The Bruins celebrate the men’s team victory against the Trojans at Katherine B. Loker Stadium. Track and field director Joanna Hayes leads the lap as she stretches out her arms. Hayes is in her second year at the helm of UCLA track and field. (Andrew Ramiro Diaz/Photo editor)
Track and field athletes are no stranger to long, strenuous seasons.
But for the Bruins, they will enter the homestretch of their season with postseason aspirations on the horizon.
This post was updated May 21 at 3:08 p.m.
Many people are afraid of heights.
But sophomore jumper Valentina Fakrogha proved that heights can elicit success, as she won the women’s high jump with a meet-record 1.89-meter mark.
This post was updated May 5 at 9:33 p.m.
Senior sprinter/hurdler Tamaal Myers walked off the track and embraced track and field director Joanna Hayes in front of a celebrating UCLA men’s team.
The setting stays the same.
But the stakes never fade.
The crosstown rivalry returns as UCLA track and field heads south for a matchup against USC on Saturday and Sunday, pitting pride and tradition above all else in one of the sport’s most consistent head-to-head clashes.
Competitions give athletes a sense of purpose.
And for many young athletes, that feeling is amplified when they are given the opportunity to compete alongside the best of the best.
The runway is empty.
The engines have withdrawn.
The wheels have dropped.
And the Bruins finally made a stop at home.
After 15 trips around the nation, the team competed at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at Drake Stadium on Saturday for the last home meet this season.
This post was updated April 6 at 8:05 p.m.
Divide and conquer.
A strategy, a mindset and a common approach well-expressed by the Bruins.
UCLA track and field split its team between the Battle on the Bayou in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Stanford Invite in Stanford, California, where the squad faced familiar competitors from programs that include USC, Arizona and UC Santa Barbara on Friday and Saturday.
Homecomings often elicit a wide range of emotions.
And Gabriel Clement II said he is embracing them all.
He is heading home.
The junior sprinter will compete less than 100 miles away from his hometown of Kaplan, Louisiana, on Friday and Saturday at the Battle on the Bayou in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where his family will cheer him on.
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