Ilario Casarotto will look to keep up her strong form in the women's javelin at this week's John Jacobs Invitational
Bruins to Compete in Pair of Away Meets
April 18, 2018 | Track & Field
KELLY NAMED PAC-12 MEN'S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEKย
UCLA sophomore middle-distance runner Riley Kelly was named the Pac-12 men's track Athlete of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. Kelly, a native of Brisbane, Australia, set a new PR in the 800m at Saturday's Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational, finishing the race with a time of 1:49.41.That mark is the best in the 800m by a Bruin this year, fourth-best by a Pac-12 runner, and 17th best by a Western region athlete in the 2018 outdoor season. Kelly has improved his 800m time in each of the five times he's competed in the event in 2018, going from a 1:51.83 time on Jan. 27 to Saturday's sub-1:50 mark. He is UCLA's first recipient of a men's track weekly honor since Arturo Sotomayor was tabbed on Apr. 11, 2017.
JOHN JACOBS INVITATIONAL PREVIEW
The Bruins will send the bulk of their squad to the John Jacobs Invitational, hosted by Oklahoma. Joe Herrera headlnes the team's sprinters, as he will compete in both the 200m and 400m, both events in which he has the best time by a Bruin this season. UCLA throwers Alyssa Wilson and Justin Stafford will both be looking to repeat their event wins from last week, while shot-putters Kai Wong and Ashlie Blake are coming off strong showings of their own; Wong placed second in last week's meet with a 15.65m launch and Blake currently has the third-best shot put nationally this year at 17.73m, set on Mar. 31. A week after logging the No. 31 time nationally in the 4X100 relay, UCLA will take another shot at it this week. Sophomore Marian Spannowsky will be in action in the men's javelin, where he recorded a career-best 70.54m throw last week, which moved him up to eighth on the Bruins all-time list. Tyler Janes leads the Bruin men in the 800m and 1500m fresh off a win in the 3000m last week. UCLA sports three of the top-100 high jumps nationally on the women's side in Mikella Lefebvre-Oatis, Kendall Gustafson, and Lilliana Hebert, and all three will be in action in Oklahoma.ย
MT. SAC RELAYS PREVIEW
UCLA's distance runners will get a chance to get some work in at this week's Mt. SAC Relays, held at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif. A trio of Bruins will compete on Thursday; Scott Snow and Cole Smith will participate in the meet-opening 3000m steeplechase. Snow placed fifth at the Rafer Johnson/JJK Invite with a time of 9:57.59, while Smith is coming off a college-best 9:02.72 set last month at the JIm Bush Legends Invitational. Colin Burke will close out UCLA's competitors that day in the 10000m; he is looking for his first outdoor finish in that event this seaon. On Friday,Riley Kelly will look to repeat his conference player of the week-worthy performance in the 800m, while Carter Blunt (best time - 1:53.68) looks to join him in the sub-1:50 club. At 3:45.92, George Gleason had the best 1500 time by a Bruin last week and he will aim to repeat that at the Mt. SAC Relays. Only one UCLA runner has ran the 5000m so far this year, but six Bruins will attempt the feat on Friday. A quartet of women's runners will head to the Relays as well. Cassandra Durgy (career-best 4:28.37) and Kelly Bernd (4:34.75) each are coming off solid times in the 1500m, which they will again compete it in. Jackie Garner and Christina Rice will both race in the 5000m. This will be Rice's first time in the 5000m, while Garner has UCLA's best time in that event this season at 17:23.37.ย
LAST WEEK ย ย
The Bruins took home seven event wins last week in hosting the 2018 Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at Drake Stadium. Freshman thrower Alyssa Wilson grabbed headlines with a three-win day, taking first in each event she participated: hammer throw, discus, and shot put. She set a new collegiate best in the hammer at ย 60.71m (199-2) while out-throwing the second-place finisher by over 14 feet. Justin Stafford gave UCLA a win in the first event of the day, the men's hammer. Other event winners included Marian Spannowsky (javelin), Tyler Janes (3000m), and Idrees Bernard (triple jump). Other participating schools included Texas A&M, Cal Poly, Sac State, USF, Mount 3SAC, Glendale Community College, and Riverside Community College.ย
SEVENTEEN EARN MPSF ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS
The UCLA track and field team placed 17 student-athletes on the MPSF Indoor Track and Field All-Academic teams for 2018. Ten women were named to the squad - redshirt junior pole vaulter Elleyse Garrett, senior pentathlete Kendall Gustafson, senior sprinter/jumper Jessie Maduka, senior hurdler Pattriana Perry, senior sprinter Jelvon Butler, senior jumper Efe Agege, redshirt junior high jumper Kaelin Davis, sophomore high jumper Mikella Lefebvre-Oatis, and redshirt freshmen distance runners Claire Markey and Kelly Bernd. Garrett and Maduka each received their third career honor, while Gustafson, Perry and Butler earned their second.
