McGovern, Fuentes Finish Strong In Multis

March 30, 2012

TUCSON - The Arizona Wildcat No. 11 men's and No. 18 women's track and field teams wrapped up the combined events portion of the Jim Click Shootout on Friday with seniors Chris McGovern and Liana Fuentes leading the way for the Wildcats.

"It was a great multis event, overall it was a great competition for us," head coach Fred Harvey said. "Looking at our team, I'm really pleased with where we are. We didn't have our best individual events within the multis but Amber (Passalaqua) had a personal best overall and Liana (Fuentes) was really close to her personal best. I think both of those ladies can score between 5,300 and 5,400 points for us at the Pac-12 Championships."

Senior Liana Fuentes finished in seventh in the heptathlon competition with 5,261 points. She started off the day with a mark of 18-1 (5.51m) in the long jump, good for 12th place. Fuentes threw 144-0 (43.89m) in the javelin. That personal-best mark was good for first place in the event. In the final event, Fuentes ran the 800 meters in 2:27.87.

Sophomore Amber Passalaqua earned an 11th-place finish with 5,021 points in the heptathlon. She took fifth in the long jump, posting a mark of 19-1.25 (5.82m) and earning a fifth-place finish. In the javelin, Passalaqua threw 79-01 (24.11m) and came in 21st place. She ran the 800 meters in 2:22.94, good for 12th place. Bettie Wade (Nike) won the competition with 6,143 points.

Senior Chris McGovern finished in sixth place with a total of 6,795 points. He started off the day with a time of 15.42 in the 110-meter hurdles. That mark was good for a sixth-place finish. He took ninth in the discus throw with a toss of 115-7 (35.24m). McGovern cleared 15-5 (4.70m) in the pole vault, earning a third-place finish. He earned a 10th-place finish in the javelin, throwing 157-0 (47.85m). In the final event, McGovern clocked a time of 4:58.29 in the 1,500-meter run.

Sophomore Keegan Cooke earned an eighth-place finish with 6,573 points. Cooke, a native of Harare, Zimbabwe set the national record in the decathlon. The previous record was held by Stanley Flowers. Flowers scored 6,519 points on Aug. 7-8, 1989 in Lagos, Nigeria. He took 12th in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 16.18. He threw 124-5 (37.93m) in the discus, good for fifth place. Cooke tied for 10th in the pole vault with a clearance of 12-9.5 (3.90m). He had a throw of 166-0 (50.60m) in the javelin, good for a seventh-place finish. In the 1,500 meters, Cooke clocked a time of 5:04.23 and came in 10th place.

Freshman Harrison Ivie earned 6,477 points and finished in 10th place. He came in 13th place with a time of 16.35 in the 110-meter hurdles. Ivie took eighth in the discus, with a throw of 119-7 (36.46m). He cleared 14-1.25 (4.30m) in the pole vault and tied for sixth in the event. Ivie threw 168-0 (51.20m) in the javelin throw, coming in fifth place. Ivie came in 13th place in the 1,500-meter run, posting a time of 5:06.76.

"Chris (McGovern) competed really hard," Harvey said. "He wasn't sure how well he was going to be able to run the 1,500 meters but he went out and ran very hard and very well and ended up scoring pretty big points."

Arizona alumni Jake Arnold finished in third place with 7,519 points. Arnold began the day with a second-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles, posting a time of 14.63. He also came in second in the discus with a throw of 149-6 (45.56m). Arnold won the pole vault competition, clearing 16-0.75 (4.90m). He threw 186-8 (56.89m) in the javelin and came in fourth place. Arnold ran the 1,500-meter race in 4:55.43, good for fifth place. Damian Warner (London-Western Track and Field) won the decathlon with 7,977 points.

On Saturday, the field events begin at 9:30 a.m. and the running events begin at 12:30 p.m. California, Clemson, Miami, Ohio State and Penn State will compete. The event will be scored on a conference-by-conference basis. Live results will be available at athletics.arizona.edu/tfstats/tf.

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