Three senior Bruins compete internationally in beach volleyball Olympics bid

Seniors Nicole McNamara, Megan McNamara and Sarah Sponcil have won back-to-back national championships with UCLA beach volleyball, but now the three are focusing on international competition.

The McNamara twins entered last week’s FIVB Itapema Open in Brazil as one of eight Canadian pairs. The duo made it out of pool H with a 2-1 win over the Netherlands’ Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink and a 2-0 victory over Germany’s Sandra Ittlinger and Chantal Laboureur.

The Bruin duo fell 2-1 in the second round to Russia’s Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina, ending their tournament run.

Two other Canadian pairs earned medals, with Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes placing second and Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson taking third.

Sponcil and USC graduate Kelly Claes were one of 11 U.S. teams that traveled to Brazil – but only 10 teams from a given country were allowed to compete in the tournament.

Sponcil and Claes lost 2-0 to Brooke Sweat and Kerri Walsh Jennings in the USA country quota round of the tournament. Therefore, the pair didn’t get to compete against any other teams. The U.S. duo of Alexandra Klineman and April Ross took home the gold.

Both pairs traveled from Brazil to China for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Jinjiang 2019 to take the next step toward the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Nicole and Megan McNamara defeated China’s Lin Lingling and J. M. Li 2-0 in the qualification round Tuesday but then fell 2-0 to Diana Lunina and Maryna Samoday of Ukraine in the second round.

Sponcil and Claes bypassed the qualification round and will face Latvia’s Tina Graudina – one-half of the Trojans’ 2019 court one pair – and Anastasija Kravcenoka in the main draw pool H on Wednesday.

To earn spots in the Olympics, the pairs will have to be in the top 15 teams in the Olympic ranking as of June 15, 2020, or place high enough in one of three future tournaments. The earliest qualifier is the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball Senior World Championships this June in Hamburg, Germany.

The McNamaras and Sponcil are just three of five UCLA seniors – all of whom plan to play professionally.

Senior Izzy Carey will head to Ireland on Friday to train with the Irish national team, which she first competed with in summer 2017. Senior Zana Muno will pair up with an unnamed Washington player to begin her beach-only career after previously splitting time with the indoor team as a Bruin.

The seniors will no longer compete at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, but their professional careers will solidify UCLA beach volleyball as a world-class program.

Track and field to make last leap for championship berths at NCAA West Regionals

NCAA championship berths are on the line for the Bruins this weekend.

UCLA track and field will compete in the NCAA West Regional Championship in Sacramento from Thursday to Saturday. Athletes will compete for a chance to join the nation’s best in Austin, Texas, for the NCAA championship.

“I feel ready and prepared for the meet – I know I can jump high so I’m excited,” said redshirt senior pole vaulter Elleyse Garrett. “At this point, everything is muscle memory. I need to rely on what I know, not change anything and keep everything very simple.”

In order to move on from the NCAA West Regionals, athletes must finish among the top 12 in their respective event. The top 12 athletes from the East and West regions will compete in the national championship in Austin beginning June 5.

Redshirt junior heptathlete Christina Chenault has qualified for the championship, and the No. 16-ranked women’s team has five athletes who could potentially join her in Austin, including Garrett, sophomore thrower Alyssa Wilson, redshirt senior thrower Ashlie Blake, sophomore thrower Ilaria Casarotto, and senior sprinter Meleni Rodney.

“Nobody is surprised (by this year’s success). (Director Avery Anderson) is a smart man and he knows how to win; he’s done that at (CSUN) and he’s going to do it at UCLA,” said pole vault coach Anthony Curran. “We knew we could be strong at Pac-12s after watching peoples’ results, and we’re getting results in a lot of areas this year.”

The No. 18-ranked men’s team has eight athletes within qualifying range for the championship, including freshman pole vaulter Sondre Guttormsen, junior thrower Simon Litzell, senior thrower Justin Stafford, redshirt senior thrower Dotun Ogundeji, redshirt sophomore thrower Nate Esparza, freshman thrower Otito Ogbonnia, junior jumper Isaiah Holmes and junior distance runner Robert Brandt.

