Bruin hurdler leaps for glory, hopes to compete in Olympic Qualifiers

Misana Viltz had quite the fulfilling summer. While most of us were waking up at 2 p.m., driving to the beach and stuffing our faces in celebration of being out of school, the UCLA sophomore hurdler was busy training in Canada – representing team USA at the Pan American Junior Championships in Edmonton.

Before even climbing to such heights though, Viltz showed his potential at the national level – competing in the USATF Junior championships two summers in a row. The junior level places hurdles at 39 inches while the NCAA regulates them at 42 inches. Having participated in this meet immediately after the end of his freshman year at UCLA, Viltz dominated – running a time of 13.2 – the world’s fastest junior mark at that time.

“I told myself that I had to do something,” Viltz said. “That was my last time running the junior height, so I needed to win, PR or just run my heart out. When I ended up winning and setting a meet record, I was in disbelief. I kept saying ‘There’s no way this just happened.'”

Shortly after winning the USATF Juniors in Oregon, it was time for the Pan American games, which also use junior-level hurdles.

In what became a two-man dual with Cuba’s Roger Iribarne, the Long Beach native was able to lean over the finish line with a time of 13.30 seconds, just barely beating Iribarne by .02 seconds. Winning the gold medal gave him a profound sense of confidence that has carried into this season. Although he ran a wind-aided 13.86 in the NCAA regional meet last season, Viltz ran a 14.46 at this time last season. In his last three races, the sophomore has broken the 14 second barrier, and doesn’t plan on stopping there.

“My number one goal is to get to nationals no matter what happens,” Viltz said. “It took such a long time to get used to the high hurdles my freshman year, now I’m ready to just go out and compete. If I can continue to work on my start off the blocks – and I’ve never really had a good start – I’ll be ready to drop my times even more.”

The hard work and success of Viltz caught the eyes of many, including men’s assistant sprints and hurdles coach Darrell Smith.

“More than anything, what I love about him is that he’s a competitor,” Smith said. “No matter how bad or good practice is, he’s going to be better come race time. He knows that, I know that, and he feeds off of that. He wants to run 13.6 by regionals, which based on past regional meets, should get him to nationals.”

If Viltz runs a time fast enough in the NCAA competition, he says he will compete in the Olympic Qualifiers, or at the NACAC Under-23 Championships this summer.

Injury update

Sophomore long and triple jumper Idrees Bernard sustained a slight groin injury last week, but that wasn’t enough to stop him from jumping a lifetime best of 23-11.5 in a UCLA sweep in the long jump.

“I was having a little bit of a groin issue, but I was glad I was able to go out there and jump a mark equal to my PR even with the small setback,” Bernard said. “It just says that there’s a lot left in me – I just need to stay healthy and keep working.”

Freshman star sprinter Rai Benjamin has sustained a foot injury, and will be reevaluated by doctors in two weeks’ time according to Smith. Sophomore 400-meter specialist Joe Herrera is also still recovering from recurring hamstring injury sustained in the Jim Bush Team Invitational. Fellow sophomore Steele Wasik is also back in action, participating in practice and slowly preparing for the decathlon at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 16.