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.
UCLA track and field will compete in the NCAA West regionals in Fayetteville, Arkansas, from Wednesday to Saturday. With a season that started on Jan. 16 in Spokane, Washington, track and field director Joanna Hayes has stressed staying locked in as the squad approaches the conclusion of the 2026 campaign.
“They know championship season,” Hayes said. “I told them, ‘Lock in and stay focused on that.’ They know it – they know how it goes. We got a long season, so this is when everything really counts.”
And no one may understand the gravity of the moment more than Valentina Fakrogha.
The sophomore jumper, who is fresh off a first-place finish at the Big Ten championships, boasts the highest clearance mark at 1.90 meters in the women’s high jump field, where she will compete in the first flight.
Mirroring Fakrogha, freshman distance runner Arrin Sagiraju will be the first Bruin to race this weekend, competing in the men’s 1500-meter run with a seeded time of 3:41.15.
In the short distance, junior sprinter Gabriel Clement II will compete in the men’s 400-meter dash, coming in with the second-fastest seeded time with a 45.24-second mark in a heat of nine competitors.
Graduate student sprinter/hurdler Chris Paige will lace up for the men’s 400-meter hurdles while senior sprinters/hurdlers Zaire Waring and Tamaal Meyers will compete alongside Paige.
After a two-medal finish for junior sprinter Taylor Snaer at the Outdoor Big Ten Championships, Snaer will get in the starting blocks again for the women’s 100- and 200-meter dash.
Snaer said she has embraced her coaching staff’s tutelage.
“They know what it takes to be a UCLA student and athlete,” Snaer said. “It definitely can be challenging, but I feel like we have all the pieces to be able to manage that. They make sure that a lot of things are available to us to make that possible.”
Senior distance runner Kaho Cichon is slated to start in the women’s 1500-meter run, entering the race with a personal best time of 4:19.11.
Three Bruins are set to sprint in the women’s 400-meter dash, including sophomore Kayla McBride, senior Naomi Johnson and junior Ava Simms.
The three sprinters are all in different heats, and Johnson enters with a group-fastest 51.79-second mark.
Freshman distance runner Kaitlyn Arciaga and sophomore distance runner Marie Warneke will race in the same heat of the women’s 800-meter run.
And sprinter/hurdlers redshirt sophomore Kapiolani Coleman and freshman Olivia Griffin are slated to take the track for the women’s 400-meter hurdles.
Sophomore distance runner Olivia Foody is the sole Bruin fielded in the women’s 10,000-meter run, seeded No. 30 in a field of 48 competitors. Sophomore sprinter/hurdler Celeste Polzonetti will compete in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, where she enters with the fastest time in her heat with a 12.83-second personal best – one of two competitors in her heat to break the 13-second barrier.
After competing in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase last weekend, junior distance runner Ailish Hawkins will take on the same event this weekend. Her experience training with a highly-touted cross country program in high school has eased her collegiate transition, she said.
“My high school was already very competitive, and I had a lot of expectations for how much time I need to put into running,” Hawkins said. “Knowing what it was like in high school and knowing what the environment is that it takes to be great – that really has helped me, not even just for running, but for this specific program where we’re trying to make it better and we’re trying to improve.”
Junior thrower Jake Stafford is the sole Bruin competing in the men’s hammer throw, and he will also compete in the men’s discus.
On the jumping side, redshirt sophomore Michael Haugo and graduate student Hamdi Ali are the sole Bruin competitors listed in the men’s long jump and men’s high jump, respectively. Graduate student multis athlete Sydney Johnson will levitate in the women’s long jump.
As the last couple of meets carry the most weight, the team will likely look to achieve its best marks at the most pivotal moments in the season.
“It all comes together,” Hayes said. “They have to continue to trust the work that they put in, and let it all show up when they try to qualify.”
Comments are closed.