“I’m very excited for regionals; I’m excited to compete again and see all my friends that will be there and hopefully jump well enough to go to nationals,” Guttormsen said. “I’ve been taking it week by week, progressing and training, and things are starting to get a little bit better.”

Guttormsen has been fighting a lower back injury for most of the outdoor season and did not compete until the Pac-12 championship. Although he only had one practice before the conference championship, Curran said Guttormsen’s performance was impressive.

“(Guttormsen’s) just coming back from being injured for two months, so what he did at Pac-12s was phenomenal,” Curran said. “He’s only had one workout before the meet, he ran a short approach, and still almost made 18 feet. He needs another good session in Sacramento and he should be able to make nationals.”

Guttormsen is currently ranked 20th in the nation and 13th in the West for men’s pole vault. Guttormsen said another two weeks of training and preparation have served him well between the Pac-12 championship and this weekend.

“I haven’t jumped from a full approach yet – I may do that at regionals, but if not I’ll do it after regionals to get it ready for nationals,” Guttormsen said. “It’s hard when you get back from injury because you don’t have the opportunity to taper that you would normally (have), but everything is coming along just in time for the big meets.”

UCLA art department establishes new chair position with $2 million grant

UCLA received $2 million to establish a new chair position at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, a university press release announced May 14.

Lynda and Stewart Resnick, co-owners of The Wonderful Company, awarded UCLA the grant to fund a new position called the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Chair in Art.

The chairperson must be a member of the UCLA Department of Art and is responsible for recruiting faculty and retaining the works they produce at UCLA. They must also produce their own art.

The Resnicks have provided other donations to the arts community at UCLA, helping fund initiatives like the Resnick Scholars Program in the UCLA Department of Art and the launch of the Hammer Museum.

The $2 million grant is part of the UCLA Centennial Campaign, which is slated to continue until December 2019.

Palisociety hotel opens for UCLA students, families in Westwood Village

A new hotel opened in Westwood this month.

Palisociety, a real estate development and hospitality operating company, opened the Palihotel in Westwood Village on May 8. The Palihotel occupies the same building as the former Claremont Hotel, which was established in 1939 and was the first hotel in Westwood before it was sold in 2017.

Palisociety has four other Los Angeles hotels in West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Melrose and Culver City.

Palisociety founder Avi Brosh said in an email statement that the company chose Westwood as its location due to the neighborhood’s historical appeal and the atmosphere surrounding it.

“When this unique, historic building found its way to us, we knew it was the right opportunity to bring the Palihotel brand to the neighborhood,” Brosh said. “Along the way, we’ve found so many new things to love about the area and are happy to be a part of the community.”

Brosh said he thinks Westwood offers tourists and UCLA families a convenient place to stay.

“We also think Westwood is a hidden gem for leisure and business clientele coming to LA to explore the city and hope we can attract people to the neighborhood to see it in a whole new light,” Brosh said.

Andrew Thomas, Westwood Village Improvement Association executive director, said he thinks the Palihotel is part of a trend of new hotels opening in Westwood Village. The number of hotels in Westwood has risen from two to five since 2011, Thomas said.

Thomas said the Claremont Hotel was originally zoned to be outside of the Westwood district, which meant it could not receive services or benefits from the WVIA. The association is looking into whether the zoning for the building has changed since the Palihotel opened, he added.

Thomas said he thinks the Palihotel will benefit the Westwood community whether or not it is zoned within Westwood.

“They’ve obviously put a lot of money, thought and energy into developing a great use, and I think that helps us all,” Thomas said. “The more development, attention, money and energy that we have that comes into our district, the better off I think we are.”

However, some students said they do not think Westwood is an appealing place to stay for visiting families.

Manvita Mareboina, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student, said she does not recommend UCLA families stay in Westwood during visits to LA because she does not think Westwood is a peaceful area.

Johnny Diaz, a fourth-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student, said the area is not a good place to stay in because it does not provide many opportunities for sightseeing.

Brosh said the Palisociety hotel seeks to offer an inviting place for UCLA students and parents, as well as to tourists and those who desire to travel the city.

