Cooke, Fuentes Lead Track Cats In Multis

March 29, 2012

TUCSON - The Arizona Wildcat No. 11 men's and No. 18 women's track and field teams began competition at the Jim Click Shootout with the combined events on Thursday. Arizona has three men competing in the decathlon and two women remain in the competition for Arizona in the heptathlon. Additionally, two UA alums also competed. Competition resumes on Friday at 10 a.m.

"It was a beautiful day for the multis," head coach Fred Harvey said. "All the great heptathletes and decathletes in town really gave our athletes some motivation to get some things done. We're sitting in pretty good position for day one."

After four events in the heptathlon, senior Liana Fuentes sits in ninth place with 3,096 points. Fuentes started the day with a 12th-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 14.68, tying her personal best. She cleared 5-0.5 (1.54m) in the high jump. Fuentes set a personal-best mark in the shot put, throwing a 42-4 (12.90m), good for second place. Fuentes clocked a personal-best time of 25.68, coming in 13th place, to finish the day.

"Liana was on the right pace with her hurdle race but hurt herself in the high jump," Harvey said. "She did come back strong with a personal best in the shot put so that put her back in good position. She lost a few points in the shot put and high jump but she can make up ground in the long jump and javelin tomorrow. She's a really good javelin thrower so she should be on pace to score a personal best in points and finish as one of the top five heptathletes in the conference."

Sophomore Amber Passalaqua has 3,079 points, good for 12th place. Passalaqua ran 14.77 in the 100-meter hurdles, good for 14th place. In the high jump, she tied for sixth place with a clearance of 5-6.5 (1.69m). Passalaqua threw 30-6.25 (9.30m) in the shot put and ran the 200 meters in 25.06, a personal-best time. The leader in the heptathlon is Uhunoma Osazuwa (unattached) with a total of 3,786 points.

Junior Brigetta Barrett and alumni Liz Patterson competed in the first two events of the heptathlon. Neither of them finished the 100-meter hurdles. In the second event, Barrett cleared 6-2.75 (1.90m) in the high jump, good for first place. Patterson cleared 6-0.50 in the high jump, good for second place in the event. Patterson and Barrett dropped out of the competition following the high jump.

After five events in the decathlon, sophomore Keegan Cooke is in ninth place with a total of 3,514 points. Cooke clocked a time of 11.55 in the 100 meters, earning a 12th-place finish. He had a personal-best mark of 21-4 (6.50m) in the long jump, good for eight place. In the shot put, Cooke threw 39-3.25 (11.97m) and came in 11th place. In the high jump, he cleared 6-4 (1.93m), good for a tie in seventh place. Cooke had a time of 51.88 in the 400 meters, good for 12th place.

"Keegan got a chance to get going today and he looked pretty good," Harvey said. "He's a pretty good hurdler and pole vaulter so he has a chance to do some good things tomorrow and make up some ground.

Senior Chris McGovern has 3,482 points after day one, good for 11th place. McGovern began the competition with a personal-best time of 11.26 in the 100-meter dash, tying for sixth place. He jumped 21-4.75 (6.52m) in the long jump, good for seventh place. In the shot put, McGovern had a personal-best toss of 37-9.50 (11.52m). In the high jump, he came in 14th place with a clearance of 6-0.50. McGovern clocked a time of 51.69 in the 400-meter run, good for 11th place.

Freshman Harrison Ivie has 3,361 points and sits in 13th place. Ivie took ninth in the 100-meter dash, clocking a time of 11.43. In the long jump, he cleared 21-0 (6.40m), good for 10th place. In the shot put, he threw 39-4.50 (12.00m) and earned a 10th-place finish. Ivie tied for 11th place in the high jump with a personal-best clearance of 6-1.5 (1.87m). He had a time of 54.34 in the 400 meters.

UA alumni Jake Arnold sits in fifth place with 3,689 points after the first day of competition. Arnold took eighth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.31. In the long jump, he had a mark of 20-4.25 (6.20m). He took third in the shot put with a toss of 47-5 (14.45m). He tied for seventh in the high jump with a clearance of 6-4 (1.93m). In the 400-meter run, Arnold had a time of 50.98 and earned a seventh-place finish. The leader in the decathlon is Jamie Adjetey-Nelson (Windsor Alumni Club) with 4,199 points.

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