Antoine Cason grabbed the baton and feverishly chased Chris Titsworth in the 4×400-meter relay. Cason gained a lot of ground on Titsworth, but still finished .21 seconds behind.

The 4×400m relay in Saturday’s Wildcat Classic was symbolic of Cason’s young career on the track team. Despite his progress in that event, Cason had his best performance of the season with a fifth-place finish in the 200m, coming in at 22.38 seconds.

“”I’m feeling more comfortable with more training, I’m getting more into the flow. It’s been a humbling experience,”” said Cason, also a cornerback on the UA football team. “”On the football field, you can get nervous for a couple of plays, then recover quickly. (On the track) there’s one race, then you have (a lot of down time) to think about it.

The Wildcat Classic was more of an intrasquad scrimmage than an actual meet, as most of the competitions pitted UA athletes against one another. Competitors from ASU, Pima Community College and unaffliated athletes – some of whom were UA alumni – also squared off.

“”We’re trying to change the culture and attitude of the athletes,”” UA head coach Fred Harvey said of his goal for the meet. “”We have to be a tougher team. We have the ability, we just have too many people who are soft, they’re afraid to challenge themselves every time out. They need to go out and lay it on the line.””

Sophomore Gabriella Duclos qualified for the NCAA West Region Championships May 25-26 and recorded a personal best in the pole vault with her 4.10m jump.

“”I was surprised when I landed on the mat and saw the bar still up there,”” Duclos said. “”It gives me more confidence.””

Senior Adam Kuehl also qualified for the Region Championships in the discus with a throw of 59.13m.

As for Cason, Harvey said if his resident football player did not have his eyes on the NFL he would definitely train him for the 200m and 400m instead of the sprinting events.

“”He was a 200- and 400m guy in high school. When you watch him run you can see that,”” Harvey said. “”The guy has courage – when he got that stick (baton) in his hands, all he was thinking was, ‘I’m not letting this guy go, I’m gonna’ try and catch him.’ “”