Community improvement projects to beautify neglected streets of Westwood

Westwood residents will soon enjoy flowers and cleaner sidewalks on a stretch of Westwood Boulevard.

The North Westwood Neighborhood Council approved $4,000 in funding for two Westwood Boulevard beautification projects at a meeting May 8. The Los Angeles Conservation Corps, a nonprofit organization, will be conducting the improvements. The Los Angeles City Council approved the projects May 17.

One of the projects will involve planting flowers around the trees on Westwood Boulevard between Wilshire Boulevard and Ohio Avenue. Another project will have volunteers pressure wash the sidewalks in the same region.

The NWWNC designed the project specifications, said Erica Blodgett, director of development and communications for the Los Angeles Conservation Corps.

Amir Tarighat, NWWNC treasurer, said the council reached out to the Los Angeles Conservation Corps about the project as part of the council’s effort to conduct community improvement projects.

“Community improvement projects are about improving publicly owned spaces, like neighborhood beautification,” Tarighat said. “We reached out to the LA Conservation Corps, which is a nonprofit that does this sort of work, and we were actually referred to them by the city.”

Although details regarding the projects have not been finalized, the projects are not expected to take long to complete once they are underway, said Michael Skiles, NWWNC president.

“I would not at all be surprised if this gets done in the next month or two,” Skiles said. “But we don’t have that definitively confirmed.”

Skiles said council members noticed the stretch of Westwood Boulevard south of Wilshire Boulevard was not maintained as well as the stretch that runs north of Wilshire.

Skiles said he thinks this might be because the LA Great Streets Initiative, which provides funding and support for select streets to improve their quality and accessibility, benefits only the segment of Westwood Boulevard north of Wilshire Boulevard.

“The north side of Wilshire has been pretty well kept because it’s part of the mayor’s Great Streets Initiative, which means it’s eligible for grant funding,” Skiles said. “But the south side, between Wilshire and Ohio, was not as well maintained and just looked a little bit more dingy.”

Tarighat added the region does not receive as much maintenance as other parts of the neighborhood because it falls outside of the Westwood Village Improvement Association’s jurisdiction. The WVIA, a nonprofit organization, improves Westwood Village through maintenance and programming.

The WVIA receives funding through additional mandatory taxes that are imposed upon businesses and property owners within its jurisdiction. The organization then carries out various beautification projects within its boundaries.

The NWWNC felt Westwood Boulevard south of Wilshire Boulevard defines the Westwood community and that beautifying the region would bring more attention to ethnic and cultural constituencies such as the Iranian community in Persian Square, Skiles said.

The NWWNC aims to conduct similar improvement projects later on in other parts of Westwood that experience a similar lack of attention, Skiles said.

“All parts of Westwood are important to us, and we look forward to getting to all of those parts,” Skiles said.

New UCLA policy requires gender-inclusive amenities on campus

UCLA announced a new policy which would require gender-inclusive facilities in every building on campus.

Assistant vice chancellor of Facilities Management Kelly Schmader said in an email announcement Tuesday that Policy 890 would convert all existing one-person, gender-specific restrooms on campus to one-person, gender-inclusive restrooms.

If a building does not already have a one-person restroom to renovate, the policy would require there be at least one gender-inclusive restroom less than a 2-minute walk away from the building.

Policy 890 requires all buildings beginning construction this year and onward to have at least one multiple-occupancy, gender-inclusive restroom. It also mandates gender-inclusive changing rooms and showers in buildings where gender-specific changing rooms and showers are available.

Gender-inclusive facilities will be marked without gender-referencing pictograms and offer text-based signs to indicate they are gender-inclusive.

Students can submit feedback during the standard 30-day comment period on the proposed policy until June 19.

Baseball players’ choice of walk-up tunes connects performance to crowd

Joshua Kelley did not get to choose what blasted over the Rose Bowl loudspeakers when he took the field last fall.

Jaylen Hands never got to play his favorite song for the crowd when he jogged over to the substitution table at Pauley Pavilion.

But at Jackie Robinson Stadium, every Bruin gets to control one thing – their walk-up song.

