The Arizona track and field team competed in the Arizona International on Saturday, when six athletes won individual events and nine qualified for the NCAA West Region Championships.

UA head coach Fred Harvey said the team accomplished its goals in the “”low-key”” meet.

The women’s 4×400-meter relay team ðð- composed of freshman Tifney Reeve, Christina Rodgers, Ashley Van Hoey and junior Ashley Gadson – posted a season-best time of 3:43.87 seconds, almost three seconds better than their previous best time of 3:46.41.

“”It was great to see them run with confidence without Nikki (Martin) and Marquita (Taylor),”” Harvey said of Gadson and Van Hoey, who filled in for Martin and Taylor while they took the week off.

The men’s 4×100m relay team won its event with a season-best time of 40.27.

Thrower Dan Austin recorded a regionally qualifying and season-best throw of 58.35m to win the discus.

Four athletes from the distance team registered regional qualifying times at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday.

The West Region Championships run May 25-26.

Combined Events

Senior Jake Arnold and sophomore Shevell Quinley both won their multi-events and set personal-record-breaking scores at the LSU Combined Events this weekend to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Arnold’s first-place score of 7,946 points – over 1,700 points ahead of second place – was the second-highest decathlon score in UA history.

“”To have this big of a meet, this early in the year, is pretty special,”” Arnold said.

He added that he was slightly frustrated about not breaking the 8,000-point mark, which he described as a “”big barrier for a decathlete.””

Arnold will have two more chances when he competes in the decathlon again at the May 5-6 Pacific 10 Conference Combined Event Championships and at the June 6-9 NCAA Championships.