The UCLA men’s and women’s track and field teams will host their second meet in a row this weekend with the UCLA Invitational, the second of three consecutive home competitions held at Drake Stadium for both teams.
The two-day event will bring in competitors from all over Southern California, including those from USC and Long Beach State. There will also be a different, perhaps higher level of competition this weekend, however, with open athletes entered in the meet who have competed at the Olympic and Olympic Trials level, which men’s team coach Art Venegas believes will only help his team get better.
Events will begin Friday afternoon with the hammer throw and a distance carnival that includes the steeplechase and the 5,000-meter race. All other events will take place throughout Saturday.
Men’s team
The steeplechasers will be making their outdoor season debut today for the No. 13 UCLA men’s track team.
“The biggest thing you are going to see this weekend is our steeplechasers coming out,” Venegas said. “That’s going to be a coming-out party for them to see what they can do.”
The Bruins will have four men competing in the race: sophomores Dylan Knight and Spencer Knight and juniors Jake Matthews and Marco Anzures.
Coming off a dominating win at the Cal/Nevada Championships last weekend, the Bruins will be looking to build off that success and have another strong weekend.
“We just want to go out there and run relaxed and feel good about our race,” Anzures said. “It takes a while to get into a rhythm, so the main goal is to go out and have a good race.”
And while qualifying for NCAA Outdoor Regionals is always in the back of the athletes’ minds, UCLA has already qualified 11 athletes, and the team is hoping this weekend will provide them with more.
Redshirt senior thrower Boldizsar Kocsor will take the weekend off after already qualifying for Regionals, however, last week’s discus winner, redshirt freshman Thomas Nagengast, will lead the group of throwers.
Sophomore Jonathan Clark will compete in all three jumps, looking to improve on his qualifier in the triple jump and pick up a qualifying mark in the high jump and long jump.
The pole vault squad will once again attempt to show its depth by having eight athletes compete, four of whom have heights of more than 5.10m cleared so far this season.
Although the Bruins dismantled the competition last week, Venegas said it is still early in the season, so the team does not want to push too hard, too early. Rather, the Bruins will use this weekend’s invitational to build up steadily for important meets at the end of the season.
“It’s really important to be competitive and to be relaxed; tight athletes and insecure athletes tend to be injured. They become injured because they are trying too hard,” Venegas said. “We want them to be competitive and realize it’s a building process.”
Women’s team
The team got off to a blazing start last week by winning the Cal/Nevada Championships by 80 points. With the first full week of outdoor track already under their belts, the Bruin women have the No. 8 spot in the NCAA preseason rankings.
This weekend, UCLA’s pole vault squad will look to continue to be a highlight of the team. Last week, junior Katy Viuf jumped to the No. 2 mark in the world at 14 feet, 1.25 inches. Redshirt senior Megan Jamerson, sophomore Tori Pena and sophomore Tori Anthony round out the group.
The relays have been another strong area of the team. The 4x400m team of seniors Krystin Lacy and Nicole Leach, sophomore Ashlea McLaughlin, and freshman Camilla Dencer have the No. 2 time in the nation among the collegiate ranks.
Multi-event athlete Ryann Krais has a very busy weekend ahead of her. The freshman is slated to compete in the 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, high jump and long jump.
A few athletes will be in off events to build up strength and conditioning. Sophomore hurdler Lindsay Rowe will double up in the 100m and 200m along with the 100m hurdles. Junior Krishna Curry will be racing in the 1,500m.
Freshman Brittany Borman and sophomore Catherine White will participate in all three throwing events: shot put, discus and hammer.
So far this season, 11 Bruins, plus the 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams, have earned regional qualifying marks in their events. The team hopes to increase this number by making times go down.