UCLA Splits Squad for Big Weekend

Friday, February 10

Seattle, Wash.

All Day

UCLA

Husky Invitational

UCLA will look for some big marks as championships is rapidly approaching.

UCLA Splits Squad for Big Weekend

February 09, 2017 | Track & Field

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LOS ANGELES – The UCLA Track and Field team is splitting its squad for week three of the indoor season. The distance runners will primarily participate in the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., at Dempsey Indoor on the campus of the University of Washington. The rest of the team will head to the Don Kirby Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico.

The Husky Classic will begin for the Bruins on Friday, Feb. 10 at 6:05 p.m., with the start of the women's 5,000m. UCLA gets going on Saturday with the men's 800m at 11:55 a.m.

The Don Kirby Invitational also starts on Friday with several events beginning at 2:30 p.m. PT. Saturday's events begin at 8:30 a.m. PT.

The Bruins will face stiff competition this weekend, particularly in Seattle. The distance squad will have their hands full with stacked fields on the men's and women's sides. The Bruin men will compete against three top-10 schools in Oregon (2), USC (8), and Colorado State (10), with Stanford (13), Texas (15), Colorado (17), and Washington (21) rounding out their ranked opponents.

The women will face four top-10 opponents in Oregon (1), Arkansas (2), USC (4), and Texas (6), and will additionally face Oklahoma State (19), Tennessee (21), Washington (23), and Oklahoma (25).

Oregon, with its top-ranked women and second-ranked men, headlines the field in Albuquerque, which also features Oklahoma State (No. 19 women, No. 20 men), No. 10 Colorado State, the No. 13 Stanford men, the No. 19 UTEP men and the No. 24 Harvard women.

Several Bruins have already cracked top 25 marks nationally. Leading the way for UCLA is Michael Burke in the high jump. The indoor newcomer ranks fifth with a clearance of 7-3. Sophomore Greta Wagner comes in at No. 12 in the pole vault at 13-8.25 while the men's DMR is ranked 13th with a time of 9:42.88.

In her first multi of the season, junior Kendall Gustafson posted a PR score of 3,882 to rank 23rd in the pentathlon. Sophomore Rai Benjamin ranks 21st in the nation in the 200m with a time 21.03 and No. 25 in the 400m at 47.11. In the throws, senior Torie Owers ranks 22nd in the shot put at 52-11 while sophomore Dotun Ogundeji is 25th with a throw of 60-4.

The Bruins will be back in action in the Dempsey Indoor for the two-day MPSF Indoor Championships on Feb. 24-25 at the University of Washington.