The Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at Drake Stadium was a big success for the No. 14 UCLA men’s track and field team on Sunday. A trio of Bruin pole vaulters finished the final day of the invitational strong by sweeping the top three spots in the event.
Led by redshirt senior Mike Landers, UCLA faced stiff competition from two Brigham Young University pole vaulters entering into the 16 feet, 7.25 inches mark. In order to finish first, second, and third, Bruin junior Chris Bencomo and redshirt senior David Murphy had to jump to the best of their abilities.
Landers had the best overall performance among the pole vaulters. He started the competition strong, as he made his opening three marks on first attempts. He was well over the 16-11 bar coming into the final heights. After he successful jumped 17-3, he was the only pole vaulter left in the competition.
Landers finished first, but attempted to push his season-best height at 17-6.5, which is also the No. 1 mark in the country. He had three strong tries at 17-7 but was unable to keep the bar on.
“I had no misses throughout the competition. It wasn’t until 17-7 that I had to get more dialed in. I had some fairly good attempts at it,” Landers said.
Before the invitational, Bencomo’s season best was 16-7. Therefore, his clearance of the 16-11 mark on his second try was unexpected. He set a lifetime best while moving up into second place and improving his regional qualifying height.
“(Bencomo) had to come back and (beat his personal record) by 4 inches, and he just put it together and we came in 1, 2, 3,” pole vault coach Anthony Curran said.
Murphy jumped close to his season best of 17-0. On Sunday, he cleared 16-11 on his second attempt to earn a third-place finish.
JOHNSON AND CRADDOCK ABSENT: Two Bruins originally scheduled to compete in events on Sunday dropped out due to last-minute reasons.
Senior sprinter Brandon Johnson’s anticipated return to the 400-meter hurdles was postponed because of discomfort in his hamstring. Sprints coach Tony Veney did not want to risk the chance of a bigger setback. Johnson did, however, run the opening leg in the 4×400-meter relay and helped UCLA finish second in that event.
“A lot of people don’t realize that Brandon has only been running track practice since March,” Veney said. “He is definitely moving closer and closer to the elite levels we expect him to reach later.”
Sophomore hurdler Kevin Craddock also missed the weekend’s action. He did not compete due to a case of food poisoning that he caught earlier in the week. Craddock was unable to get healthy in the four days leading up to the invitational.
“(Craddock) is an extraordinarily resilient athlete, so once he starts racing, he is going to get back on point,” Veney said.
BARR WITHDRAWAL: Sophomore high jumper Luke Barr has not competed for the Bruins since the CSUN Invitational on March 17. According to coach Art Venegas, Barr is currently not enrolled at UCLA due to personal issues.
“He came to tell me that he was going to withdraw from school,” Venegas said. “From what I understand, he had some paperwork to withdraw from school to go back to Texas.”
This season, Barr was the leader in the high jump for UCLA with a season best of 6-10.75.