While the Pac-10 Championships are a week away, the Bruins will be looking to jump into the scoring column this weekend.

Both the men’s and women’s track teams will be sending representatives up to Palo Alto to take part in the Pac-10 multi-event competition. The decathlon and heptathlon will be taking place Saturday and Sunday and will be the first scoring events of the Pac-10 meet.

For the No. 15 men’s team, freshman Casey DiCesare will try to bring home UCLA’s first Pac-10 points.

DiCesare currently has a personal best of 6,295 points in the decathlon, a total that ranks him ninth in the conference. The performance by DiCesare will be vital if the team looks to rival conference powerhouses Arizona State and USC in the overall Pac-10 standings.

The No. 12 women will send junior Georgea Richards to compete in the heptathlon. Richards carries a season’s best score of 4,956 points, good enough to put her sixth in the conference.

RECRUITING: Men’s coach Art Venegas announced yesterday the signing of a handful of talented spring recruits to go along with an already impressive class.

Most notably, the Bruins snagged the No. 1 miler in the state, Fawad Khan, who has a best 1600-meter time of 4:09.90, which also ranks him third nationally.

In the field, UCLA also brings in the state’s No. 2 high jumper, Daniel Kirkpatrick, who has cleared 6-10 in his senior year.

The team also signed one of the state’s top 200m runners in Quentin Powell, who hails from James Logan High School in Union City, the same school as current hurdler Kevin Craddock. Powell should have an immediate impact on the team’s depleted sprint squad.

These athletes join an already impressive class that includes the national leader in the 800m, Cory Primm.

LEACH HONORED: Sophomore sensation Nicole Leach was honored by the conference as she was named the Pac-10 women’s track and field athlete of the week.

Leach made her debut in the 400m hurdles last weekend against USC in impressive fashion, clocking a national leading time of 55.60 while also running a personal best in the open 400m at 51.97. In doing so, Leach led the Bruins to their 15th consecutive victory over the crosstown rival Trojans. Leach is the second Bruin to win the honor this year as fellow sophomore Rhonda Watkins won the award earlier in the year.