UCLA track and field concludes season at NCAA outdoor championships
(Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon/Daily Bruin senior staff) Xaver Hastenrath is pictured after a throwing attempt. Hastenrath was the only athlete to earn points for the UCLA men’s team at the NCAA outdoor championships.
By Lucas Francke
June 17, 2026 5:07 p.m.
UCLA track and field sent eleven student-athletes to compete in the 2026 NCAA outdoor championships in Eugene from June 10 to 13.
The team left Hayward Field, but it did not leave empty handed. Sophomore sprinter/hurdler Celeste Polzonetti earned a second place finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
The only other Bruin to compete Saturday was sophomore jumper Valentina Fakrogha, who placed sixth in the women’s high jump with a 1.87-meter mark. The Ventura local joined Polzonetti and graduate student thrower Xaver Hastenrath as this year’s First-Team All-Americans.
Hastenrath was the highlight for the Bruins on the first day of the championships, finishing seventh overall in the men’s shot put. On his second effort, the Bruin notched a 19.24-meter throw, which earned his team two points.
It’s the Bruins’ second-straight season with a throwing score in the national outdoor tournament.
Senior sprinter/hurdler Tamaal Myers’ 18th place finish at 50.87 seconds in the men’s 400-meter hurdles prelims would not earn him a spot in the finals.
“Mindset going into it was, ‘Go out there and replicate what I did at regionals and just do my best to perform as good as I can and make it to the final,’” Myers said. “Takeaways: there’s a lot more work to do.”
Junior sprinter Taylor Snaer placed last in the women’s 200-meter dash among 23 players. Junior sprinter Gabriel Clement II also found himself dead last, with the 2025 First Team All-American’s 46.88 time in the men’s 400-meter slower than his 22 competitors.
Clement said after the unexpected performance, he has already started planning improvements for his senior year.
“I’m already envisioning it. I wrote things down in my notebook, all my weaknesses,” Clement said. “Over this three month break, I’m gonna work on those weaknesses to the point where I come back and people aren’t even going to realize that they were ever a weakness.”
After finishing the meet with only Hastenrath’s two points under its belt, the men’s squad finished in a tie for 57th place.
But the women’s team tied for 24th place nationally with 11 points. Polzonetti and Fakrogha earned eight and three points, respectively.
As this marks the last meet of the 2026 season for the Bruins, they may look to next year for continued improved efforts.
