Battle of the Editors: Most exciting winter, spring athletes to watch out for

With a number of new sports starting up in the coming weeks, the Daily Bruin’s Sports editors present their picks for who could be UCLA’s most exciting winter/spring athlete.

Marian Spannowsky, Track and field
Nicholas Yekikian, assistant Sports editor

The sophomore javelin thrower fouled out of his debut as a Bruin last year, but logged his first score at the Jim Bush invitational. At UCLA’s final home meet of the 2017 season, he threw for a mark of 222 feet and 11 inches.

Not only was the mark good enough for fourth place at the meet, it was also enough to give him ninth in UCLA’s all-time top-ten rankings at the time – and it wasn’t even his personal best.

Spannowsky said that, though he grew as a thrower during last season, he felt that he still had not yet reached his full potential.

Room for improvement from UCLA’s ninth-best thrower ever? OK then.

Over the summer Spannowsky returned to Germany to continue competing at meets in his home country. If everything goes right for him this year, then even more records are likely to tumble.

UCLA’s best ever javelin throw was recorded in 1993 by Erik Smith who tossed a 259-10, but it looks like Spannowsky will soon eclipse that mark.

Micah Ma’a, Men’s volleyball
Melissa Zhang, assistant Sports editor

Junior setter Micah Ma’a split time running the Bruins’ offense in 2017 with then-senior Hagen Smith, but will now be the lone playmaker for UCLA this season. Off the Block selected Ma’a as a second-team All-American this preseason after his 19 starts last year.

Ma’a appeared in every single set his freshman year, setting the UCLA freshman record for service aces with a staggering 58, blowing past the previous amount of 39. The freshman earned Server of the Year by Off the Block, First-Team All-MPSF honors and First-Team AVCA All-American honors.

Coach John Speraw will have an experienced setter at the helm of his offense this season, along with a number of seasoned hitters that Ma’a can utilize. With the Bruins currently ranked third in the NCAA this season, Ma’a will be a critical player to watch throughout the season, and an instrumental factor in UCLA’s success.

Jake Bird, Baseball
David Gottlieb, Sports editor

OK, maybe there’s a hint of bias here. I wrote the proverbial book on Jake Bird at the end of his junior year, after which he was a candidate to be drafted.

As it turns out, Bird was not selected in the 2017 MLB Draft, so Bruin fans will get to take another look at the right-hander at Jackie Robinson Stadium this season. And I think it’s going to be a big one for Bird.

He debuted as the Saturday starter last season, the No. 2 starter behind then-ace Griffin Canning. Depending on how other starters such as redshirt sophomore Kyle Molnar and junior Justin Hooper do, Bird has a very good chance of earning the Friday job.

Bird started the season with 13 innings of one-run ball with 13 strikeouts before shoulder issues sidelined him for much of the season. He re-entered the rotation and made three starts toward the end of the regular season, but Bird’s biggest moment came in the playoffs.

During the Bruins’ final game of the season, they were trailing 2-0 in an elimination game. Bird fired 4 2/3 innings of relief without allowing an earned run to keep the game close all the way through extra innings.

The Bruins lost that game, but coach John Savage said that he thought Bird was primed for an impressive postseason had UCLA’s season continued.

If Bird can stay healthy in 2018 and bring the same stuff he brought at the very beginning and end of last season, count on him for a solid campaign that earns him the draft selection he missed out on last year.

Lilia Vu, Women’s golf
Ryan Smith, Assistant Sports editor

Junior golfer Lilia Vu was arguably the most dominant athlete in Westwood during her 2016-17 campaign with UCLA women’s golf.

After winning four tournaments and posting six top-10 finishes over the course of the season, the then-sophomore standout claimed First Team All-American honors as well as being named to the All Pac-12 Conference Team.

During the fall portion of this year’s schedule, Vu failed to qualify for the Annika Intercollegiate, the opening tournament of the season, and the Bruins finished second. However, she would return for the final three tournaments of the year, and UCLA won all of them.

Vu never finished worse than sixth place on the individual leaderboards, and took home a first-place finish in the Battle at the Beach, just two weeks after a second-place finish at the Nanea Pac-12 Preview in Hawaii.

With Vu’s continued excellence and the emergence of teammates such as freshman Patty Tavatanakit, UCLA women’s golf has a realistic chance at claiming a national championship in May.