University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Indoor Big Ten Championships
UCLA at Big Ten Indoors: Day Two
February 27, 2026 | Track & Field
INDIANAPOLIS โ Senior thrower Michael Pinckney set a school record and earned a silver medal in the men's weight throw to highlight UCLA's second day at the 2026 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Pinckney was one of two medalists for the Bruins on Friday, joining sophomore Valentina Fakrogha who tied for third place in the women's high jump.
In addition, six UCLA runners over five events earned spots in Saturday finals.
Overall, UCLA had three scoring performances on Friday, giving the squad five scorers total for the meet.
The Bruins conclude the indoor league championship on Saturday with the women's and women's triple jump, men's pole vault, men's and women's 3000m, men's and women's 400m final, women's 800m final, men's shot put, men's and women's 60m hurdle final, women's 200m final, and men's and women's 4x400 relays.
Fakrogha was among the first Bruins in action on Friday, and she subsequently became the first to medal after earning a third-place result with a maximum clearance of 1.81m (5-11.25) in the high jump. It marked her first-career Big Ten medal after finishing fourth in the HJ at the league's outdoor meet in 2025.
Pinckney followed with a silver-medal performance in the men's weight throw. He reached a long mark of 22.72m (74-6.5), representing the third time this season that he broke his own school record in that event. He was second only to Iowa's Ryan Johnson, who set a collegiate record at 25.66m. It was the third-career league medal for Pinckney, who was the 2025 Big Ten outdoor champion in the discus and the 2024 Pac-12 runner-up in the discus.
Long jumper Sydney Johnson was the first Bruin to score on Friday, as she ended up in eighth place with a mark of 6.26m (20-6.5). Johnson cleared six meters on all six of her attempts.
UCLA also had strong performances in the qualifying rounds for the men's and women's 60m hurdles, men's and women's 400m, and women's 800m.
Senior sprinter Naomi Johnson was the standout of the Bruins' prelim runners, as she finished first in the women's 400m qualifier with a time of 52.22. That time marked a personal best for Johnson, and improved her standing at No. 2 in school history. Ava Simms (53.38) was able to land the eighth and final spot in Saturday's final.
On the men's side of the 400m, Gabriel Clement II ran a 46.26 to land in seventh and secure a spot in the final. It was his second-best time of the year in that event.
In the women's 60mH, graduate Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck and sophomore Celeste Polzonetti won their respective heats and finished 2-3 overall to land in the final. Polzonetti's time was just one-hundredth of a second off her collegiate-best. Otto Laing (7.89) paced the Bruin men, finishing seventh overall to clinch a finals spot. Davis Davis-Lyric posted a season-best of 7.95, but narrowly missed out on a final spot after placing ninth.
The last final-clinching performance came from Marie Warneke in the women's 800m, as her time of 2:05.28 was good for seventh place.
Players Mentioned
