UCLA track and field sent more athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championships this season than it had in any year since 2004. However, 2017 hardly resembles the 20th-century glory days that saw both teams place in the top-10 – if not the top-five – nearly every year.

It’s called “historic” Hayward Field for a reason.
The most renowned oval in the United States has witnessed dozens of world records, has hosted the past three Olympic Trials and the past four NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and has helped garner Eugene, Oregon the title of “Track Town, USA.”
This weekend, the best collegiate track and field athletes from around the country will once again descend on the University of Oregon to compete for the last time in the 2017 NCAA outdoor season.

UCLA often attracts the best recruits in the nation, supporting the athletic department’s claim that champions are made in Westwood. And while some athletes’ time as Bruins have expired, Daily Bruin Sports gives its suggestions on which returning athletes fans should watch out for next year.

The year is almost over, and all the sports are wrapped up except for softball, baseball and track and field. With the annual Daily Bruin Sports Yearlies just a week away, this year’s Sports editors take the time to throw down on who is deserving of candidacy for men’s and women’s athletes of the year.

They say everything’s bigger in Texas.
For UCLA track and field this past weekend, that was the stage. On the line in Austin were berths for the national championship meet, and many Bruins put together season-best performances, after struggling with injuries throughout the year, to move on to Eugene, Oregon.

The numbers are crunched and the awards are listed, but now it’s time to see who the Daily Bruin Sports editors think are UCLA’s most valuable coaches.

One of the more visible patterns for UCLA track and field of late has been the consistency of its women’s pole vault team.
In every year except 2015, the Bruins have had at least two women’s pole vaulters qualify for the NCAA Division I West Regional.

The annual all-sport trophy for the rivalry between UCLA and USC has been decided for the 2016-2017 year.
Though the final score could change depending how postseason baseball works out, the Bruins have surpassed the SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup clinch threshold by five points after this weekend eliminated potential matches between both schools’ women’s water polo teams and women’s tennis teams.

Only five people in UCLA women’s water polo history had scored more than 65 goals in a single season coming into 2017.
Of those five, only one – redshirt senior attacker Rachel Fattal – had done it in her very first collegiate season, until this year.

Going into the Pac-12 championship regatta, UCLA rowing was barely in the top six for its NCAA region.
The Bruins were ranked sixth overall, sixth in the first varsity eight, fifth in the second varsity eight and sixth in the varsity four in the fifth national region, according to NCAA.com.