Arizona track and field saw a weekend full of record setting performances that featured some of the top athletes from around the country in their final home meet of the season.
Kurt Felix of Grenada received a score of 7,895 to place first in the men’s decathlon, a multi-event featuring the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1500-meter run. Arizona redshirt junior Pau Tonnesen totaled a score of 7,783 and placed second.
Tonnesen’s score is currently the highest decathlon score in the country.
“The high jump and the pole vault didn’t go so great,” Tonnesen said in an Arizona Athletics interview. “But I had a lot of other personal records that went very well. I’m happy with the score, and I’m happy with the two days. They both went well.”
Arizona’s Harrison Ivie, Erik Mensendiek and Myles Hawkins followed up with scores of 7,198, 6,058 and 5,946, respectively, in the decathlon.
Arizona sophomore Alyssa Thompson finished with a score of 5,320 to finish third in the women’s heptathlon, an event that features the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter race, long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter race.
Freshman Tiana Bonds finished right behind her by scoring 5,242, and Aleah Hurst finished in sixth place with a 4,704 score.
The Wildcats’ men and women teams both finished in third place in Saturday’s individual events against USC, LSU, Illinois and Purdue. The women totaled 91 points, and the men scored 93.
Gia Trevisan, Lizzie Smith, Jasper Gray and Diana Gajda all clocked personal best times in the women’s 400-meter dash. The men’s 400-meter dash saw four Wildcats, Pete Lauderdale II, Blake Eichler, Bryce Houston and Collins Kibet set personal best times as well.
The men’s 4×400 meter relay group of Eichler, Houston, Lauderdale and Miles Parish clocked a season best time of 3:07.70, and the 4×100 team of Eichler, Tyrell Johnson, Mohammad Alhasan and Ty Brandt also ran their best time of the season, with a time of 39.84.
Aaron Castle placed second in shot put competition with a personal best mark of 18.97 meters.
Daniel Whitham set a mark of 16.76 meters in shot put, which was a personal best as well. Whitham also set a personal record in the javelin with a mark of 56.76 meters.
The women’s 1500-meter run resulted in an impressive first place finish for Elvin Kibet.
Kibet finished with a time of 4:23.61, another personal best. Kibet said she rarely competes in short distance events, as she normally competes in the 5K and 10K events.
“The 1500 [meter run] is not my event,” Kibet said. “I just went out there, kept the pace, and stayed up with those girls.”
Kibet also said it was great and meant a lot to have such an impressive performance in front of the home crowd at the final home meet of the season.
Kibet went on to run the 3000-meter run later that day, and finished first with a 9:38.63 time, with her teammate Kristina Aubert finishing in second place.
The Wildcats will head to Walnut, Calif., for the Mt. SAC Relays on Thursday and to Baton Rouge, La., for the LSU Alumni Gold Classic on Saturday.
Arizona coach Fred Harvey said he feels good after his team’s performance this weekend.
“Everyone really competed well,” Harvey said in an Arizona Athletics video. “We’re seeing some really good things with all the athletes.”
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