After showers Thursday and Friday threatened to rain out Saturday’s Jim Click Shootout, which pitted conferences against one another, Mother Nature and the Pacific 10 Conference came through to deliver a nearly perfect meet for the Arizona track and field teams at Drachman Stadium.
The Pac-10, represented by California and Arizona, won the meet with a combined score of 513.50, finishing well ahead of the second-place Southeastern Conference (451.50), composed of South Carolina, the Florida men’s team and the Arkansas women’s team.
Texas Tech and Kansas State formed the Big 12 Conference, which finished third with a score of 440 points.
Additionally, 19 Wildcats earned regional qualifying times for NCAA West Region Championships on May 25-26.
“”It shows when scoring is involved. The level of intensity really rises,”” said UA track and field head coach Fred Harvey. “”It’s then about winning or losing.””
Said senior Troy Harris: “”(The combined-team scoring) made it easier to talk to other teams because (Arizona) and California were scoring for the same team. It takes off that tension of (being) me against the world.””
The men’s 4×100-meter relay team – made up of juniors Marcus Tyus and Antoine Cason, sophomore Xuehan Xiong and Harris – finished with a regional-qualifying time of 40.56 seconds as they came in second behind Florida.
The relay team recorded its best time of the season despite trying out a new order at the competition.
Additionally, it was Tyus’s first week back after sitting out the March 17 Willie Williams Classic because of swelling behind his left knee. Cason also ran on a sore hamstring after practicing with the football team in the morning.
The women’s 4x100m relay team finished second with a regional-qualifying time of 45.02 seconds.
Senior Adam Kuehl won the shot put and discus events with throws of 19.19m and 60.18m, respectively.
“”I felt real close to having a real big throw,”” said Kuehl, who added that he will not compete in the shot put again until the Arizona/Arizona State/Northern Arizona Double Duals on April 28 because he will be focusing on the discus.
Senior Obed Mutanya, whom Harvey calls one of the most talented distance runners in Arizona history, won the 3,000m by more than 10 seconds with his time of 8:11.85 seconds. Sophomore Gabriella Duclos won the pole vault with a 4.0m jump even though the rain restricted her to only one day of practice.
“”Usually the week before the meet coordinates with my performance,”” Duclos said. “”My technique wasn’t there at all.””
Sophomore Jordan Powell competed for the first time since straining his hamstring at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Championships on Feb. 23-24. He finished second in the long jump with a mark of 7.26m.
“”My timing was a little off,”” Powell said. “”It wasn’t too bad for my first time jumping in three and a half weeks.””
Senior Jake Arnold, junior Nick Mossberg and Texas Tech’s Chris Ashcraft tied for third place in the pole vault with jumps of 4.95m.
“”I like to help out the team, but really it’s more of a training thing than anything,”” said Arnold, who used the meet to train for the March 29-30 Louisiana State Multis.
Mossberg credited his “”frustrating”” performance to a week of practice that was hindered by food poisoning and poor weather. He also had a rough time adjusting to a new running approach, which he said set him a step back on the runway.
“”I’m just going to have to kill it in practice next week,”” Mossberg said.
Beyond the finish line Jim Click was on hand to donate $45,000 and personally congratulate the winner of each event. “”That guy is one of the best individuals I ever met in my life,”” Harvey said. “”He made the athletes feel special. Track and field athletes never get that opportunity to be treated like a basketball tournament team.”” … South Carolina’s Natasha Hastings broke the Drachman Stadium record with her 51.02-second time in the 400m. The time is currently the fastest in the nation this year.
