UCLA TRACK & FIELD UCLA Athletic Communications / J.D. Morgan Center / 325 Westwood Plaza / Los Angeles, CA 90095 / (310) 825-8664 Track & Field Contacts: Seth Dahle ([email protected]) / Ryan Andersen ([email protected]) 2019 SCHEDULE Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegiate Invitational January Jan. 18-19, 2019 (hosted by New Mexico) 11 Friday Night Duals NR (Flagstaff, Ariz.) MEET INFORMATION MEET SCHEDULE (MOUNTAIN TIME) 18-19 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational Location: Albuquerque, N.M. Friday, Jan. 18 Venue: Albuquerque Convention Center (Albuquerque, N.M.) 4 pm Field events begin (w weight throw, w Competing Teams: New Mexico, UCLA high jump, m/w long jump) 25-26 Columbia Challenge Live Results: liverunningresults.com (New York, N.Y.) 5 pm Track events begin (w 400m) February 1-2 New Mexico Collegiate Classic Saturday, Jan. 19 (Albuquerque, N.M.) 9:30 am Field events begin (w shot put) 8-9 Don Kirby Collegiate Elite Invitational 10 am Track events begin (w 60m hurdles) (Albuquerque, N.M.) 8-9 Husky Classic FOR STARTERS (Seattle, Wash.) The UCLA track & field team will head to Albuquerque, N.M., to compete in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Invitational 22-23 MPSF Indoor Championships on Jan. 18-19. Hosted by the University of New Mexico, the meet begins with field events on Friday and concludes (Seattle, Wash.) with the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays on Saturday evening. March LAST MEET 8-9 NCAA Indoor Championships The UCLA throwers opened the 2019 indoor season at the NAU Friday Night Duals on Jan. 11. Alyssa Wilson scored (Birmingham, Ala.) 15-16 Willie Williams Classic life-time best marks in the shot put (17.73m; 58-2) and weight throw (20.51m; 67-3.5) en route to taking first in (Tucson, Ariz.) both events, while Justin Stafford won the weight throw with a heave of 19.98m (65-6.75). 22 at Aztec Invitational PRESEASON RANKINGS (San Diego, Calif.) The UCLA women are ranked 30th in the USTFCCCA preseason rankings with 27.42 points, the sixth highest rated 29 Bob Larsen Distance Carnival team out of the MPSF. The Bruin men, who finished at No. 65 last year, earned a No. 43 ranking with 22.59 points. (Drake Stadium) 30 Jim Bush Legends Invitational ANDERSON BEGINS SECOND SEASON (Drake Stadium) UCLA graduate and track and field/football alumnus Avery Anderson is in his second year as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, having assumed the position on July 6, 2017. In his first year at the helm, Anderson April helped UCLA muster USTFCCCA All-America performances in several events during the outdoor season, including 13 Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational first team selections in Robert Brandt (10,000m), Kendall Gustafson (heptathlon), Jessie Maduka (triple jump) and (Drake Stadium) Alyssa Wilson (shot put, hammer). The UCLA track & field program also saw two student-athletes (Simon Litzell, 18-20 at Mt. Sac Relays javelin; Marian Spannowsky, javelin) earn second team honors, while Justin Stafford (hammer) and Alyssa Wilson (Torrance, Calif.) (discus) took home honorable mention plaudits in their respective events. Anderson’s indoor All-Americans included: 28 USC Ashlie Blake (first team, shot put), Jessie Maduka (first team, triple jump), Nate Esparza (second team, shot put), (Los Angeles - Cromwell Field & Lower Track Stadium) Dotun Ogundeji (second team, shot put) and Alyssa Wilson (second team, shot put). During the 2018 track & field May season, UCLA notched 26 Pac-12 All-Academic honorees, and the Bruins saw 24 student-athletes qualify for the 4-5 at Pac-12 Multi-Events Championships NCAA West Regional Championships. At the 2018 Pac-12 Championships, the Bruins collected two individual titles. (Tucson, Ariz.) In the women’s triple jump, Jessie Maduka’s mark of 13.59m (44-7) gave the Bruins their first victory in the event 11-12 at Pac-12 Championships since 2004. On the men’s side, Simon Litzell threw a collegiate-best 74.46m (244-3) in the javelin to take first place. (Tucson, Ariz.) 23-25 at NCAA West Regionals NEXT MEET (Sacramento, Calif.) UCLA will head to New York on Jan. 25-26 for the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge. June 6-8 at NCAA Championships (Austin, Texas) UCLA ON SOCIAL MEDIA Track & Field Twitter: @UCLATrack_Field Track & Field Instagram: @uclatrackandfield Track & Field Facebook: /UCLATrackAndField UCLA Athletics Twitter: @UCLAAthletics UCLA Athletics Instagram: @UCLAAthletics UCLA Athletics Facebook: /UCLAAthletics #GoBruins 2019 UCLA TRACK & FIELD 2019 SEASON OUTLOOK Sprinters – Women Pole Vaulters – Men Headlining a young group of sprinters on the women’s side are three seniors in Suzie The Bruins’ lone returner is Michael Fancey, who cleared a season-best 4.75m (15-7) at the Acolatse, Meleni Rodney and