By Austin Yack

UCLA’s recruiting class for high school track and field athletes is undersized this year, but Tyler Brown (SR) of La Quinta High School managed to make his way on the prestigious roster.  Brown broke the high school 400 meter record his freshmen year and has continued to break his own record every year thereafter.  Now, he holds the record for La Quinta High School with a time of 48.32 seconds and continues to earn better times than many Division 1 college athletes.

Pete Lauderdale, the number one ranked male 400 meter sprinter at UCLA, ran a 47.93 and following his time is Sean Burd who ran a 49.20 second race.  The head coach at UCLA hopes Brown will compete for the top three spots on the roster, even though he has not been given a scholarship.  “I was not given a scholarship for my freshmen year, but the coach said if I prove myself I will be given a large sum of financial help my sophomore year and thereafter,” said Brown.

After being ranked number one in the state as a freshmen and ranked top in state throughout high school, Brown has been on UCLA’s radar for three years.  “I was offered to run track for seven schools and I narrowed it down to Georgetown University or UCLA.  Both are prestigious academically, so I went with my gut feeling to stay in California and go to the school where my mom graduated from,” said Brown.  Even though Brown feels Georgetown is more prestigious since it is an Ivy League university, he feels UCLA is a better fit for him and is giving him a better opportunity to be a top ranked sprinter in the NCAA.  Brown hopes to be a major asset on the 4×4 relay team at UCLA and in the future qualify for the Olympics.