“It’s like a science for us – we start picking them out in September and then we don’t even play until February,” said junior infielder Ryan Kreidler. “Half the battle is for yourself, half the battle is for the fans. If you play a song that you like, but the fans hate, it doesn’t really do the job.”

Following the tradition unique to America’s pastime, each player on No. 1 UCLA baseball (45-8, 22-5 Pac-12) picks their own song that plays every time they make the trip from the on-deck circle to the batter’s box.

Senior outfielder Jake Pries said he and his teammates are big fans of Travis Scott – but instead of picking “Sicko Mode” or “Butterfly Effect”, Pries decided to go a little off the beaten path.

“I thought it would be pretty mainstream to do a song from (Scott’s) last album, so I dug deep and went for a past album,” Pries said. “I kind of like ‘Coordinate,’ it has a good rhythm.”

The players stepping up to the plate aren’t the only ones who pay attention to the songs.

Sophomore outfielder Garrett Mitchell said each Bruin in the dugout has his favorite and least favorite songs to hear and that the songs are a fun part of the game for the team.

“It’s just another part of the game, but at the same time, you’re kind of listening between every at bat,” Mitchell said. “There’s some walk-up songs where you’re like, ‘These are really good,’ and some of them are like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to hear this anymore.’”

But according to Mitchell’s teammates, one of those songs people are sick of is his choice – Rick Ross’ “Idols Become Rivals.”

“Well we know Garrett Mitchell has the worst song,” Kreidler said. “But whatever he’s doing is working, so maybe I’ll try that one next year.”

Mitchell – who improved his career batting average from .280 to .328 this year – said even though he picked his song, the managers in the press box cue up the song at the wrong time, so he hasn’t been too pleased with it either.

“They won’t change it because it quote-unquote gets everyone hyped in the dugout, so I’m stuck with that same part of the song,” Mitchell said. “I don’t get to switch it, because if I could, I for sure would.”

Junior second baseman Chase Strumpf, a self-proclaimed music expert and enthusiast, said he always keeps his ears open in the dugout.

“Me and a few other guys, we actually have a big passion for music, so we actually care, we put time into (picking our songs),” Strumpf said. “And then other guys are like, ‘Hey, can I get some help? Toss me a song,’ and I’ll throw it out there.”

One of the players who needed a bit of help with his walk-up song was junior first baseman Michael Toglia.

Toglia hit .336 with 11 homers last season, but he opened 2019 with a new song – “Another Day in Paradise” by Quinn XCII – and a sharp decline in production at the plate followed.

In the 15 games before the start of Pac-12 play, Toglia was hitting .207 with nine RBIs and no home runs, so the first baseman turned to volunteer assistant coach Niko Gallego to give him a hand.

“I didn’t choose my walk up song,” Toglia said. “When I was struggling earlier in the year, I gave it to our coach Niko Gallego … so he took that out of my hands and then he went with ‘Sleeping on the Blacktop’ – couldn’t tell you who it’s by, but I roll with it.”

Now, Toglia is batting .316 with a career-high 13 homers.

And while Kreidler wasn’t willing to call the walk-up song decision process pure superstition, he did say he and his teammates typically take a slump as a sign to switch things up.

“That’s usually why guys change it,” Kreidler said. “Like (senior infielder Jake Hirabayashi) has Nickelback, I couldn’t really tell you why he’s doing that. (Changing songs) is not really superstition, but (my song) just gets me right when I walk up to the plate.”

Hirabayashi’s choice is not the only song that stands out from the sea of trap, rap and country music. Freshman catcher Noah Cardenas’ song is The Outfield’s 1985 hit “Your Love”, and Strumpf is in a similar boat.

Every time the infielder steps up to the plate, an EDM remix of the 1978 soul classic “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire plays, a choice Strumpf said he left up to his parents this time around.

“Every year, I go for a song that’s kind of happy and just kind of groovy a little bit,” Strumpf said. “I like it sometimes, sometimes I don’t, but my parents said they would like it in the crowd, so that’s what I went for.”

So while the Rose Bowl may seat just shy of 100,000 fans, the crowd at Jackie Robinson Stadium will always have Bruins connecting with them through their favorite music – new or old.