1000 meter – the very events he felt he could improve on coming out of this weekend.
“There’s a lot of room for improvement in the pole vault so I’m happy about that,” Wasik said. “And then my 1000 was OK, but it was a slow-paced race so I think everyone kind of suffered there.”
Wasik admitted that being able to increase a score that already puts him at 16th in the nation is a good thing, as the NCAA only takes the top 16 heptathletes to compete in the championships.
“The overall score was really good, it puts me at a respectable mark in the nation,” Wasik said. “But I do want to come back at MPSF and try and get probably a 100-point improvement because there’s so many areas where I can grab 20 points per event.”
After MPSF, there are less than two weeks until the NCAA indoor championship, so heptathletes all over the country will try to beat out those on the bubble – drama any competitor across any event hopes to avoid.
The Bruins now return home to continue training in preparation for the Husky Invitational in Washington over President’s Day Weekend.