TUCSON, Ariz. – The Arizona Track Cats kicked off the outdoor season today by hosting the Willie Williams Classic here at the Roy P. Drachman Stadium on a beautiful day in Tucson.
“What we are trying to do with our first outdoor meet is just get some people going and get our feet wet.” Head Coach Fred Harvey said. “We have to get ourselves prepared for the UCLA meet next week, but the nice thing is we put together some good things with Michael Demby running a PR in his opening race with only a week of preparation.”
“The key for tomorrow is to see how well everything else meshes together. We will have Sage running the open 400, Nnenya running the 800, and see how some distance athletes put their races together. It was good to open Willie Williams like this and have that type of performance.”
Michael Demby and Miles Parish ran in the men's 400-meter hurdles and took fourth and fifth place with marks of 52.94 and 53.33 seconds.
Morgan Struble ran the 400-meter hurdles and posted a solid time of 55.95 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles for a second place finish.
Arizona made their mark in the hammer throw with a second, third, and fourth place finish from Clay Cashman, Cody Dalton, and Grayson Fleming.
Clay Cashman had a nice personal record in the Hammer Throw at 170 ft - 7 in. (52.01m) for a second place finish, Cody Dalton came in third place in the hammer throw with a mark of 165 ft - 5 in. (50.42m), and Grayson Fleming came in fourth place in the hammer throw with a mark of 164 ft - 4 in. (50.04m).
Savaughn Christman ran a 24.75 in the 200-meter for a second-place finish. Alyssa Thompson clocked in at 25.21 seconds for a seventh place finish.
Blake Eichler ran a 21.54 in the men's 200-meter for an eighth place finish. Bryce Houston also competed and posted a new personal record at 21.77 seconds for a tenth place finish.
Amarissa Hawker came in fourth in the shot put with a mark of 46 ft. - 5 in. (14.15m).
Emma Ljungberg threw a mark of 154 feet (46.94m) in the hammer throw and earned a seventh place finish.
Alyssa Thompson also competed in the javelin throw and earned a mark of 119 ft - 1 in. (36.30m) for a seventh place finish.
Kayla Ferron ran a mark of 18:32.95 in her first time running the 5,000-meter race for a solid sixth place finish. Hannah Whetzel also ran her first 5,000-meter race and placed eighth at a mark of 18:38.14.
Jeffrey Gautreau finished fourth in the 5,000-meter while Brendan Tinoco ninth at times of 15:27.01 and 15:39.16, which were both personal records for the young men.
The Cats will be back at it tomorrow here in Tucson beginning at 10 am MST.
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