Six more Arizona track and field athletes qualified for the NCAA National Championships Saturday when the No. 20 Wildcats split the team between Seattle and Albuquerque.
At Dempsey Indoor in Seattle, Wash., redshirt sophomore Abdi Hassan made his strength in the mile apparent by running a time of 3:59, earning him a provisional spot at nationals. Hassan was one of four runners who ran a sub-four-minute mile.
In the women’s 800-meter, senior Christina Rodgers provisionally qualified for nationals with a time of 2:07.
Inside the Albuquerque Convention Center, three new athletes provisionally qualified for nationals and one automatic qualifier provisionally qualified for another event.
Senior Luis Rivera-Morales, who has already qualified for the long jump, provisionally qualified for the triple jump.
“”I think we’re heading in the right direction. Everyone is finding the motivation to do better things,”” Rivera-Morales said. “”I’m very proud of what my team did and what I did.””
Rivera-Morales’ younger brother, freshman Edgar Rivera-Morales, took over the high jump pit and came in first, earning himself a provisional qualification.
“”I felt really good jumping this weekend,”” he said. “”After my last jump, they put the bar up for me to just try the next height and I was so close to making it over. I think I could clear it next time.””
Sophomore Christopher McSwain earned a provisional qualification in the men’s 200m as did freshman Alyssa Hasslen in the women’s shot put.
Another highlight of the weekend was senior high jumper Liz Patterson. She won the high jump after not jumping at last week’s meet.
“”I felt OK this meet,”” Patterson said. “”I wasn’t completely satisfied with my performance, but as a team I think we did very well.””
Junior pole-vaulter James Coffin won the men’s pole vault with a height of 17 feet, 3/4 inches. The women’s 4×400-meter relay team came in second and missed provisional qualification by only a second.