Members of UCLA track and field run in a pack at Drake Stadium. (Daily Bruin file photo)
One day of preparation is rarely enough to ready for the first meet of the season.
But the Bruins are rolling with the cards they were dealt.
UCLA track and field is set to compete Friday in the Spokane Sports Showcase in Spokane, Washington, to kick off its inaugural season in the Big Ten. The squad will compete against 11 teams including USC, Washington State and Boise State.
Coach Joanna Hayes’ team had to adjust to a modified travel and training schedule in response to the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires.
“We were supposed to travel on Thursday, but we ended coming yesterday (Tuesday),” Hayes said. “We had to cancel some practices.”
Despite the cancelation of practices, Hayes added that the Bruins continued to prepare as best they could for their inaugural meet, hosting indoor practices and limiting time spent outdoors.
Friday’s meet will be the first with Hayes at the program’s helm after her hiring last June. Hayes is returning to coach in Westwood for the first time since 2016, when she served a two-year stint as assistant coach.
The Olympic gold medalist and former NCAA champion said her goal is to revive the traditions her team practiced when she was a student-athlete at UCLA from 1996 to 1999.
“It’s very different than when I was in school 20 years ago,” Hayes said. “The foundation remains the same, the goals remain the same, the discipline – these remain the same.”
From the coaching staff to its student-athletes, UCLA will debut a plethora of new faces this weekend, including senior Bella Witt.
Witt will compete in the blue and gold for the first time after transferring from Georgia. Former runner-up of the 60-meter hurdle at the 2024 New Balance Collegiate Showdown – with a time of 8.26 – Witt will compete in the same event in Spokane on Friday.
“Being there (Georgia) three years, I created some type of familiarity,” said Witt. “Being that we’re a pretty young team at UCLA, I think there are a lot young minds, in a sense, that just need some direction.”
Hayes and her unit will compete as Big Ten members for the first time Friday, 168 days after UCLA officially transitioned out of the Pac-12.
“I’m getting used to it (competing in the Big Ten),” Witt said. “I’m excited for this first meet because there’ll be a lot of teams that I haven’t competed against because I’ve been in the SEC for the past three years.”
Freshman Karson Gordon will also make his debut after winning a silver medal in the triple jump at U-20 Worlds this past summer and notching a national title in the triple jump at Nike Outdoor Nationals in 2023. Before coming to UCLA, Gordon was also named the 2022-2023 Gatorade Texas Boys & Track Field Player of the Year.
Gordon – also a quarterback for UCLA football – will compete in the men’s triple jump.
“This meet (is) going for No. 1 in the nation,” Gordon said. “That’s my goal for this meet – for the team to win.”
Hayes said both the energy and excitement have been palpable in practices, but with the meet being UCLA’s first of a long season, she added that the team’s main focus is getting back into the groove of competing.
“It’s been a while, since they competed, so just want them to get out there and get that competition bug again,” Hayes said.
The Spokane Sports Showcase will kick off at 10 a.m. Friday.
