EUGENE, Ore. – The UCLA men's track & field team concluded its 2018 season on Wednesday, as a quartet of athletes took place in NCAA Championships finals at historic Hayward Field on the campus of Oregon.
Junior distance runner Robert Brandt had the top result for the Bruins on day one of the NCAA Championships, finishing eighth in the 10,000m at 29:13.12 to deliver the Bruins a point, meaning the UCLA men have scored in eight of the last nine Championships.
With the result, Brandt became the first Bruin to score in the men's 10K since Mebrahtom Keflezighi in 1998. The time was also his second-best as a Bruin, trailing only his 29:02.14 time at the Jim Bush/Bob Larsen Invitational.
Over the last eight or so laps, Brandt engaged in a back-and-forth battle with Syracuse's Colin Bennie for the eighth and final scoring spot in the race. Ultimately, Brandt had enough in the tank to beat Bennie to the finish line by half a second.
Just before the 10,000m, sophomore standouts Marian Spannowsky and Simon Litzell both competed in the men's javelin in UCLA's lone multi-competitor event of the week.
Spannowsky had a strong showing in the first flight, unleashing a 68.05m (223-3) throw on first attempt to take an early lead. However, he would end up fourth in his flight after a trio of personal bests were set and finished at No. 11 overall. It was Spannowsky's third time eclipsing the 68-meter mark in his last four outings.
Competing in the second flight, Litzell's top mark was 66.72m (218-11) which was good for 14th place.
Both results represented improvements over the 2017 Outdoor Championships, as Litzell was the 16th place finisher and Spannowsky was 23rd.
Junior thrower Justin Stafford opened the meet for UCLA and made his NCAA Championships debut in the men's hammer. His best throw came on his first attempt, as he reached 64.25m (210-9) to break the 64-meter mark for the fourth time this season.
Good for 12th place at the time of the throw, that mark ended up good for 18th place.
UCLA continues competition in the NCAA Championships on Thursday as freshman thrower Alyssa Wilson is set to appear in a pair of events. She is the lone student-athlete in the NCAA to qualify for three individual events at the NCAAs this year. She starts off in the second flight of the hammer, which is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. before wrapping up with the shot put at 6:10 p.m.