Arizona’s No. 12 men’s and No. 14 women’s track and field teams will split into three different meets this weekend. A group will represent Arizona in the Sun Angel Classic and the Mesa Classic, both of which are in-state, and a third will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational.
“The Mesa Classic is more of a developmental meet to get the athletes some performances and experience,” head coach Fred Harvey said. “We are sending our throwers who are not developmental but look to throw back-to-back days, so they will be competing in both meets.”
The throwers and a handful of runners will stay in Arizona to compete in the two meets.
Juniors Alyssa Hasslen and Taylor Freeman will compete in the discus throw in both the Sun Angel Classic and Mesa Classic meets. Freeman will also compete alongside senior Taylor Bush in the hammer throw.
Tyler Johnson will represent the men’s team in both events and senior Abdi Hassan is running the 800-meter at the Sun Angel Classic.
For the women in Stanford, junior Georganne Moline is running her signature event, the hurdles, as well as the 4×100 relay. Moline is currently the UA record holder and has the best time in the country for the 400-meter hurdles at 56.02. This will be Moline’s first out-of-state meet in more than a year.
“It’s really exciting, it was always hard to watch the team travel,” Moline said. “Now, being here and being able to compete and support them and have them support me is great.”
Junior high-jumper Brigetta Barrett also boasts a nation-leading mark at 1.94 meters and hopes to boost that number this weekend.
For the men, junior high jump Edgar Rivera-Morales has his sights set on hitting the B-Standard mark of 2.28 meters to qualify for Mexico’s Olympic team. Last weekend he was just three centimeters off the mark.
“It can happen at any meet, anytime,” Rivera-Morales said. “This weekend is going to be a good meet.”
The team’s biggest goals this weekend are to maintain the consistency of competing at a high level and to continue to improve personal best times and marks.
“I’m feeling confident, I need to approach this race like I did last weekend,” Moline said. “It’s funny because when I heard I broke the school record, all I could think was, ‘I need to get faster.’”
The Stanford Invitational will run Friday to Saturday at Cobb Track and Angell Field in Palo Alto, Calif. Mesa Community College will host the Mesa Classic on Friday at Riggs Stadium and Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., will host the Sun Angel Classic on Friday and Saturday.