The Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational honors two Olympians that began their storied careers at UCLA.
Starting today, this pair of UCLA greats will return to Westwood and Drake Stadium for the annual track meet named in their honor.
“To be around this kind of atmosphere and to honor Rafer Johnson and Jackie Joyner Kersee, we are all pretty pumped up about it,” sophomore Taylor Hobson said. “They will both be here, so we are kind of excited to show them what we can do.”
Rafer Johnson is a two-time Olympic decathlete, having won the silver medal in 1956 and the gold in 1960.
Jackie Joyner Kersee has tallied a total of five Olympic medals, including three gold medals. These came in impressive back-to-back heptathlon wins in 1988 and 1992, as well as the gold in the long jump in 1988.
The meet will feature athletes with Olympic-level talent, as well as top intercollegiate competitors. With the high level of athletic aptitude that will be in attendance, the UCLA men’s track and field team will see where it stacks up.
“In some areas they may just be flat-out outmatched,” coach Art Venegas said. “You just have to race and compete well because when you’re going against Olympians you have to step up.”
For the Bruins, this weekend will end their string of three home meets in a row, as well as mark the last home meet of the season.
“It’s more meaningful since it’s the last home meet, and I kind of want to go out with a bang,” Hobson said. “I just feel like the atmosphere is going to be better.”
Coming off the success of the past two weekends, the Bruins will look for more regional qualifiers and see how they are progressing in the season.
“I want our guys to be healthy and aggressive this weekend and (to) take advantage of the good competition they are going to face,” Venegas said.
UCLA currently has more than 10 athletes qualified for regionals, with two provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships. Those two come from redshirt seniors Drew and Kyle Shackleton in the 10,000 meter.
This weekend will also be a chance for the distance runners to fully open their season.
“It’s the first meet outdoors where all our distance runners are all running their primary events,” Venegas said. “They’ve been running off-events the past two weeks, so now it’s time to see where we’re at.”
With two dual meets in the upcoming weeks, this weekend will be important for the team to get ready. The two meets will be against Oregon and USC. Oregon was both the indoor NCAA champion and the cross country champion and is starting to look like a possible favorite for the outdoor crown as well.
“The biggest thing is that I want the team to start coming together as a team,” Venegas said. “We are going from an invitational level to high-level competition where every second and third place means the world. We want everyone to be aware of everyone on the team.”