UCLA
Outdoor Big Ten Championships
Women Place Third, Men 11th at Outdoor Big Tens
May 18, 2025 | Track & Field
Day 1 Recap
Day 2 Recap
EUGENE, Ore. – A total of 15 individuals and three relay squads scored for UCLA on Sunday during the third and final day of the 2025 Big Ten Championships at Hayward Field on the campus of Oregon.
At the conclusion of the meet, the Bruin women finished third in the team standings with 84 points while the men ended up in 11th place with 32 points. It was the second consecutive year that the women's squad finished third at its conference meet.
Collectively, UCLA had 19 individual scorers over 18 events. Both Taylor Snaer (100m, 200m) and Sydney Johnson (heptathlon, long jump) scored in multiple events for UCLA, with Snaer also featuring on scoring relays squads in the women's 4x100 and 4x400.
Breaking it down further, the Bruins had 13 individual scorers on the women's side over 12 events. On the men's side, UCLA had six individual scorers.
Seven UCLA student-athletes earned medals over the weekend – Johnson was the lone Bruin to medal twice – and the women's 4x100 squad of Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck, Naomi Johnson, Kaylen Fletcher, and Taylor Snaer also earned a silver medal.
Thrower Michael Pinckney had the top individual result of any Bruin on Sunday, finishing first in the men's discus with a long throw of 60.11m (197-2). With that feat, Pinckney became UCLA's first-ever outdoor Big Ten Champion and First Team All-Big Ten honoree. His throw was his third over 60 meters this season, trailing only his 62.28m launch from earlier this season at Throw Town Ramona.
The Bruins also had two individual runners-up on Sunday: Ndjip-Nyemeck in the women's 100m hurdles (13.04) and Jana van Schalkwyk in the women's javelin (56.24m / 184-6).
UCLA is next in action at the NCAA West Regionals in College Station, Texas from May 28-31.
Other results from Sunday are detailed below.
TRACK EVENTS RECAP
The Bruins opened the track portion of the program with that silver medal in the women's 4x100.
UCLA followed up by scoring three people over the high hurdles events. First, Di'Niko Bates ran a 13.78 in the men's 110m hurdles to claim fifth. The Bruins had a pair of top-five finishers in the women's 100m hurdles, led by silver medalist Ndjip-Nyemeck (13.04) and followed by fifth-place Celeste Polzonetti (13.33).
The Bruins had one scorer apiece in each 400m race, led by Kayla McBride's fifth-place 53.37 on the women's side. Gabriel Clement II (46.52) grabbed one point for the men after finishing eighth.
UCLA earned a bronze medal in both the men's and women's 400m hurdles as Zaire "Mystic" Waring (51.44) and Sonia Virk (57.59) both were able to finish third in their races.
Last but not least, Snaer was able to score in both the women's 100m (11.45, eighth) and 200m (23.24, fifth) to highlight the Bruin sprinters. She was joined by Naomi Johnson in the 200m, who finished sixth with a time of 23.30.
The Bruins closed out the meet with strong showings in the 4x400 relays. The men opened it up with a sixth-place finish from Tamaal Myers II, Clement, Bates, and Waring (3:07.88). The women's quartet of McBride, Fletcher, Aly Conyers, and Naomi Johnson just missed out on a medal after running a fourth-place time of 3:32.95.
FIELD EVENTS RECAP
Van Schalkwyk got the Bruins off to a strong start on Sunday, placing runner-up in the women's javelin with a mark of 56.24m (184-6), which was her second-longest thus far this year.
Terrence Sweetman followed that up by scoring in the men's triple jump with a seventh-place mark of 15.09m (49-6.25).
Pole vaulters Katerina Adamiec and Ka'Leila Abrille matched each other exactly en route to a fourth-place tie with dual marks of 4.28m (14-0.5). For Adamiec, it was a personal-best mark and moved her up to No. 9 in school history.
Next up was the men's discus, in which Pinckney established the lead for good on his third attempt of 60.11m. Two other competitors eclipsed 59 meters on their sixth and final attempts, but nobody was able to eclipse the 60-meter mark as Pinckney earned his first-career conference title.
Valentina Fakrogha kept the Bruins' field momentum going with a strong outing in the women's high jump, ultimately finishing fourth with a clearance of 1.81m (5-11.25).
Players Mentioned
