Event: Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational
Host: UCLA
Where: Drake Stadium – Los Angeles
When: Today, Friday and Saturday; all day
Who to watch: Senior distance runner Kim Conley will take her record-breaking momentum to Los Angeles after clocking in at a school-record 16:30.22 in the 5,000-meter run at the Stanford Track and Field Invitational on Friday. The previous record of 16:34.87, held by Patty Gray, was established back in 1985.
Did you know? UC Davis’ performance at the Stanford Invitational shook up three chapters in the school record books. A day after Conley’s record-setter, junior distance runner Kaitlin Gregg made it into fourth place all-time in the same 5,000-meter run category with a 16:44.15 time. In the relays, the Aggie women went 46.94 in the 4×100 to place fifth on the all-time list.
Preview: After a successful record-breaking weekend in Stanford, the Aggies will look to make a mark in Los Angeles this week at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational.
Named after two former Bruin standouts and Olympic gold medalists, the three-day event begins today at 11 a.m.
In addition to their record-breaking events at Stanford, the Aggies also had other standout performances at Saturday’s invitational event.
Sophomore sprinter Ugo Eke placed third in the women’s 400-meter dash among a challenging 38-person field with a career-best time of 55.51 seconds.
Senior Jade Myles finished eighth in the women’s triple jump with a line of 11.70 meters, 38-04.75.
On the men’s side, junior hurdler Polly Gnepa continued his strong season by finishing third in the men’s 110 high hurdles with a mark of 14.32 seconds while running into a headwind measure of-1.3 meters per second.
Freshman jumper Ray Green turned in yet another impressive performance with a 14.99-meter long jump Saturday in the event’s top section of competition, finishing fourth in the high-caliber field. The Ceres, Calif. native’s previous career-best was 14.98 (49-02.25), just barely shy of the regional-qualifying standard of 15.00 meters.
–Ray Lin
