UCLA track and field veterans, rising stars sprint into new season

The track and field offseason can be a less-than-forgiving set of months with hundreds of hours of training and little else. For the distance team, cross country in the fall provides a welcome relief, but for the others, the thrills of competition are not present to reward their year-round efforts.

But now the doors to the indoor track and field season are open, and the UCLA team is set to make its first appearance at the Lumberjack Team Challenge Saturday in Flagstaff, Arizona.

While the men’s team returns all but seven graduated seniors, the women’s team graduated 15 players from last year’s roster. The turnover leaves the women with more than twice as many underclassmen than upperclassmen.

One of those few upperclassmen is Torie Owers, an NCAA qualifier in the shot put who was voted a U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association second-team All-American in 2015.

“We’re in a bit of an interesting position because we have a lot of young people,” Owers said. “We only have a few fourth- and fifth-years, so it’s going to be very important how those young people do.”

As one of those few upperclassmen, the junior thrower said she has stepped into a leadership role by providing an example, keeping everyone focused and enforcing team expectations.

“You know, sometimes I feel a little bit like a team mom,” Owers said. “My big goal is to remind people how much we love this sport and how much they’re willing to work hard for it.”

On the men’s side, three-time NCAA qualifier and two-time Pac-12 conference champion Nicholas Scarvelis returns for a final season.

The senior thrower finished 15th in the shot put at the 2015 NCAA championship with seven now-graduated seniors placing above him, leaving the field open for Scarvelis to compete for a national title.

“The fact that seven of those guys have gone, there are only about three or so guys coming into this next year with personal bests that are better than mine,” said Scarvelis. “I think I can beat them all, and I want to do that.”

The NCAAs are still months and an entire indoor season away, but a strong throw this weekend at the Lumberjack Team Challenge, which he won last year, could land Scarvelis a qualifying bid. Should Scarvelis increase his lifetime best from 65 feet, 0.50 inches to 67-3.00 at any point this season, he would be eligible to compete on the Greek national team at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon.

It wouldn’t be his first international feat – Scarvelis represented Team USA at the World Junior Championships in 2012.

In another part of the team, sophomore sprinter Leon Powell and sophomore hurdler Misana Viltz return from their first international collegiate experience. Over the summer, Powell represented the United States at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea, and Viltz competed at the Panamerican Junior Athletics Championships in Edmonton, Canada.

After what assistant coach Darrell Smith called an “okay” overall outdoor track season in 2015, the two true freshmen held qualifying times to run in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships.

“I thought it was important – and so did coach (Mike) Maynard – to take them for the experience so they could go out there and show what they were worth,” said Smith. “And it turned out to be fun.”

Both qualified for the junior national team – Powell as an alternate for the 4×100-meter relay team after taking fifth place in the 100-meter dash and Viltz as a representative after winning the 110-meter hurdles. Not only did he win, but Viltz bested the meet’s event record of four years by over a tenth of a second.

Junior Championships ended June 28th, already making the two freshmen’s seasons longer than most others’. Powell would end his season the following weekend in South Korea by making the semifinal in the 200-meter dash, but the Panamerican Junior Athletics Championships that Viltz was preparing for was another month away.

“It allowed him to get a little extra training time,” said Smith. “Due to NCAA rules, he actually had to do most of it on his own.”

Viltz received a gold medal, winning the 110-meter hurdles event.

Even more hype surrounds some of the new additions to the roster.

True freshman Rai Benjamin, whose 46.19-second 400-meter outdoor dash time in high school would have won second place at the 2015 Pac-12 championship, joins Smith’s sprints and hurdles team, while true freshman Arturo Sotomayor, who placed 10th at Junior Nationals in the 800-meter with a 1:53.05, joins assistant coach Forest Braden’s distance team.

For the women, Stamatia Scarvelis, sister of Nicholas Scarvelis, former No. 1 prep discus thrower and No. 2 prep shot putter in the country, looks to score points after redshirting her freshman year.

True freshman Christina Chenault placed second at USATF National Junior Track & Field Championships last year in the triple jump, and freshman distance runner Carolina Johnson holds the third fastest steeplechase time in Swedish history for women under 20.

The work is never done, but for the coming months, UCLA’s track and field team gets to complement the training with consistent competition.

“Offseason is long, people get antsy. They’re ready to go, and I think they are excited,” said Nicholas Scarvelis. “People kind of have penned up adrenaline at this point … they want to travel, and they want to get the show on the road.”