TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona Track and Field’s Talie Bonds was named the Pac-12 Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year as announced by the conference on Saturday. Bonds earned the honors for her exceptional performances both on the track and in the classroom.
Bonds has had a record-setting season for Arizona in the 100m hurdles. Entering the conference championship weekend, she has won the event in four straight meets, including a school record victory at the Mt. SAC Relays. At the meet, Bonds won the competition with a personal best and school record time of 12.65, for which she earned Pac-12 Women’s Track Athlete of the Week honors. That came just one week after originally matching the school record and setting the Drachman Stadium facility record at the Jim Click Shootout. Her PR time is also fifth all-time in Pac-12 History and 21st all-time in NCAA history in the event. She will look to take the Pac-12 crown in the event this weekend, as she enters the Pac-12 Championships ranked first in the conference and fourth in the country.
Bonds has also seen success in the high jump this year, as she looks to follow up her victory in the event at last year’s Pac-12 Championships. Her season best clearance of the year of 1.80m (5-10.75) ranks fourth in the conference and 24th in the country entering the weekend. This season, she has also won the event twice and placed second once. Bonds’ performances this outdoor season are nothing new, as she set the Arizona 60m hurdles record during the indoor season and matched/broke that record on four different occasions. She was named a First Team All-American at the NCAA Indoor Championships, where she finished seventh overall in the country in the event.
The track has not been the only place Bonds has excelled in during her Wildcat career though. She qualified to receive the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award for maintaining a 3.00 GPA or higher, which she crushed as both an undergraduate and graduate student at Arizona. Her undergraduate degree was in Sociology and her graduate degree was in Real Estate, which she just completed. Her efforts in the classroom have made her a two-time USTFCCCA Women’s All-Academic…
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