Home atmosphere key for track and field athletes

Nicholas Scarvelis, UCLA’s top shot put thrower, considers many intractable factors when he steps into the shot put ring, not just the weather.

Particularly, the redshirt junior takes into account adrenaline and meet atmosphere.

“I can project (my throw distance) based on the adrenaline factors that lead into it,” Scarvelis said.

At the annual Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational on Saturday, Scarvelis will have at least one of those intangible factors on his side: home-field advantage.

“Having that kind of base the whole day where … you’re at home, comfortable – that kind of lends itself well to being kind of relaxed,” Scarvelis said. “Even though you kind of switch into the mode, you’ve still got that ability to stay comfortable and cool (at home).”

Scarvelis said the location of the meet and the intensity of the meet’s atmosphere have played key roles during his two best throws of the season – a 19.54-meter throw at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championship on Feb. 28 and a 19.82m heave at the Legends of Track and Field Invitational in Drake Stadium last weekend.

For his first personal-record mark of 2015 at the MPSF indoors, Scarvelis was on the road in Seattle. The redshirt junior said the road trip up north disoriented him a little bit physically, causing his initial throws to be well short of his best.

“It may have been just a little bit of travel weariness, and my head was hurting,” Scarvelis said. “I felt a little underpowered, and not everything was clicking.”

Despite the grogginess, Scarvelis said he was able to overcome his physical limitations because of the adrenaline boost he received from the crowd and championship-level atmosphere on his final throw.

As for his most recent personal-record performance last weekend, the opposite case held true. The shot put thrower said he was feeling at full physical strength in his home stadium, with a strong pre-meet warmup session in tow. But Scarvelis said he was lacking that adrenaline rush that boosted him at MPSFs.

“The level of competition (at the Legends Invitational) wasn’t as high, so I wasn’t as adrenaline-pumped,” Scarvelis said. “That kind of affects your mindset. … If I had gotten that same kind of adrenaline that I did at MPSFs, who knows, I could’ve thrown further maybe.”

As it stood, even without a charged environment, Scarvelis’ 19.82m throw Saturday moved him into the No. 4 spot in the country in men’s shot put.

The key for Scarvelis now is to have both factors come together at once: the home-field advantage and the adrenaline rush. That unification may occur this weekend, as the competition at Drake Stadium will be steeper with Oklahoma and San Diego State coming to town. But in all reality, this scenario seems more likely to take place when Drake Stadium hosts the conference elite at the Pac-12 outdoor track and field championship in May.

Home is where the memories are

Scarvelis is not the only Bruin track and field athlete who has a different feeling during home meets at Drake Stadium. Two of the Bruins’ top freshman track athletes have already pointed to the home meets as being the top memories of their careers so far.

“I think the memorable memory so far is our first home meet,” said freshman multi-event athlete Steele Wasik. “That was really the first time that we had everyone on the team come together, and we did the 8-clap at the beginning and at the end of the meet. … So just coming in and kind of starting the legacy and spending a team moment like that was really cool.”

For freshman hurdler Misana Viltz, his first home meet last weekend came with strong emotions.

“Just to walk out there, I mean, for people to know my name … it was like, ‘Wow,’” Viltz said. “I mean you’re hitting the blocks – you feel like you’re representing UCLA. You’re representing something that’s so much greater than yourself.”