Definitions can be subjective, objective or ever-changing.

And the Bruins are already shaping their definition of record-breaking only two meets into the 2026 season.

UCLA’s track and field traveled to New Mexico’s Albuquerque Convention Center’s indoor track Friday and Saturday to compete in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational, where it faced familiar competitors in California, San Diego State and Stanford.

After the team’s success from its last meet at the Spokane Sports Showcase on Jan. 16, when the men’s and women’s squads both secured first-place finishes, the Bruins secured three new school records, six event titles and 14 podium finishes in Albuquerque.

Senior weight thrower Michael Pinckney – a 2025 First Team All-American honoree – opened the invitational’s 15th event Friday by besting his last school record, placing No. 1 in the men’s weight throw with a 22.33-meter mark, which was 2.35 meters longer than No. 2 Pietro Camilli’s tally.

“Ever since then, last year, I’ve just been trying to get back over 22 meters. So to be able to do that this weekend is truly a blessing.” Pinckney said. “So we’re just going to go back to the drawing board this week and … keep moving the mark.”

And the Bruins didn’t stop there.

Graduate student sprinter/hurdler Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck – a two-time First Team All-American – reached new heights for the Bruins in the women’s 60-meter hurdles, posting a 7.96-second mark and placing first in the event. Ndjip-Nyemeck’s time was .02 seconds less than UCLA’s previous title holder from 2006, Bruin alumnus Dawn Harper.

Sprinter/hurdler junior Keilee Hall also set a new record for the Bruins during the 20th event Friday, placing No. 1 in the women’s 600-meter with a time of 1:29:92, beating New Mexico’s Rasha Badrani by .58 seconds.

Director of track and field and cross country Joanna Hayes said each of the weekend’s record breakers and their specialized coaches have tailored specific training plans to improve upon athletes’ past performances.

“With Keely, she’s a transfer, so this is her first year with us. We didn’t change the plan from the first meet to this meet. We just executed it better,” Hayes said. “For Mikey, he and his coach, coach Denard, really … worked on some things technically that he needed to do, and he went out and did each of those things, and … the numbers that he was hitting in practice [were] within a centimeter of what he actually threw.”

But the team didn’t just return with broken school records.

Freshman pole vaulter Avery Boyse, a Central Coast Section champion, placed No.1 in women’s pole vault, a large success after her no-height performance last weekend.

Sprinters junior Taylor Snaer and senior Ameen Tokhi snatched No.1 in the 200-meter dash and unseeded 60-meter dash, respectively. Snaer timed a 23.10 to secure a win against Royal City AC’s Zoe Sherar, and Tonkhi timed a 6.78 to edge out Arizona’s Ari Dubin.

The Bruins don’t just attribute their success to training, but also to the people who surround them. Hall, who transferred into Westwood last fall from Arizona, has already felt the Bruin team energy.

“Here, I feel like it’s such a specific group that you’re working with more, so everybody has closer time together. Everybody’s pushing each other at practice,” Hall said. “Having that in the back of my head really helps me be able to go and be ready to perform, because I’m already competing against people that are already so fast.”

Looking ahead from this weekend, part of the team will compete next weekend in Seattle at the UW Invite, with the rest returning to New Mexico for the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7.

Not only do the Bruins know they must continue to improve, but they know exactly what plan to follow.

“We’re going to continue doing the same thing we’re doing because those things work right. We noticed that those things have been putting [us] in the right direction.” Pinckney said. “We’re just going to try and continue to turn the intensity up and just keep going”.