The UCLA women’s track and field team has signed its newest members from both familiar and far places.
The nine signees include one from Canada and one from a family that the Bruins have recruited from before.
UCLA welcomes Katherine Reid, a two-time British Columbia 400 meters champion who ranked No. 1 in her country and No. 10 in the world.
“(Reid) is a tremendous athlete who brings a lot of international experience to the team,” coach Jeanette Bolden said.
After looking abroad, the Bruins returned to a family that has produced another UCLA athlete in football cornerback Sheldon Price. Kylie Price joins her brother in Westwood as a dominant sprinter and jumper.
“Kylie went to the Simplot Games and won the very prestigious meet in the long jump,” Bolden said.
“She’s on her way to establishing herself as one of the premier sprinters and jumpers.”
With so many esteemed signees, the Bruins look to improve on sprinting, hurdles and jumps to level out the talent in various events.
“This year’s recruiting class shows the balance that we are traditionally known for,” Bolden said.
“It continues to show that with the freshman class of last year and the freshman class coming in, there’s going to be an immediate impact just because of the quality of athletes that we’ve had.”
UCLA will lose prominent seniors after this season, such as hurdler Lindsay Rowe and runners Ashlea McLaughlin, Joy Eaton and Shannon Murakami. These last two recruiting classes will look to fill the void.
“It will be hard to replace those seniors,” Bolden said.
“But I think we are showing with our young talent that we will still be strong in those areas.”