March 1, 2008
The UCLA men's track and field team had a solid final day of competition at the MPSF Indoor Championships in Seattle, WA as several Bruins improved upon their NCAA qualifying marks.
Junior Dustin DeLeo had a big performance in the pole vault as he cleared a lifetime-best 17-6.25 to finish third overall. That mark bettered his previous best by nearly six inches, was an NCAA provisional qualifier and moved him into the top-15 in the country.
Two other vaulters posted lifetime-best marks as junior Bobby Tally and freshman Greg Woepse both cleared 16-6.50 to tie for fifth. Senior Chris Bencomo also cleared 16-6.50 to tie for fifth in the competition.
In the shot put, senior John Caulfield placed third with a mark of 62-1, but the big performance came from sophomore Darius Savage who threw a lifetime-best 59-6.75 to place fifth overall. That mark is an NCAA provisional qualifier and moves him into a good spot to make the national cut. Freshman Bo Taylor also threw a lifetime-best 57-5 to place eighth overall as all three Bruin men scored points for the team.
Junior Matt Reuter, who was competing in his first indoor heptathlon, placed fourth overall with a score of 4,941 points. He opened the day with a seventh-place run in the 1000m (2:55.68/707 pts.). He then ran 8.86 in the 60m hurdles (777 pts.) to place eighth overall in that event and concluded the competition with a clearance of 13-5.25 (645 pts.) in the pole vault.
Three men ran lifetime-bests in the 3000m as senior Henry Hagenbuch led the way with his eighth-place run of 8:13.11. Sophomore Alex Crabill was 14th (8:19.32) and junior Drew Shackleton was 17th (8:22.27) as both also ran top personal times.
In the 800m, freshman Cory Primm led the way with his fourth-place run of 1:49.92. That time was an NCAA provisional qualifier but he has ran faster earlier in the season (1:49.70).
In the jumps, freshman Jonathan Clark placed third in the triple jump (50-2) and tied for fourth in the high jump with a personal-best 6-8.25. Sophomore Steven Taylor jumped over a two-foot indoor lifetime-best in the triple jump (49-3.50), placing fifth overall.
As a team, the Bruins placed sixth with 64.50 points. Oregon won the meet with 90 points, followed by California (84.50) and Stanford (83).