Tired of unscored meets where there is no clear winner, UA head coach Fred Harvey decided to change the format of the Jim Click Shootout, which began yesterday and runs through tomorrow.
For the first time in UA track history, the men’s and women’s team points will be combined in a meet that will pit the Pacific 10, Big 12 and Southeastern conferences against one another by combining the scores of teams from the same conference.
“”I’m trying to get more scoring involved,”” Harvey said. “”This is one of our milestone meets. I expect to see some of the best performances of the year.
“”In every single event, there will be somebody who is in the top 15 in the country.””
Harvey began planning the meet – which he calls his “”brainchild”” – over a year ago after he received the blessing of the athletic department and the meet’s sponsor, Jim Click. At June’s NCAA Outdoor Championships, he invited several big-name schools to compete in Saturday’s Shootout portion.
California and Arizona will represent the Pac-10. South Carolina, the Florida men’s team and the Arkansas women’s team will stand for the SEC, while Texas Tech and Kansas State will form the Big 12 contingent.
“”It’s gonna be a good chance to show that we’re capable of competing against teams that most would consider to be the best of the best,”” said senior Nikki Martin, who will run in the 100-meter, 200m, 4×100m relay and 4×400m relay.
Initially Harvey invited USC and UCLA, who were unable to make it because of a schedule conflict and budgetary reasons, respectively.
Harvey said he is very pleased that Cal will be in attendance because they have been a top-four team in the Pac-10 for the past three years.
“”Cal is going to be a great complement to our team, I’m hoping the other teams underestimate them,”” Harvey said. “”They have a great middle-distance team and good women’s long jump team.””
“”It’s gonna be nice to compete against some big schools,”” said junior pole vaulter Nick Mossberg. “”It’s tough to get excited (in the smaller meets) when your first jump is better then everyone else’s.””
Senior Jake Arnold competed in the shot put and high jump in the first day of the decathlon events yesterday. He will throw in the discus today.
He said he is using this week’s multi events to train for the March 29-30 Louisiana State Multis.
“”Having this level of competition here will make us step our game up another level,”” said Arnold, who will compete for team points in the javelin, pole vault and 110m hurdles tomorrow.
