Thursday, March 28

UCLA’s men’s track and field looks to score big despite sending only three participants to NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station


MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
NCAA Indoor Championships
Friday and Saturday
College Station, Texas
No TV

Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Hanging a national championship banner. Kissing the Stanley Cup.

No matter the sport, winning the championship is the fuel that drives every action, every training session, every sacrifice. This Friday and Saturday, three members of the UCLA men’s track and field team will get a chance to add their names to the history books at the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.

“This is what I live for,” freshman thrower Alec Faldermeyer said.
“To compete against the best guys in the biggest meet in the country, I’m so excited for this, and I’ve just been waiting for this for a long time.”

Faldermeyer will be joined by senior distance runner Cory Primm and senior jumper Jonathan Clark.

Primm, the team’s top athlete, was the only member to get an auto-qualifying mark in his event, running a fourth-ranked mark of 1:47.31 in the 800 meters. Faldermeyer qualified with a throw of 68 feet, 2 1/4 inches, good for 13th-best nationally and tied for first among all freshman throwers. Clark has the 12th-best triple jump in the nation, at 52-9 1/4.

The contingent for the Bruins this year is smaller than they are used to fielding. Top teams, such as No. 1 Florida and No. 3 Arkansas, annually send large squads filling many events at the competition, and sometimes send more than one athlete per event.

Coach Mike Maynard, however, said he is unperturbed by the small team heading to College Station.

“It’s a small squad, but I think those three guys have a real good shot to do well,” he said. “I think all three guys have a shot to score points against the top competition.”

Scoring points is how teams compete against one another. Since the Bruins qualified only three athletes, they are unlikely to post enough points to compete against larger delegations. However, scoring points serves another important purpose: Points guarantee an athlete a spot as an All-American. The top eight athletes in an event score points.

As for the remaining members of the men’s team, they will compete at the Northridge Invitational this weekend, the first event of the outdoor season. All events will be represented, and the meet will mark the season debut of many Bruin athletes.


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