UA women’s track and field came in second place at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track and Field Championships, trailing just behind fellow Pac-12 member Stanford. The men’s team finished in fourth place. Sophomore Elvin Kibet won her first race of the season in the 5k.
“The highlight of the day was definitely Elvin Kibet running under 16 minutes in the 5,000 meters,” head coach Fred Harvey said. “That was huge and really gives her a lot of confidence heading into the NCAA Championships.”
Kibet had a strong first-place finish in the 5k with a time of 15:59, a new personal best. She also came in sixth in the 3K and Seattle fell just one second short of breaking the school record.
“I’ve been speaking to the coaches a lot and we really wanted to push my time below 16 minutes,” Kibet said. “It just felt right this weekend and I’ve been working so hard. To find out I was just a second short in the 3k just motivates me so much more.”
Junior high jumper Brigetta Barrett set an MPSF Championship record, clearing 1.93m on Saturday and winning her second consecutive MPSF title. Junior Julie Labonte also broke the previous MPSF record in shot put, which was set in 2007, with a throw of 17.87m.
On the men’s side, sophomore Lawi Lalang won the 3,000m event in 7:44.48 — good for a new school and MPSF Championship record, and fifth best in collegiate history. “I was definitely proud of how we closed,” Harvey said. “To come out of this meet with three school records, it was really satisfying to see us compete at that level against really, really good competition. This was the best MPSF Championship meet I’ve been apart of in my 25 years at Arizona.”
Freshman Jovon Cunningham had a breakout performance with a personal-best mark in the triple jump of 15.74m.
“It was a huge confidence booster. I adjusted my approach from a half step to a full-step and that made a big difference. I definitely think there will be big improvements to come,” Cunningham said.
The Wildcats get one more chance to earn bids for the NCAA Championships next March 3 at Iowa State’s NCAA Qualifier in Ames, Iowa.
