UCLA
NCAA West Regionals
Track & Field Wraps Regionals With 13 Individual, Two Relay Qualifiers
May 31, 2025 | Track & Field
Day 2 Recap
Day 3 Recap
COLLEGE STATION, Texas โ Six more UCLA women and two relay squads earned NCAA qualification Saturday on final day of the NCAA West Regionals at Texas A&M's E.B. Cushing Stadium.
After four days of competition, the Bruins' final tally of NCAA qualifiers include 10 women's individuals, two women's relays, and three men's individuals.
The Bruins to punch their tickets to nationals on Saturday included Valentina Fakrogha (high jump), Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck (100m hurdles), Celeste Polzonetti (100m hurdles), Marie Warneke (800m), Taylor Snaer (200m), Naomi Johnson (200m), and both the 4x100 and 4x100 relay squads.
The Bruins had historically notable performances in almost every event they entered on Saturday.
Most notably, both the 4x100 and 4x100 relays had all-time performances for the Bruins.
In the first race of the day, the group of Ndjip-Nyemeck, Johnson, Kaylen Fletcher, and Snaer secured a third-place overall finish in the 4x100 with a time of 43.04, just one-hundredth of a second off their school-record pace accomplished during the USC dual meet earlier this season.
The Bruins later closed out the meet with a spectacular 4x400 relay, as the quartet of Kayla McBride, Snaer, Aly Conyers, and Johnson finished fourth with a season-best time of 3:28.18. That time was good for No. 4 all-time in the UCLA annals, and is the best in program history for a non-NCAA Championships meet.
Ndjip-Nyemeck and Polzonetti notched PRs and UCLA all-time top-10 slots in the 100m hurdles. Ndjip-Nyemeck won the second (of three) heats and was second place overall with a time of 12.82, improving her position at No. 5 in UCLA school history. Polzonetti meanwhile ran a 13.08 to finish third in her heat and secure an auto-bid into NCAAs. She also made her debut at No. 9 on the UCLA all-time top-10 list.
Shortly after the 100mH, Marie Warneke secured a PR in the 800m at 2:02.93. That time was good for No. 3 in UCLA school history, and was also third in her heat granting her an automatic qualifier into NCAAs. She was 11th overall.
Taylor Snaer also had an all-time No. 3 time of her own, going a lifetime-best 22.64 in the 200m to finished third in her heat and eighth overall en route to an auto-qualifier into NCAAs. Naomi Johnson (22.94) finished 12th to secure the final NCAAs bid from Regionals, giving UCLA its second double-qualifying event of the day and third overall for the week (women's pole vault).
Fakrogha was the first Bruin to secure a bid on Saturday, earning a 12th place finish after clearing 1.81m (5-11.25) โ tied for her second-highest jump of the year. The true freshman cleared 1.81m on her first attempt.
UCLA returns to action at the 2025 Outdoor NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 11-14.
Players Mentioned
