Just last week in Nebraska, three UCLA track and field athletes set personal bests in a trio of events – the long jump, heptathlon and shot put. This weekend’s Husky Classic in Seattle brought even more personal bests, with one standout performer even posting her name in UCLA history.
Redshirt freshman Greta Wagner pole-vaulted her way to a record 13 feet, 7.25 inches Friday, putting her in a tie for 10th in the all-time UCLA women’s pole vaulting record books.
If it were the tail end of outdoor season, these marks would be expected – the year of training tapers down to one weekend designated for peak performance – but the indoor season is often considered a warm-up for the more competitive outdoor season.
Results like these, in the heart of the training season, often surprise even those who achieve them.
“I was not (expecting this),” Wagner said. “It’s really cool seeing how fast my practice and work has paid off and how much further I’ve come in such a short amount of time.”
In practice last week, Wagner set an unofficial personal record when she jumped 13-4.00. All she had to do was repeat that in the meet to have it inked.
After failing on her first attempt at the invitational, Wagner switched to a thicker pole that she said would give her more leverage to clear the bar. On her last attempt, her launch cleared the bar and, now, with three and a half more years of collegiate competition in front of her, Wagner will get to work her way up to see just how high she can reach in the air and on the record list.
But UCLA wasn’t limited to just one phenomenal Friday outcome. Junior pole vaulter Reed Scale won the event for the Bruins with a 16-2 mark, the men’s distance medley relay team beat the second place team by more than eight seconds and sophomore sprinter Jessie Maduka took second in the 200-meter dash.
The next day, redshirt junior thrower and girls’ captain Torie Owers took second in the shot put with a throw of 52-7.50, while fellow shot putters sophomore Braheme Days and redshirt freshman Dotun Ogundeji both had indoor personal bests and placed second and third for the men’s team.
“I think I was forcing things,” Owers said. “I was trying too hard, so obviously I would like to be throwing farther, but I’ll keep working and it will come together. … But it’s a really big deal to have three guys over 19 meters.”
Not only have each of the Bruin men’s shot putters recorded throws over 19 meters, but, with their throws this weekend, Days and Ogundeji have the 13th and 14th furthest marks in the nation for 2016. Senior Nicholas Scarvelis still owns the third longest throw of the year, and there is a good chance the entire shot put team will make indoor nationals.
On the track, senior distance runner Austin O’Neil dropped four seconds off of his lifetime best. Should he have dropped just a fifth of a second more, he would have claimed UCLA’s first sub-four minute mile time in an indoor meet.
“He was a little frustrated, you know you’re so close to breaking that four-flat barrier,” said fellow distance runner freshman Arturo Sotomayor. “He put himself in contention to even win it, at one point he was in the lead. He put together a very respectable time.”
O’Neil’s time puts him in a tie for the 29th fastest mile time in the nation.
While many events are the same in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, the mile isn’t often one of them. Instead, outdoor commonly features the 1500 meter, so the MPSF championships in two weeks might be the last chance for O’Neil and the rest of UCLA’s mile runners to break four minutes.