Seven UCLA men received all-academic honors, including six distance runners in senior Daniel De La Torre, redshirt junior Scott Snow, redshirt sophomore George Gleason, sophomores Riley Kelly and Millen Trujillo, and redshirt freshman Chris Morzenti. Joining them is redshirt freshman thrower Nate Esparza. Snow, Gleason and Trujillo earned their second consecutive all-academic honors.
FOUR BRUINS POST TOP 10 MARKS
Four Bruins have posted Top 10 national marks this season. Junior Ashlie Blake holds the third-best shot put in the country at 17.73m (58-2), a mark she set in an event victory at the Jim Bush Legends Invite. Kendall Gustafson compiled 5,691 points in the heptathlon at the season-opening Aztec Invitational, a lifetime-best total that is currently the fifth-best mark in the nation. At the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival, junior George Gleason (4:05.69) and sophomore Carter Blunt (4:06.31) posted the sixth and eighth-best mile times in the country, respectively, at the time of the event.
Additionally, six Bruins have made their way into the UCLA Top-10 list with their performances this season. A pair of Briuns entetered the record book at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational, including Alyssa Wilson's 70.71m (199-2) hammer throw and Marian Spannowsky's 70.54m (231-05) javelin throw, which rank seventh and eighth, respectively. Robert Brandt posted the No. 6 all-time mark in the 10,000m with a 29:02.14 at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival. Also at that meet, Christina Rice posted the No. 6 mark in the 10,000m on the women's side with a 34:49.87. Ashlie Blake's 17.73m (58-2) shotput throw at the Jim Bush Legends Invitational ranks No. 5 all-time. At the Aztec Invitational, Kendall Gustafson recorded a heptathlon score of 5691 which ranks No. 7 overall.ย
INDOOR RECAP
UCLA finished the indoor season with five All-America honors and a 27th-place finish for the women at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Senior Jessie Maduka earned first-team All-America acclaim in the triple jump with a third-place finish at the NCAAs after a UCLA indoor school record jump of 13.81m (45-03.75). Maduka also won the MPSF Indoor triple jump title. Junior Ashlie Blake also made it to the podium, placing seventh in the shot put with a throw of 17.07m (56-0). Receiving second-team All-America acclaim were freshman Alyssa Wilson in the shot put (14th overall) and redshirt freshman Nate Esparza (12th) and Dotun Ogundeji (13th).ย
At the MPSF Championships, the Bruin men placed fourth, while the women were fifth. UCLA captured four event titles, with Isaiah Holmes winning the long jump, Kendall Gustafson winning the pentathlon with a school record point total of 4084, Maduka winning the triple jump, and the men's squad of Scott Snow, Darnell Roberson, Riley Kelly and Carter Blunt winning the distance medley relay. ย ย
ย ย ย ย ย ย
ANDERSON BEGINS FIRST SEASON ย
UCLA graduate and track and field/football alumnus Avery Anderson is in his first year as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, having assumed the position on July 6, 2017. Anderson returned to his alma mater after spending nearly 13 years in various coaching roles at CSUN, including the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country from July 2011-July 2017. Prior to coaching at CSUN, Anderson was a volunteer assistant track coach at Kansas State from 2002-04 and at UCLA from 2001-02. During his tenure at CSUN, Anderson led Matador student-athletes to 13 team conference championship titles, 91 individual conference championship titles and 21 NCAA All-America honors. He established a conference record for team championship titles, was named the Big West Conference Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2015, and coached the only individual male NCAA Division I champions in CSUN history, in any sport, long jumpers Dashalle Andrews and Reindell Cole. ย ย
LOOKING AHEAD ย ย
After this week's away meets, the Bruins return to Drake Stadium to host crosstown rival USC on Sunday, Apr. 29 in the final contest of the regular season.ย
UCLA sophomore middle-distance runner Riley Kelly was named the Pac-12 men's track Athlete of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. Kelly, a native of Brisbane, Australia, set a new PR in the 800m at Saturday's Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational, finishing the race with a time of 1:49.41.That mark is the best in the 800m by a Bruin this year, fourth-best by a Pac-12 runner, and 17th best by a Western region athlete in the 2018 outdoor season. Kelly has improved his 800m time in each of the five times he's competed in the event in 2018, going from a 1:51.83 time on Jan. 27 to Saturday's sub-1:50 mark. He is UCLA's first recipient of a men's track weekly honor since Arturo Sotomayor was tabbed on Apr. 11, 2017.
