Although the rain was unkind to the relay events at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, Mother Nature allowed for an incredible discus competition.

Senior Adam Kuehl won the event, tying a season-best throw of 62.29 meters, and also placed third in the shot put with a throw of 17.70m.

“”It was just one of the best overall competitions I’ve witnessed,”” said UA head coach Fred Harvey. “”Especially at a mid-year invitational – you’d expect to see this at the national championships.””

Harvey said he was extremely impressed to see five athletes from the Pacific 10 Conference throw farther than 190 feet. He added that the competition at the Pac-10 Championships on May 12-13 “”is gonna be nuts.””

Senior Dan Austin finished fourth in the discus with a season-best throw of 60.48m.

The women’s 4×100m relay team of Marquita Taylor, Nikki Martin, Ashley Gadson and Shevell Quinley became the first in Harvey’s coaching career to qualify for the finals at the Texas Relays.

Harvey said his relay teams normally have a rough time qualifying for the finals because the preliminary races are held at 9:30 a.m. Central Standard Time – 7:30 a.m. Tucson time.

On Friday, Harvey woke the relay teams two and a half hours before the race so they had time for full warmups and a full run-through of the relay.

Unfortunately, Saturday’s showers made for harsh running conditions. Only Texas, Louisiana State and Tulane elected to run in the rain, and Arizona had little time to warm up for the meet, Taylor said.

“”The time (47.27 seconds) was pretty bad. Everyone ran slow,”” said Taylor, who added that the conditions were some of the worst she has ever run in.

“”It was extremely disappointing,”” Harvey said of the weather, adding that it was “”really disheartening”” to have his first relay team to make the finals not be able to run at full capacity.

The women’s relay team and Harvey were not the only ones disappointed at the meet.

“”It was real frustrating,”” said senior Jake Arnold, whose only event, the pole vault, was cancelled because of Saturday’s rain.

“”I think I could’ve done way

better,”” said freshman Liz Patterson, who competed as a Wildcat for the first time in front of her family. She cleared 1.75m for sixth place in the B-section of the high jump.

Sophomore Gabriella Duclos cleared 3.95m in the pole vault to finish in second place.

Daniel Marshall, a junior, regionally qualified for the May 25-26 NCAA West Regional Championships with his triple jump of 15.13m.

Senior Troy Harris also set a personal record in the 100m with a time of 10.58 seconds.

Awards

Seven athletes from the women’s team and seven from the men’s squad were selected to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) indoor academic all-conference team, which includes athletes from the Pac-10 and Big West conferences.

In addition to being selected for the MPSF academic team, Arnold was named the MPSF Male Athlete of the Year.