Bruin Women Earn Four NCAA Bids on Day 2 of West Regionals
May 29, 2025 | Track & Field
COLLEGE STATION, Texas โ Four members of the UCLA women's track and field team punched their tickets to the 2025 Outdoor NCAA Championships, and another 10 advanced to quarterfinal rounds in their respective events on Day 2 of the NCAA West Regionals at E.B. Cushing Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M.
UCLA's NCAA qualifiers on Thursday included Jana van Schalkwyk (javelin), Sydney Johnson (long jump), Ka'Leila Abrille (pole vault), and Katerina Adamiec (pole vault). All top-12 finishers in field events at Regionals advance on to NCAAs at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 11-14.
Each of Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck (100m hurdles), Celeste Polzonetti (100mH), Bella Witt (100mH), Kayla McBride (400m), Rose Pittman (800m), Marie Warneke (800m), Sonia Virk (400m hurdles), Taylor Snaer (200m), Naomi Johnson (200m), and Kaylen Fletcher (200m) will have the opportunity to secure their own NCAA bid during the women's quarterfinal races on Saturday afternoon.
Van Schalkwyk was the first Bruin to earn an NCAA berth on Thursday, hitting a long mark of 53.27m on her first attempt which ended up being good for ninth place. With the effort, van Schalkwyk has now cleared 53 meters in every meet she's entered this season.
Johnson followed shortly after with an 11th place finish in the long jump at 6.38m (20-11.25), matching her wind-legal season-long mark. It was the second NCAA qualification of the season for Johnson, as she'll also compete in the heptathlon by virtue of her performance in that event at the Big Ten Championships earlier this spring.
Arguably the top performance all day for the Bruins came in the pole vault, as Abrille and Adamiec both hit marks of 4.42m (14-6) to set PRs and move to No. 3 and 4 all-time in school history. By clearing all four of her attempts, Abrille tied for first place in the event, while Adamiec was seventh overall.ย
The Bruins got off to an extremely strong start on the track side, as Ndjip-Nyemeck (12.85) hit a PR, won her heat, and placed second overall in the 100mH. Ultimately all three Bruin entries in that race set season-bests and advanced to quarters, as Polzonetti (13.18) also set a PR while Witt (13.34) grabbed the penultimate spot.
Next up for UCLA was the 400m, which saw McBride (52.31) set a PR while finishing third in her heat to earn an auto-qualifier into Saturday's quarterfinal.
Both Bruin entries in the women's 800m advanced to quarterfinals as well. Marie Warneke led the way with a PR of 2:03.79, which was sixth at Regionals and No. 5 on UCLA's outdoor all-time top-10 list. Rose Pittman also earned quarters qualification via a season-best time of 2:05.44, good for 16th place overall.
Sonia Virk โ UCLA's lone entry in the 400m hurdles โ also made her way through to quarterfinals with a time of 57.84, her third-best of the year.
The Bruins got three more through to quarterfinals in their final race of the day โ the 200m dash. Taylor Snaer led the way with a sixth-place time of 22.79. That was a five-hundredths of a second improvement on her previous PR, moving her into sole possession of No. 5 in the UCLA record books. Naomi Johnson (23.13) earned auto-qualification after finishing third in her heat, and Kaylen Fletcher (23.42) secured the final QF spot.
The UCLA men return to action Friday on Day 3 of the NCAA West Regionals, with Jake Stafford (discus), Michael Pinckney (discus), Di'Niko Bates (110m hurdles), Gabriel Clement II (400m), Bennett Booth-Genthe (800m), Tamaal Myers II (400m hurdles), Michael Mireles (5000m), and the 4x400 relay squad all bidding for NCAA Championships qualifications.
Players Mentioned