JOHN JACOBS INVITATIONAL PREVIEW
The Bruins will send the bulk of their squad to the John Jacobs Invitational, hosted by Oklahoma. Joe Herrera headlnes the team's sprinters, as he will compete in both the 200m and 400m, both events in which he has the best time by a Bruin this season. UCLA throwers Alyssa Wilson and Justin Stafford will both be looking to repeat their event wins from last week, while shot-putters Kai Wong and Ashlie Blake are coming off strong showings of their own; Wong placed second in last week's meet with a 15.65m launch and Blake currently has the third-best shot put nationally this year at 17.73m, set on Mar. 31. A week after logging the No. 31 time nationally in the 4X100 relay, UCLA will take another shot at it this week. Sophomore Marian Spannowsky will be in action in the men's javelin, where he recorded a career-best 70.54m throw last week, which moved him up to eighth on the Bruins all-time list. Tyler Janes leads the Bruin men in the 800m and 1500m fresh off a win in the 3000m last week. UCLA sports three of the top-100 high jumps nationally on the women's side in Mikella Lefebvre-Oatis, Kendall Gustafson, and Lilliana Hebert, and all three will be in action in Oklahoma.ย
MT. SAC RELAYS PREVIEW
UCLA's distance runners will get a chance to get some work in at this week's Mt. SAC Relays, held at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif. A trio of Bruins will compete on Thursday; Scott Snow and Cole Smith will participate in the meet-opening 3000m steeplechase. Snow placed fifth at the Rafer Johnson/JJK Invite with a time of 9:57.59, while Smith is coming off a college-best 9:02.72 set last month at the JIm Bush Legends Invitational. Colin Burke will close out UCLA's competitors that day in the 10000m; he is looking for his first outdoor finish in that event this seaon. On Friday,Riley Kelly will look to repeat his conference player of the week-worthy performance in the 800m, while Carter Blunt (best time - 1:53.68) looks to join him in the sub-1:50 club. At 3:45.92, George Gleason had the best 1500 time by a Bruin last week and he will aim to repeat that at the Mt. SAC Relays. Only one UCLA runner has ran the 5000m so far this year, but six Bruins will attempt the feat on Friday. A quartet of women's runners will head to the Relays as well. Cassandra Durgy (career-best 4:28.37) and Kelly Bernd (4:34.75) each are coming off solid times in the 1500m, which they will again compete it in. Jackie Garner and Christina Rice will both race in the 5000m. This will be Rice's first time in the 5000m, while Garner has UCLA's best time in that event this season at 17:23.37.ย
LAST WEEK ย ย
The Bruins took home seven event wins last week in hosting the 2018 Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at Drake Stadium. Freshman thrower Alyssa Wilson grabbed headlines with a three-win day, taking first in each event she participated: hammer throw, discus, and shot put. She set a new collegiate best in the hammer at ย 60.71m (199-2) while out-throwing the second-place finisher by over 14 feet. Justin Stafford gave UCLA a win in the first event of the day, the men's hammer. Other event winners included Marian Spannowsky (javelin), Tyler Janes (3000m), and Idrees Bernard (triple jump). Other participating schools included Texas A&M, Cal Poly, Sac State, USF, Mount 3SAC, Glendale Community College, and Riverside Community College.ย
SEVENTEEN EARN MPSF ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS
The UCLA track and field team placed 17 student-athletes on the MPSF Indoor Track and Field All-Academic teams for 2018. Ten women were named to the squad - redshirt junior pole vaulter Elleyse Garrett, senior pentathlete Kendall Gustafson, senior sprinter/jumper Jessie Maduka, senior hurdler Pattriana Perry, senior sprinter Jelvon Butler, senior jumper Efe Agege, redshirt junior high jumper Kaelin Davis, sophomore high jumper Mikella Lefebvre-Oatis, and redshirt freshmen distance runners Claire Markey and Kelly Bernd. Garrett and Maduka each received their third career honor, while Gustafson, Perry and Butler earned their second.