Schuyler Moore. In 2018, Acolatse helped the 4x100m relay Don Kirby Elite Invitational. UCLA notched two strong newcomers in Kyle Brown, a transfer team earn a 17th-place finish at the NCAA West Regionals, while Rodney posted season- out of Yale, and freshman phenom Sondre Guttormsen. Brown posted a season-best effort best times in the 400m (53.80; fourth place) and 200m (23.92; eighth place) at the of 4.65m (15-3) as a freshman at the Yale Season Opener, while Guttormsen, a graduate of MPSF Championships. Moore took 21st in the 200m (24.82) and 24th in the 60m (7.66; Davis Senior High School, won the state championship in the pole vault when he cleared 17 season-best time) at the MPSFs. Seven of the Bruins’ 10 sprinters are freshmen. Esther feet, 10 inches – a state-meet record. Guttormsen was also just the second athlete ever to Ekeanyanwu, a native of Allen, Texas, qualified for the Texas UIL 6A State Championships break 18 feet in the pole vault indoors at the National Pole Vault Summit. three years in a row, while Maliyah Medley finished second in the 400m (53.08) and fourth in the 200m (24.15) at the CIF State Championship Finals. Distance – Women During the 2018 cross country season, Erika Adler was the lone qualifier for the Sprinters – Men NCAA Championships. She was a NCAA All-West-Region honoree, finishing 14th at Leon Powell is back after redshirting the 2018 campaign. The recipient of the Bruin Leader- the West Regionals, as well as a Second-Team All-Pac-12 selection. Christina Rice, ship Award, Powell was a stud in 2017, collecting USTFCCCA All-America Honorable Men- a top returner, qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries in the 10K and finished tion honors in the 4x100m relay. He won the 100m against rival USC with a lifetime-best 14th in the 10K at the Pac-12 Championships with a time of 34:31.06. During the mark of 10.26, which also ranks ninth in program history. In that same year he propelled 2018 outdoor season, Rice posted the fourth-best mark in Bruin history in the 10K, the 4x100m relay squad to a season-best time of 39.32 and a bid to the NCAA Champion- tallying 34:14.42. Jackie Garner has also enjoyed success in the 10K. In 2017, she ships. Joe Herrera, another veteran, qualified for the NCAA West Regionals in the 400m, clocked a mark of 34:58.47 at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival, the ninth-best out- finishing in 22nd place (47.02). To earn that spot at regionals, Herrera had to muster a door time in program history. Junior Cassandra Durgy holds the fifth-best indoor mile collegiate-best time of 46.64 against USC. The Bruins added a pair of Oregon transfers in time (4:45.15) in program history, which she achieved at the MPSF Championships Cameron Stone and Myles Webb. At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Stone was named a to take 22nd place. First Team All-American after helping the distance medley relay team finish third (9:31.45), while Webb scored two points at the Pac-12 Championships with a seventh-place finish in Distance – Men the 100m finals (10.76). Headlining the male distance runners is Robert Brandt, who holds the sixth-best outdoor mark (29:02.14) in the 10K in school history. His Westwood debut also included an eighth- Throwers – Women place finish in the 10K at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, as he finished in 29:13.12 Alyssa Wilson returns for her sophomore campaign after an unprecedented freshman to earn USTFCCCA All-America honors. Brandt also registered the third-best time in UCLA season in which she collected three All-America honors. She was the only student- history in the 5000m with a mark of 13:41.23 at the Mt. SAC Relays. UCLA’s distance team athlete in the country to qualify for three individual events at the 2108 NCAA Outdoor is young, featuring five freshmen and four sophomores. Carter Blunt clocked the sixth-fastest Track & Field Championships, and at that event she mustered a personal best of mile time (4:02.89) in program history last season at the Husky Classic, while Arturo Soto- 66.99m (219-9) in the hammer throw to earn fourth place and book the second-best mayor holds the 10th-fastest mile time (4:04.56) and eighth-fastest 800m time (1:49.60), mark in UCLA history. Wilson posted eight event wins during the 2018 outdoor season both of which were achieved in 2017. and became the first junior woman ever to qualify for the World Junior Championships in three throwing events (hammer, shot put, discus). Blake, another strong returning thrower for the Bruin women, qualified for the 2018 NCAA West Regionals in both the Jumpers – Women shot put and discus and was a USTFCCCA Indoor All-American after she finished sev- Despite losing All-American triple jumper Jessie Maduka to graduation, the Bruins bring enth in the shot put with a heave of 17.07m (56-0).