UCLA
NCAA Championships
Gustafson in Eighth After First Day of Heptathlon
June 08, 2018 | Track & Field
EUGENE, Ore. โ With the first day of the women's heptathlon and the third day of the NCAA Championships in the books, UCLA senior Kendall Gustafson finds herself in eighth place in the women's heptathlon. Currently in the final scoring position, she will conclude the seven-event schedule on Saturday with three more events: long jump, javelin, and 800m.
The lone Bruin to compete on Friday, a noticeably colder and wetter day compared to the first two days of the Championships, Gustafson participated in the 100m hurdles, high jump, and shot put in the afternoon before taking a break and finishing up with the 200m dash in the evening.
She entered the competition as the No. 7 seed after recording a qualifying score of 5,886 at the Pac-12 Combined Events Championship, the No. 2 score in UCLA history, trailing only the legendary Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Gustafson opened her day by logging a 14.19 time in the 100m hurdles, matching the second-best time in that event in her collegiate career and finishing in 21st place.
The Los Angeles native fared better in the two field events of the afternoon, recording top-10 finishes in both.
First, she cleared the 1.75m (5-8.75) bar in the high jump, one of her strongest events. That was good for fourth place, but only the No. 1 finisher โ Wisconsin's Georgia Ellenwood โ received more points in that event than Gustafson. ย
She followed that up with a strong showing in the shot put, notching a top mark of 12.55m (41-2.5) to take seventh place.
Gustafson wrapped up her day by recording a time of 25.14 in the 200m dash, the best non-wind-aided time of her career in that event. Running in lane two, she finished in third place in the third heat at 16th overall.
The heptathlon resumes on Saturday morning at 11:30 with the long jump and concludes with the 800m at 5:13 p.m.
Jessie Maduka (triple jump, 3:40 p.m.) and Alyssa Wilson (discus, 3:05 p.m.) will also be competing for UCLA on Saturday, the final day of the NCAA Championships.
Players Mentioned
