Bruin Bites: Men's Golf Loses in NCAA Quarterfinal, Women's Rowing Finishes 12th, Eleven Bruins to Track & Field NCAA Finals in Eugene

There was a time when UCLA would win multiple national championships without batting an eye (read: the decades before Dan Guerrero rolled into campus and tanked our athletic department), but with just the women's soccer team and the women's tennis team capturing NCAA crowns, it marks the first time since the 2009-2010 academic year (women's gymnastics and softball) that UCLA can claim the feat under Guerrero.  With that said, let's take a look at the various bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse as we wrap up another season of UCLA athletics:

--- Beginning with the #20-ranked men's golf team, the Bruins managed to sneak into the NCAA championship final match-play round, beginning with a quarterfinal match play date against the heavily favored LSU Tigers.  But the quarterfinal would be where UCLA's Cinderella story would come to an end, as LSU showed why they were widely tipped to knock off UCLA, dropping the Bruins 4-1.  Sophomore Lorens Chan was the only Bruin to pick up a win, beating LSU's Stewart Jolly, 4 and 3.  With the loss, the Bruins are off for the summer before returning next year to try to put together a deeper run.

--- Turning to the water, the women's rowing team put up a middle-of-the-pack effort at the NCAA championships in Indianapolis, finishing in 12th place out of the 22 competitors.  On the final day, UCLA's varsity eight finished in first in the C Final, while the second varsity eight finished in second in the Petite Final, while the varsity four finished in third in the C Final.  All-in-all, it was enough to put the Lady Bruins in 12th place with 68 points, just behind Indiana with 71 points and just ahead of Harvard with 62 points.  Ohio State, finishing with 126 points, beat out the ladies from Berkeley (118 points) to win the national championship.

--- Heading south of Indy, the UCLA track and field team was in action this weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas in the NCAA's West Prelims (can someone explain how Arkansas, literally just west of the Mississippi and well east of the Rockies, qualifies as the "west"?!).  Once the dust was settled, UCLA had 11 Bruins qualified to head to the NCAA championships in Eugene beginning on June 11.  In a furious final day, UCLA picked up five more qualifiers for the big meet in Oregon, with the final eleven consisting of Alexis Walker (heptathlon), Zibby Boyer (high jump), Matt Kosecki (discus), Julian Wruck (discus), Cody Danielson (javelin), Kylie Price (long jump), Nick Hartle (800 meter), Brea Buchanan (100 meter hurdles), Trinity Wilson (100 meter hurdles), Nicholas Scarvelis (shot put), and Natasha Kolbo (pole vault).

Alright folks, those are your Bruin Bites as we begin to wrap up another year of UCLA athletics and get ready for the long summer hiatus, counting down the days, hours, and minutes until Jim Mora, Brett Hundley and the #BruinRevolution resumes in San Bernardino this late summer/early fall. Fire away in the comment section with your thoughts, additions, or other bits of news from around the UCLA-iverse.

GO BRUINS