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By Glen Worthington

Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA men’s track and field team placed second at the Cal-Nevada Championships in Irvine, narrowly edged out 127 to 125 1/3 by California in a field of 23 teams.

With much of the team resting, the Bruins still had strong showings in all areas. UCLA did not enter the weekend expecting to win.

“I am surprised we were that close,” said Head Coach Art Venegas. “We left a lot of athletes at home, 90 points’ worth.

“But I wouldn’t risk injury throwing in one extra athlete to win the Cal-Nevada Championships with ’SC next week.”

One of the few Bruin sprinters competing, freshman Chucky Ryan, won the 110-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 14.08 seconds.

The other sprinters combined to win the 4 x 400m relay, in the process setting a new season best for the second week in a row. Freshman Denye Versher, junior Michael Lipscomb, sophomore Kyle Erickson and freshman Rodney Diggs ran a 3-minute, 9.20-second winning time.

The distance runners also made their presence felt. Men’s distance coach Eric Peterson was pleased by the consistent showings of senior Will Bernaldo in the 5000m (14:38.56) and senior Paul Muite, freshman Jon Rankin and junior Bryan Green in the 1500m run (3:49.38, 3:50.11, 3:50.16, respectively) – all of whom placed in the top seven in their event.

Also, freshman Nick Thornton placed third in the 800m at 1:51.46, a personal best.

“They – not the new kids, not Rankin and Thornton, but nearly all the others – have a history of inconsistency related to performance,” Peterson said. “What I am excited about is that we’ve been able to string together two or three weeks in a row of solid performances.”

Junior Andrew Wulf broke his personal record by 15 seconds while running a second-place 9:03.72 in the 3000m steeplechase. Wulf was in good position to win the championship when he caught his toe on the final barrier and stumbled slightly. Nevertheless, Peterson called him the distance performer of the weekend.

Peterson was, however, equally impressed with sophomore Justin Patananan’s seventh-place finish in the event – at 9:12.96, a personal best.

“The race was made by Patananan,” he said. “He assumed the lead, he pushed the pace, he executed good technique, but unfortunately broke down over the last 400 meters. I am impressed with his ability to get out and make a race go.”

Off the track, UCLA also found success on the field.

The Bruins truly dominated the discus with junior Scott Moser, redshirt freshman Dan Ames and sophomore Scott Wiegand placing 1-2-3 (197-feet-5 inches, 183-7, 174-6).

Ames and Wiegand competed in the shot put as well. Wiegand placed second at 59-11, giving him a new personal best in both events. Ames finished fourth at 59-2.

Rounding out the field, freshman Yoo Kim tied for second in the pole vault with a personal best 16-7 and sophomore Nate Marum was second in the javelin at 210-11.