Despite the departure of thrower Dan Ames, UCLA men’s
track and field coach Art Venegas is confident that his young squad
has the potential to fill the All-American’s giant shoes.
The performance of the young Bruin throwers at Saturday’s
UCLA Invitational only strengthened his conviction. Freshmen John
Caulfield and Greg Garza posted victories in the shot put and the
discus as the Bruin throws corps amassed six regional-qualifying
marks.
“Based upon traditional levels of our program, we’re
not near where we could be,” coach Art Venegas said.
“But the freshmen are getting stronger.”
In the mid-1980s and 1990s, the UCLA throwing program produced
many NCAA champions, including Olympians John Brenner and John
Godina. Ames, who graduated last year, was the Bruins’ most
viable NCAA throwing threat the past two seasons. A Pac-10 and
Regional champion in the discus, hammer throw and shot put last
season, he shouldered most of the scoring burden for the Bruin
throwers.
Though UCLA does not have one thrower that can match Ames’
production, Venegas is hopeful that it will be a collective effort.
Saturday’s performances made him even more hopeful.
Caufield won the shot put with a personal best mark of 61 feet,
2 3/4 inches, and placed second in the discus with a collegiate
best of 171-5. Garza, meanwhile, threw his collegiate best of 176-0
on the final throw of the discus competition.
“This is not what I know I can do,” said Garza, who
said first-meet jitters prevented him from matching his personal
best which is still 15 feet more than Saturday’s mark.
Even so, both Caulfield and Garza took a step in the right
direction and qualified for regional competition in the discus
along with brothers Jason and Joshua Rider, both sophomores.
With juniors Jeremy Silverman, who threw a regional qualifying
mark in the shot put, and Jake Knight, who won the hammer throw,
the Bruins boast a combination of strong leadership and young
talent that has the potential to make their mark on the throwing
landscape in the near future.
“We’ve got nine guys who work so well together. We
really complement each other,” Caulfield said. “Some of
us are really strong and some of us have good technique.”
Due to the sheer number of members, the squad does not have to
rely solely upon lower-echelon meets like Saturday’s to
provide it with motivational competition.
“In practice, if I see anyone else throwing farther, it
just gets the adrenaline going,” Garza said. “No one
likes to get second.”