Despite a second-place finish Saturday, the men’s track and field team something to be desired for UA head coach Fred Harvey.

Arizona finished 21 points behind host Washington in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships in Seattle, and Harvey said “”the door was open to finish first”” before long jumper Jordan Powell got injured and hurdler Dan Cook’s failed to qualify for the 60-meter hurdles finals.

“”I don’t mean to discredit them as a team, but (Washington is not) 20 points better than us,”” Harvey said. “”It’s one of those things in track and field, there are 17 different events, so many things can occur.””

Powell, whom Harvey called “”arguably one of the best long jumpers in the nation,”” strained his right hamstring in warm-ups Friday.

“”I tried to rehab myself (Friday night),”” Powell said. “”That’s how mad I was. I was going to jump on it anyways.””

Powell estimated that between his and Cook’s absence, the team lost 19 points, which would have put them much closer to, if not ahead of, Washington.

Senior Jake Arnold, who won the heptathlon with a score of 5,673 points, was not as frustrated with the Wildcats’ outcome. He said the meet was “”more to see where we’re at”” and less important than the Pacific 10 Conference Championships May 12-13.

“”As a team, we were happy with the second-place finish,”” Arnold said.

Senior Shawn Best threw a personal-best 19.32m in the shot put to finish in second place. The throw automatically qualified Best for the NCAA Indoor Championships March 9-10.

Senior Adam Kuehl and junior Jarred Sola finished third and fourth in the shot put with throws of 18.49m and 18.04m, respectively.

Senior Obed Mutanya automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 3,000m, finishing in second place with a time of 7:55.24. Mutanya also competed in the 5,000m, which he won with a provisionally qualifying time of 13:54.16.

Senior Troy Harris finished second in the 60m with a time of 6.78 seconds.

Junior Antoine Cason did not qualify for the 60m finals with his preliminary time of 7.15 seconds.

Women finish fifth in tight competition

The women’s track and field team finished fifth in the MPSF Championships, as third through sixth place were separated by a mere seven points.

The team finished with a score of 73.50, one point behind fourth-place Washington and 5.50 points behind third-place California.

“”That is very common, in this conference. There’s a lot of great competition,”” Harvey said of the close final standings. “”Ironically enough, we were one position higher last year, but we are so much better than last year, it’s not even close.

“”The level of competition is that much higher this year.””

Seniors Nikki Martin and Marquita Taylor finished second and third in the 60m with times of 7.37 and 7.49 seconds, respectively.

The two also competed in the 200m, where Taylor won with a time of 24.04 seconds and Martin finished third with a time of 24.40 seconds.

Sophomore Gabriella Duclos finished in third place in the pole vault, where she provisionally qualified for the Indoor Championships with her 3.95m jump.

The 4×400m relay team finished in fifth place after winning the first two-team heat, then watching three teams in the second heat finish ahead of them.

“”We’re able to compete against ourselves this season, but it would have been nice if we had raced against some bigger schools. I think we would’ve ran faster,”” said freshman Tifney Reeve, who ran with Martin, Taylor and freshman Christina Rodgers in the relay.