UCLA
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational
Track and Field Kicks Off Indoor Season at MLK Invite
January 18, 2018 | Track & Field
LOS ANGELES โ The UCLA track and field team is headed to Albuquerque, N.M. this weekend for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Collegiate Invite, the Bruins' first indoor meet of the 2018 season. The two-day competition will begin on Friday, Jan. 19 and will be held at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The MLK Invite is hosted by the University of New Mexico.
Friday's meet program will begin at 4:00pm MT/3:00pm PT with a variety of field event competitions, including the men's and women's high jump and long jump. The men's 400m will be the first race of the day, with the gun slated to go off at 4:00pm PT. The prelims for the women's 60m hurdles will get Saturday's action underway at 8:00am PT.
UCLA will face a diverse lineup of schools at the MLK Invite, including a selection of lower-division opponents and local foes CSUN and UC Santa Barbara. The Bruins will also get an early look at crosstown rival USC, whose men's and women's squads both rank fourth in the USTFCCCA Preseason National Poll.
The Bruins enter the weekend eager to improve upon a successful 2017 indoor campaign that saw the men's and women's squads finish third and fourth, respectively, at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Indoor Championships. UCLA also sent four student-athletes to the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Headlining the men's entries for the MLK invite are juniors Michael Burke (high jump) and Dotun Ogundeji (shot put). Burke finished 12th at Nationals with a clearance of 6-10.75, but truly left his stamp on the 2017 indoor season with a jump of 7-03.00 at the Columbia East-West Challenge, a mark good for a tie for fifth in UCLA school history. Ogundeji, who took 15th place at NCAAs in the shot put, won the MPSF Championships in the event with a launch of 64-11.50, which was good for fifth in the nation.
Also toeing the line this weekend for the Bruins will be sophomore Logen Casavant (400m). Coming off a stellar freshman campaign that saw him crack the Top-20 at the NCAA Outdoor West Regionals, Casavant will look to smash his indoor-best 400m time of 49.68.
The women's squad also features key returners in the lineup this weekend, including senior Kendall Gustafson (multis) and junior Greta Wagner (pole vault). The versatile Gustafson looks to build off a 2017 indoor season that saw her finish as the MPSF runner-up in the pentathlon with 3,958 points, a score that placed her fourth all-time at UCLA. Wagner enters the weekend with a lifetime-best clearance of 13-10.00, a mark she posted on the Albuquerque track last indoor season to place her ninth all-time in school history in the event.
Bruin fans should also be on the lookout for the UCLA debut of freshman thrower Alyssa Wilson, who is penciled in for the shot put and weight throw. The New Jersey product had a historic prep career, including setting all-time high school records in indoor (57-05.50) and outdoor (58-01.00) shot put.
Eight total student-athletes will be making their UCLA track debuts this weekend. The men's side will feature freshman Matthew DeRoos (long jump), junior transfer Michael Fancey (pole vault), and redshirt freshman Chris Morzenti (600m). The women's lineup includes Wilson, freshmen Paige Carter (800m), Jacquelyn Hill (800m), and Christina Rice (mile), and redshirt freshman Kelly Bernd (mile).
Players Mentioned
