The Arizona Track and Field team took eight victories this weekend at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
On Friday, the No. 3 women’s squad dominated the shot put competition. Senior Alyssa Hasslen led the event with a toss of 56-5.25. In second place was senior Julie Labonté, with her toss of 55-0. With a personal best toss of 53-2.25, junior Omotayo Talabi earned third. Sophomore Baillie Gibson rounded out the competition in fourth place with a toss of 53-1.
In her outdoor season debut, senior Brigetta Barrett won the high jump competition with a mark of 6-4.25. This is her 21st consecutive victory. For the men’s high jump, senior Edgar Rivera-Morales also came out victorious with his mark of 7-1.
“I felt really good because I switched up my steps and it has been a really hard training week, in a good way,” Barrett said in a press release. “I wanted that, because our goal is looking past NCAA Outdoor Championships. So, doing a lot of the hard stuff now and training through that and being able to compete through it at a higher level is a great sign.”
The men’s squad earned another victory on Friday through senior Clifton Leake’s performance in the 400-meter hurdles. Leake earned a personal best time of 51.42 in his season debut in the event.
“I was a little nervous because I haven’t done too many hurdles (in practice), but I have done a lot of strength work,” Leake said in a press release. “I figured if I could just stay smooth and try to finish strong I would be good.”
In her first outdoor appearance this season, senior Georganne Moline tied her personal best time of 52.92 in the 400-meter run and earned first place.
“I felt like I lost my cadence, I got out kind of strong but then I got into a slow cadence,” Moline said in a press release. “I know what I need to fix, I need to keep that strength and be aggressive. But it was good, I wanted to win so that’s what I did.”
Junior Germe Poston also earned a victory in the final heat of the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.68.
On Saturday, the Lady Cats dominated the 200-meter dash. Junior Shapri Romero came out on top with a wind aided ( 2.6) time of 23.63. Following in second place was Moline with a wind aided time of 23.85. Poston came in third place with her wind aided time of 23.93.
Romero was joined by senior Shale’ Garland, junior Tamara Pridgett and Moline in the 4×400-meter race, where they came out victorious with a time of 3:35.44.
“We came in with a mission of winning individual championships, competing at the highest level that we can with the team that we have,” head coach, Fred Harvey said in a press release. “We have a great team and we did a tremendous job winning events and running fast in the sprints on a track that isn’t necessarily known for sprint times.”
The Cats will host the Jim Click Shootout next weekend.
