Aggies seek another set of team titles at Saturday's UCLA Invitational

Saturday, April 14

Los Angeles, Calif.

4:30 p.m.

Texas A&M

Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Apr 12, 2018 | Track and Field

UCLA Meet Schedule

Texas A&M travels to the UCLA campus for Saturday's Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational as the host Bruins welcome an Aggies squad with the men ranked No. 3 and the women ranked No. 6 nationally along with a field that includes Cal Poly, Glendale, Mt. SAC, Riverside, San Francisco and West LA.

Running events begin at 2:40 p.m. (PT) and are scheduled to wrap up around 6:15 p.m. Field events begin with the men's hammer at 8:30 a.m., followed by the women's hammer at 10 a.m. Results will be posted to www.finishedresults.com/results.

A year ago, competing at the Jim Bush Collegiate Invitational hosted by UCLA, Texas A&M swept the team titles with Alabama runner-up and UCLA third in both men's and women's team scoring.

"I want to see some things out of our group this weekend," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "Last week we had a good meet in terrible conditions. I look forward to the competition against UCLA and the other schools from California who will be in the meet. We'll move some people into different event areas this weekend while some others will only run relays and not open events.

"In going out to UCLA we've always been able to accomplish some good things no matter the level of competition we face. Those are the kind of things we need to be able to do at this time of the season."

NCAA Indoor champion Will Williams competes in the long jump at UCLA while Devin Dixon moves up from the 400m into the 800m. Following an 800m race last week, Alex Riba is entered in the 1,500. Last season at UCLA Riba clocked 3:47.99 as runner-up in the 1,500 amid a spirited encounter with UTEP's Michael Saruni (3:47.73).

After producing the second fastest time this season at 800m among Division I collegians last week, Sammy Watson will race at the 1,500m distance. Jazmine Fray is scheduled to compete in the 800m. Last season Fray won the 800m at UCLA in 2:01.43 to break her school record by nearly two seconds.

Williams won the long jump at UCLA a year ago with a leap of 25-0 ¾ (7.64), and looks to produce something better this time around.

"UCLA is always a pleasant place to jump," noted Williams. "The weather is almost guaranteed to be nice. They have a nice track to run on and they have a good long jump runway as well.

"Texas Relays was kind of bumby for me, I started cramping up in the long jump after running the first leg of the 4x100 relay that same day. I'm looking to do something big this weekend, I think I'll jump well at UCLA. Heading towards conference and nationals I want to maintain my competitive nature and produce a few top 10 marks."

Other Aggies returning to UCLA as event winners from last year include Garrett Cragin, who cleared 7-1 (2.16) in the high jump, and Brenessa Thompson, a 23.08 winner in the 200 who will race at 100m. Mylik Kerley won the 400 last season in 45.48, and is scheduled to run the 4x400 this weekend. Texas A&M swept all four relay events a year ago.