June 8, 2012
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Track Results - Day Three 
Field Results - Day Three
Live Results
Des Moines, Iowa - The University of Arizona Wildcat No. 3 men's and No. 10 women's track and field teams finished competition at the third day of the NCAA Track and Field Championships. The meet is hosted by Drake University at Jim Duncan Track and Johnny Bright Field. Competition will conclude on June 9.
Junior Brigetta Barrett won her second-straight title in the women's high jump with a clearance of 6-4 (1.93m). She added 10 points to the women's total and earned her third-straight All-America honor in the event. Barrett has now won four NCAA Championships in her career at Arizona. She cleared 6-4 or better six times during the 2012 outdoor season. Barrett's title is the seventh NCAA Outdoor Championship Arizona has earned in the women's high jump.
"It's really hard sometimes when people say `oh, everybody else will be out before you're in,'" Barrett said. "I was really proud of everybody; everybody had a really good day. This is the most consistent I've ever been in my life. Constantly growing and growing and being able to see my growth, freshman year I got third and sophomore year I won with 6-1. So 6-4 is a really good way to end the year for NCAA's and really good pace for Olympic Trials."
In the men's 5K, sophomore Lawi Lalang earned a third-place finish and senior Stephen Sambu took fifth place. Lalang clocked a time of 13:42.20 and Sambu had a time of 13:43.76. Lalang earned his second-straight All-America honor in the 5K while Sambu earned his first All-America honor in the event. In school history, the Wildcats have now earned 16 All-America accolades in the 5,000-meter race. Lalang will return to the track on Saturday for the 1,500-meter final at 11:17 a.m. CDT.
"I'm not disappointed at all," Lalang said. "This is really a blessing to me; I've been having a tough season so finishing third in that race was really nice for me. I've been having hamstring problems and coming here and doing well, I'm just really happy because I didn't expect it."
Junior Tyler Johnson took eighth place in the men's hammer throw with a toss of 209-7 (63.88m). Johnson added one point to the men's team total and earned All-America honors for the first time in his career. Johnson is Arizona's first All-American in the men's hammer throw since Tapio Kolunsarka in 1997.
In the men's triple jump, junior Nick Ross and freshman Jovon Cunningham competed for the Wildcats. Cunningham finished in 11th place with a mark of 51-9.75 (15.79m). Ross had a jump of 51-1.5 (15.58m), good for 15th place. Ross and Cunningham both earned all-conference honors in the event this year.
"Day three went pretty much according to plan," head coach Fred Harvey said. "We're right where we thought we'd be considering some of the mishaps that we had. We're fighting really well and we're in a great position right now, especially on the men's side to keep fighting for one of those trophies. I'm excited for Brigetta (Barrett) getting another NCAA Championship, she's just absolutely amazing. It's a great day and we have to keep fighting."
On the men's side, Florida leads with 36 points. Virginia Tech is in second with 28 points. Arizona is in third with 28 points. LSU sits in fourth place with 23 points. Oregon holds fifth place with 22 points. For the women, LSU and Oregon are tied for first with 40 points. Oklahoma is in third with 24 points. Stanford is in fourth with 22 points. Kansas and Tennessee are tied for fifth place with 21 points. Arizona is in 14th place with 12 points.
Competition will commence on Saturday 10 a.m. ESPNU/ESPN3 will televise the final two hours of the meet live from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT on Saturday Live results will be available at flashresults.com.
