HolmesHolmes

Isaiah Holmes will compete in the long jump on Friday evening.

UCLA Track & Field Opens 2019 Outdoor Season on Friday

Track & Field

UCLA will compete at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Ariz.

Opens in a new window Meet Notes (PDF) Opens in a new window Meet Schedule
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LOS ANGELES – A week after the NCAA Indoor Championships, the UCLA track & field program will begin its 2019 outdoor campaign, starting with the Willie Williams Classic on March 15-16 in Tucson, Ariz.
 
Meet Information
Meet: Willie Williams Classic
Date: March 15-16
Venue: Roy P. Drachman Stadium
Location: Tucson, Ariz.   
Meet Schedule
 
Schedule
The Bruins will open the meet on Friday in the field events, getting started with the men's hammer and women's javelin at 3 p.m. (MST). The track events will begin at 6:10 p.m. with the women's 400m hurdles.
 
On Saturday, UCLA will start off with the women's discus at 10 a.m., while the track events will begin at 12:25 p.m. with the women's 400m dash.
 
NCAA Indoor Championships Recap
Six Bruins qualified for the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, which were held on March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala. UCLA was led by Robert Brandt, who notched two points, posting eighth-place finishes in both the 3000m (7:56.72) and 5000m (13:50.74) en route to earning First-Team All-America honors in both events.
 
Alyssa Wilson recorded a fourth-place finish in the shot put, tallying a mark of 17.38m (57-0.25), and she followed that up with a ninth-place finish in the weight throw with an effort of 20.98m (68-10).
 
A trio of seniors in Justin Stafford (weight throw; ninth place; 21.60m), Ashlie Blake (shot put; 10th place; 16.71m) and Dotun Ogundeji (shot put; 11th place; 19.32m) made impressive finishing touches on their indoor collegiate careers.
 
Meanwhile, Sondre Guttormsen capped his inaugural indoor collegiate campaign, earning 10th place in the pole vault after clearing 5.58m (18-3.75).  
 
UCLA Indoor Season Recap
The 2019 indoor season saw UCLA shatter three indoor records, while 15 other student-athletes either made spots or moved up in the Bruins' top-10 indoor list.
 
Robert Brandt set school records in both the 3000m (7:50.27) and 5000m (13:40.82), while Sondre Guttormsen notched a program record in the pole vault and topped it later in the season when he cleared 5.73m (18-9.5). 
 
In addition to Brandt and Guttormsen's school records, 11 other Bruins moved into the top five all-time in their respective events in the UCLA record books. On the women's side, Alyssa Wilson moved to No. 2 all-time indoor in both the weight throw (72-11.25) and shot put (58-2), while the pole vault saw Elleyse Garrett scoot to No. 5 with a mark of 13-10.5. On the track, Meleni Rodney jumped to fourth in the 200m (24.05), while the distance events saw Christina Rice (3rd in 5000m; 16:31.55) crack the top five.   
 
For the men, Justin Stafford improved to No. 2 all-time in the weight throw (71-0.75), while Sean Lee notched the third-best high jump (7-1.5) in indoor history. Dotun Ogundeji finished his indoor career with the fifth-best shot put (65-1.25), while the quartet of Cameron Stone, Riley Kelly, Carter Blunt and Arturo Sotomayor combined for the fourth-fastest DMR time (9:34.63) in indoor history.
 
Next Meet
The Bruins head to San Diego for the Aztec Invitational, set to take place on March 22 at the Aztrack Sports Deck.