The UA track and field team hosted the Jim Click Shootout at the Roy P. Drachman Stadium over the weekend, where the Wildcats set many personal bests.
Pau Tonnesen competed in his first decathlon of the season to start the event out for Arizona. He was the national runner-up in the decathlon last year.
Tonnesen took first in the event with a total of 7,993 points, a mark that currently stands at third in the country.
Following his performances were strong outings from Nnenya Hailey and Sage Watson. Hailey continues to mark her name in the Arizona record books, this time in the 100-meter hurdle race.
She ran a time of 12.96 seconds, the best time a Wildcat has ever ran. The mark also currently stands as the best time in the nation in the event.
“It feels really good,” Hailey said to Arizona Athletics. “It’s exciting because I have the record in the 60-meter hurdle too, so now that I have the record in both, I am very excited. As for the 400-meter hurdles, I am still working on that every day, trying to perfect it. Just having a good meet is what I was shooting for today.”
Hailey also performed well in the 400, placing in second behind her teammate Watson.
Watson ran a time of 55.45 seconds with Hailey placing right behind her with a mark of 55.97. These times currently stand as the two fastest 400 times this year.
Blake Eichler ran in the men’s 200-meter race and set a new personal record with a 21.08-second finish to earn a third-place finish.
There were also some new personal bests in the women’s 200.
Some of them came from Tatum Waggoner, Jasper Gray and Savaughn Christman.
Waggoner finished third with a time of 23.62 seconds, Gray ran a time of 24.13 seconds to finish fifth while Christman placed eighth with a time of 24.37 seconds.
The Arizona throwers also had a busy meet, with throws taking place in the javelin, hammer, discus and shot put events. Erik Mensendiek and Harrison Ivie took the first two spots in the javelin throw with marks of 59.68 meters and 54.71 meters, respectively.
Emma Ljungberg competed in the women’s hammer throw, taking fifth place with a new personal best of 49.80 meters. Ljungberg also competed in the women’s discus throw, finishing in second with a throw of 48.53 meters.
Clay Cashman took fourth in the men’s hammer throw with a mark of 55.07 meters.
Gerhard De Beer, Aaron Castle and Viktor Gardenkrans competed in the men’s discus throw for the Wildcats.
De Beer took third with a mark of 55.43 meters and Castle took fifth, throwing 51.86 meters. Gardenkrans rounded out the Wildcats’ finishers with a No. 7-place finish and a mark of 50.47 meters. Castle also competed in the men’s shot put, finishing in second with a throw of 18.00 meters.
“It was a fantastic meet,” head coach Fred Harvey said to Arizona Athletics. “It is one of those meets that we highlight in terms of the different schools that come out. When you come out to this meet, you got to know that it is going to be fast and you are going to see some of the top marks in the country and the world.”
Arizona’s next meet will be in Walnut, California, when the team competes in the Mt. Sac Relays. The event starts Thursday.
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