This weekend the UCLA men’s track and field team will do the impossible: be in two places at once.
While the throwers and the sprinters will be competing at the Iowa State Classic, the jumpers and distance runners will be in Fayetteville, Ark. at the Tyson Invitational.
“There are two locations for very specific reasons,” coach Art Venegas said. “The competition and the facilities are made ideally for each group that is going there.”
The group going to Fayetteville for the Tyson Invitational will encounter 88 schools and track clubs that include some of the top athletes in the United States and the world.
Since this is one of the top indoor meets of the season, there will be both college events and Olympic development events, which will feature two top Bruins, freshman Cory Primm in the 800 meters and junior Laef Barnes in the mile.
“It’s going to be just fantastic competition,” Venegas said. “So we are excited and we are going to keep making improvements.”
While 16 athletes will be going to Fayetteville, redshirt senior Austin Ramos will be missing from the lineup. Ramos has been one of the strongest Bruin competitors this season, putting up impressive times at previous meets and provisionally qualifying for the indoor championships. Venegas said that “he is training through” the meet and that “he is perfectly healthy.”
Not only will the competition be superb at Fayetteville, but the location has excellent facilities for both the jumpers and the distance group. The banked 200-meter track will provide the runners with practice for what they will encounter at nationals and the jumpers will have an exceptional jump area.
While some members of the team compete in Fayetteville, others will be at the Iowa State Classic, where the caliber of competition will be just as high. Some of the best sprint crews in the nation, including Florida and Arizona State, will be there, and the top thrower in the nation will also be competing. However, this will not put any added pressure on the UCLA throwers, who are just looking to do as well as possible.
“I’m not worried about anything. Competing well and holding my own is all I’m looking to do,” redshirt senior John Caulfield said. “I’m going to do what I’m capable of doing and what I need to do.”
Caulfield, who will compete in the shot put, stands alone as the only Bruin to have an automatic qualifying mark for the indoor nationals. He hopes the team can use this upcoming meet to keep progressing.
“Everyone can get used to this level of competition,” Caulfield said. “It is the first time a lot of the top guys in the nation have gotten together so it’s a really important meet.”
Venegas also sees both meets as an important opportunity for more Bruins to qualify for nationals and keep improving their personal performances.
“The more bodies you have (at nationals) the better chances you have of scoring high,” Venegas said.
Although automatically qualifying for nationals is an added bonus any coach would enjoy, the team has a different main focus.
“Lifetime bests are the best we can hope for from everybody ““ that they get their best mark ever,” Venegas said. “That’s kind of the goal right now.”