Seven UCLA men received all-academic honors, including six distance runners in senior Daniel De La Torre, redshirt junior Scott Snow, redshirt sophomore George Gleason, sophomores Riley Kelly and Millen Trujillo, and redshirt freshman Chris Morzenti. Joining them is redshirt freshman thrower Nate Esparza. Snow, Gleason and Trujillo earned their second consecutive all-academic honors.
FOUR BRUINS POST TOP 10 MARKS
Four Bruins have posted Top 10 national marks this season. Junior Ashlie Blake holds the third-best shot put in the country at 17.73m (58-2), a mark she set in an event victory at the Jim Bush Legends Invite. Kendall Gustafson compiled 5,691 points in the heptathlon at the season-opening Aztec Invitational, a lifetime-best total that is currently the fifth-best mark in the nation. At the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival, junior George Gleason (4:05.69) and sophomore Carter Blunt (4:06.31) posted the sixth and eighth-best mile times in the country, respectively, at the time of the event.
Additionally, six Bruins have made their way into the UCLA Top-10 list with their performances this season. A pair of Briuns entetered the record book at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational, including Alyssa Wilson's 70.71m (199-2) hammer throw and Marian Spannowsky's 70.54m (231-05) javelin throw, which rank seventh and eighth, respectively. Robert Brandt posted the No. 6 all-time mark in the 10,000m with a 29:02.14 at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival. Also at that meet, Christina Rice posted the No. 6 mark in the 10,000m on the women's side with a 34:49.87. Ashlie Blake's 17.73m (58-2) shotput throw at the Jim Bush Legends Invitational ranks No. 5 all-time. At the Aztec Invitational, Kendall Gustafson recorded a heptathlon score of 5691 which ranks No. 7 overall.ย
INDOOR RECAP
UCLA finished the indoor season with five All-America honors and a 27th-place finish for the women at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Senior Jessie Maduka earned first-team All-America acclaim in the triple jump with a third-place finish at the NCAAs after a UCLA indoor school record jump of 13.81m (45-03.75). Maduka also won the MPSF Indoor triple jump title. Junior Ashlie Blake also made it to the podium, placing seventh in the shot put with a throw of 17.07m (56-0). Receiving second-team All-America acclaim were freshman Alyssa Wilson in the shot put (14th overall) and redshirt freshman Nate Esparza (12th) and Dotun Ogundeji (13th).ย
At the MPSF Championships, the Bruin men placed fourth, while the women were fifth. UCLA captured four event titles, with Isaiah Holmes winning the long jump, Kendall Gustafson winning the pentathlon with a school record point total of 4084, Maduka winning the triple jump, and the men's squad of Scott Snow, Darnell Roberson, Riley Kelly and Carter Blunt winning the distance medley relay. ย ย
ย ย ย ย ย ย
ANDERSON BEGINS FIRST SEASON ย
UCLA graduate and track and field/football alumnus Avery Anderson is in his first year as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, having assumed the position on July 6, 2017. Anderson returned to his alma mater after spending nearly 13 years in various coaching roles at CSUN, including the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country from July 2011-July 2017. Prior to coaching at CSUN, Anderson was a volunteer assistant track coach at Kansas State from 2002-04 and at UCLA from 2001-02. During his tenure at CSUN, Anderson led Matador student-athletes to 13 team conference championship titles, 91 individual conference championship titles and 21 NCAA All-America honors. He established a conference record for team championship titles, was named the Big West Conference Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2015, and coached the only individual male NCAA Division I champions in CSUN history, in any sport, long jumpers Dashalle Andrews and Reindell Cole. ย ย
LOOKING AHEAD ย ย
After this week's away meets, the Bruins return to Drake Stadium to host crosstown rival USC on Sunday, Apr. 29 in the final contest of the regular season.ย
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