SACRAMENTO, Calif. – After some great individual successes at the Pac-12 Championships two weeks ago, Arizona Track and Field will continue their postseason with the start of the NCAA West First Round Championships. The competition, hosted by Sacramento State, begins on Wednesday and ends on Saturday.
“This is the best time of the year in our sport,” said Head Coach Fred Harvey. “You are not an invitation or selected for this competition. You have to qualify and earn the right to be a part of this. It is a true championship.”
He also added, “We have one of the largest groups in UA history qualified: 14 men in 11 events, and 12 ladies in 10 events, as well as 3 relay teams. However, we will only compete in the men’s 4x100m, and 4x400m relays, as we had to scratch the women’s 4x100m relay due to injuries. The coaches have done a great job and we are ready to compete with the best in the West.”
The structure of this meet alternates who competes on each day, with the men going on Wednesday and Friday, and the women competing on Thursday and Saturday. The top 48 athletes in each event (top 24 relays) from both the West and East regions qualified to compete in their regional championship this weekend. The top 12 competitors from each region will then qualify for the NCAA Championships, where the two groups will merge and compete in Austin, Texas from June 7-10.
The men get things started on Wednesday, with field events beginning at 10:00 a.m. MST and track events starting at 6:00 p.m. MST. Thursday will see the women compete with an identical schedule as Wednesday. The same is true of Friday and Saturday, with field events beginning at 1:00 p.m. MST and track events getting underway at 5:00 p.m. MST on both days. Results from all four days of competition can be found here.
With last weekend’s Tucson Elite Classic being a thrower’s only meet and not counting towards NCAA rankings, the majority of the Wildcats enter the weekend coming off the Pac-12 Championships at Mt. SAC. At the meet, the Wildcats saw top performances from multiple competitors, ending the weekend with four individual Pac-12 titles: Jordan Geist (hammer throw, shot put), Jared O’Riley (javelin), and Talie Bonds (100m hurdles).
Geist’s two victories in the men’s hammer throw and shot put at the conference championships were his…
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