TEMPE, Ariz. –
Arizona's track and field team competed in rival territory again today at the Joe Selleh track at Arizona State University. It was their third track meet in eight days.
Sage Watson and Tatum Waggoner inserted themselves into Arizona's record books in the 400-meter race today. Watson finished first in the race with a mark of 52.20 seconds, the fifth best outdoor mark in Arizona history. Her teammate, Waggoner, ran a 53.42 which was good for second place and seventh all-time for the outdoor 400-meter.
Additionally, Watson's time is the best mark to date in the country this year. Waggoner's mark is the tenth best.
“It has been a long two weeks for us. I told the team two weeks ago that this would be the largest volume of work for us this season in a two week period of time.” Head Coach Fred Harvey said. “The objective was to obviously get the work in, but to also have some top performances at this meet going into the Jim Click Shootout.”
“The satisfying thing about any plan you put together is to be able to get results. We saw that with Sage running that big PR in the 400, a Canadian Olympic-Team qualifying mark, which was huge for her. Tatum running a PR in the 400 was great to see as well.”
Miles Parish came in first on the men's side of the 400-meter with a mark of 46.61 seconds. Bryce Houston finished fourth at 47.48 seconds. Blake Eichler finished fifth at 47.66 seconds. Parish's time was the seventh best recorded mark so far this year.
“When I woke up this morning, I knew I was going to compete well today.” Parish said. “I was really anxious and was even telling the trainer sitting next to me on the bus that I was ready to get out there.”
Collins Kibet placed second in the 800-meter and was just shy of his personal record with a mark of 1:46.90. The top-3 performers in the race also happen to be the top-3 marks in the nation to-date.
Gustavs Kehris also competed in the 800-meter and took 12th place with a nice personal record at 1:53.41.
Viktor Gardencrans and Aaron Castle finished third and fourth in the discus with huge personal records from both athletes. Gardencrans placed third with a mark of 180 ft. - 0 in. (54.86m). Aaron Castle was fourth at a mark of 178 ft. - 10 in. (54.52m).
In the shot put Castle finished fourth with a mark of 59 ft. - 10.5 in. (18.25m). Gardencrans had a personal record for a seventh place finish at 58 ft. - 10 in. (17.93m).
Emma Ljungberg and Amarissa Hawker competed in the discus throw for the women. Ljungberg finished fourth with a mark of 162 ft. - 5 in. (49.50m). Amarissa Hawker had a personal record at 123 ft. - 8 in. (37.70m) for a tenth place finish.
Hawker also competed in the shot put and placed tenth again with a mark of 44 ft. - 9 in. (13.64m).
“The throwers continue to do things we knew they were capable of doing. We are seeing things beginning to translate from training to the competitions.” Coach Harvey said. “That was really exciting to see.”
Savaughn Christman set personal records in the 100 and 200-meter races today. She came in third in the 100-meter with a mark of 12.00. She also came in third in the 200-meter at 24.49 seconds. Jasper Gray finished fifth in the 200-meter at 24.69 seconds. Gia Trevisan came in 11th at 25.11 seconds.
Arizona's women 4x100-meter relay squad of Gia Trevisan, Tatum Waggoner, Traci Hicks, and Rachel Johns came in first place in the race with a mark of 45.51 seconds.
Arizona also had their women's 4x400-meter relay squad take first at 3:40.58. The team included Katelin Warren, Gia Trevisan, Nnenya Hailey, and Tatum Waggoner.
Miles Parish, Egbo, Blake Eichler, and Bryce Houston made up the men's 4x400 relay team. They took first place at 3:09.62 after Parish had an amazing home stretch to pull the comeback off for the Wildcats.
The Cats will be in action next weekend for the Stanford Invite in Palo Alto, California. Arizona is expected send only their distance crew and some jumpers to the meet.
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