Rarely can an athlete say she broke a record and won a competition with her eyes closed. That was just the case for Gabriella Duclos when she won the pole vault at the UTEP Invitational on Saturday.

Duclos’ new technique involves closing her eyes as she jumps, which she says allows her body to become more inverted and “”shoot for the sky.””

Duclos, a native of Quebec City, broke the Canadian junior record with her personal-best jump of 4.15 meters. The mark was the fourth highest by an Arizona woman pole vaulter.

“”I was lucky to be the only competitor at the end,”” said Duclos, who had five minutes for every jump to deal with the rough winds. “”I actually waited five minutes and missed an attempt just because of the wind.””

In the men’s pole vault, senior Jake Arnold recorded a season-best 5.20m for fifth place.

“”Even when I’m tired I’m (clearing) 17 feet – which is a good thing,”” said Arnold, who added that an intense week of practice slowed him down on the field. “”You can’t stop your training to do well at every meet.””

Freshmen Jasmin Day and Liz Patterson regionally qualified for the May 25-26 NCAA West Regional Championships in the high jump with marks of 1.78m and 1.75m, respectively.

The women’s 4×100m relay team of Shevell Quinley, Nikki Martin, Marquita Taylor and Ashley Gadson finished in second with a season-best time of 45.01 seconds, despite a botched hand-off between Gadson and Martin.

UA head coach Fred Harvey said that had the exchange been smoother, “”they would have shattered the school record.””

Sophomore Chris Titsworth finished fourth in the 110m hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.59 seconds. He also placed third in the 400m hurdles with a time of 53.66s.

Throws

At the Mesa Classic in Mesa, senior Adam Kuehl won his fifth-straight discus competition with a throw of 60.41m.

Senior Kelli Burton won the women’s discus competition with a throw of 51.83m. She also finished second in the hammer throw with a mark of 57.89m.

Sophomore Megan Howard recorded a mark of 56.81m for fourth place in the hammer throw.

Distance

At Friday’s Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif., senior Obed Mutanya earned a regional-qualifying mark in the 5,000m with a time of 13:50.59s.

Freshman Christina Rodgers finished second in the 800m with a time of 2:11.55s.

On Saturday at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational, sophomore Mackenzie Edwards finished fourth in the 1,500m with a regional qualifying time of 4:26.95s.

Rodgers beat her previous day’s time to record a personal-best time of 2:10.66s in the 800m for a sixth-place finish.