Senior Adam Kuehl was the big winner Saturday in a competition that technically had no winners and losers.
Kuehl improved his provisional qualifying mark and personal best at NAU’s Southwest Host Classic Invitational, finishing in fourth place in the shot put with a throw of 18.92 meters, but no team scores were kept.
“”I was extremely happy because I got a mark that will get me to the (NCAA Indoor Championships) for the first time,”” said Kuehl, who bettered his mark of 18.46m achieved last weekend.
Kuehl said he expects to move into 10th place, up from No. 16, in the provisional qualifying rankings for the March 9-10 Indoor Championships.
Junior Jarred Sola also threw a personal best with his 18.16m throw in the shot put, in Arizona’s final meet before the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships that begin Friday.
“”Our goal was to fortify a few more marks for the (Indoor Championships),”” said UA head coach Fred Harvey.
In his season debut for the men’s track team, junior Antoine Cason recorded a time of 6.54 seconds in the 55m preliminaries before being disqualified in the finals due to a false start.
“”He was fired up, and he just got too anxious,”” Harvey said.
For the women, senior Kelli Burton finished third in the weight throw with a personal-best throw of 18.45m. She also placed third in the shot put with a 15.44m throw.
The women’s 4x400m relay team improved its season-best time to 3:47.02, although the Wildcat squad was the sole competitor in the event.
Senior sprinter Troy Harris and sophomore Xuehan Xiong finished tied for second in the 55m preliminaries, both finishing with times of 6.36 seconds.
“”I felt a lot better than I did two weeks ago,”” said Xuehan, who missed the early part of the season with lower back pains.
Jeremie Brower achieved his personal best in the 400m with a time of 48.67 seconds, which will earn him a higher seeding in the Federation Championships next weekend, Harvey said.