Arizona Wildcats Track and Field Wrap Up Weekend Competition
By Vince Senick
The Arizona Wildcats track and field teams were spread all over the country this past weekend. A group of Wildcats competed in New York City, at the Armory Track Invitational, some distance runners and throwers traveled up to Seattle, for the Washington Invitational, and another group of athletes headed over to Flagstaff for the Mountain T’s Invitational.
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The Armory Invitational put the Wildcats up against some of the top teams in the country and really tested the ‘Cats. The men had a busy Friday and had multiple men make it out of prelims and plenty of nice results. The Wildcats had two men get out of prelims in the 60-meter dash and had one athlete make the finals. Freshman Tyrell Johnson won heat 10 to advance to the semifinals and senior Mohammad Alhasan advanced to the semis on his time, after finishing second in heat two. Johnson came back for the semis and finished with the eighth best time and advanced to the Saturday finals. Sophomore Miles Parish posted a time of 62.84, in the 500-meter race, good for a fourth place finish and senior Pete Lauderdale II ran a 48.35 in the 400-meter sprint to finish sixth overall. Two heptathletes had nice showings on Friday also. Harrison Ivie clocked an 8.40 on the 60-meter hurdles and then jumped 21-5.25 (6.53m) in the long jump. Both marks were the second best of Ivie’s career. Myles Hawkins had a personal-best clearance in the high jump, with a 6-9.75 (2.08m) clearance. No men that are currently representing Arizona competed at the Washington Invitational or Mountain T’s. Alumnus Nick Ross won the high jump with a 2.23-meter clearance and redshirt senior Pau Tonneson, who competed unattached, finished fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 2.07-meters (6-9.50).
Saturday was highlighted by one of top performances of the season for Wildcat athletes. In New York City Collins Kibet ran the mile for the first time on an indoor track and clocked a fast 4:04.93 time! That time is good for the 20th best mark in the nation! Heck of a race by Collins. Freshman Michael Godbout ran at the Washington Invitational, in Seattle, and completed the mile in 4:12.22, which was good for third place overall. Aaron Castle got over the 60 feet mark in the shot put, getting a mark of 60’9.50”, which was good for second overall. That mark is good for 27th in the nation excluding today’s results.
The women had two standout performers Friday night at the armory. Sophomore Lisanne Hagens put on a show in the high jump competition clearing 1.80-meters (5-10.75). She was one of only four athletes to clear that height and now sits at #2 in the Pac-12, and 15th in the nation, in the high jump. In the 400-meter sprint, junior Nnenya Hailey clocked a personal-best time of 54.47 and finished third overall in the event. Freshman Tiana Bonds advanced to semis of the 6-meter hurdles, but could not advance to the final. The big news of the meet was alumna Georganne Moline posted a meet record in the women’s 500-meter run with a time of 68.84 which is the top time in the world right now. The women had no competitors in Seattle or Flagstaff on Friday.
On Saturday, Elvin Kibet, Collins sister, won the 3K with a time of 9:24.53, which is the 10th best time in the country, excluding today’s results. In Seattle, freshman Claire Green finished fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.95. Gia Trevisan competed in Flagstaff and got a fourth place finish in the 400-meter race, with a 56.31 time.
A ton of action from the Wildcats track teams and they are putting out a lot of nice performances. Arizona will look to clock more nice times, throws, and jumps, next weekend, when they are split up between the Don Kirby Invitational, in Albequerque, and the Husky Invitational, in Seattle.