ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Arizona Track and Field has three competitors heading to the NCAA Indoor Championships this Friday and Saturday: Talie Bonds, Jordan Geist, and Alexa Porpaczy.

"I am extremely excited for the athletes we are taking to the NCAA Indoor Championships," said Head Coach Fred Harvey. "It is by far the hardest NCAA Championship to advance to. Only the top 16 individual athletes, and top 12 relay teams qualify. Some of the best athletes in the world will not qualify by one centimeter, or one one thousandth of a second. We are ready to Bear Down and bring honor to Wildcat Country."
 
The three Wildcats qualified for the championship event after posting marks/times within the top 16 of the NCAA in their respective competitions. Geist will compete in both the shot put, where he is ranked first in the NCAA, and the weight throw, where he is ranked 13th. The weight throw will be held at 7:00 p.m. MST on Friday, while the shot put will also take place at 7:00 p.m. MST on Saturday. Additionally, Bonds will be running in the 60m hurdles where she is ranked eighth. The preliminary round for the event is on Friday at 4:55 p.m. MST, and the final will be held on Saturday at 4:40 p.m. MST. Finally, Porpaczy will be competing in the high jump, where she is ranked 14th. The event begins at 1:00 p.m. MST on Saturday. Results for all the events can be found here. The championships can also be streamed on ESPN+.

TALIE BONDS
Bonds' indoor season has been full of record-breaking performances. In the season opener at the Lumberjack Team Challenge, she ran a time of 8.10 in the 60m hurdles final to set a new school record, a new personal best, and win the event. She followed that up by lowering the school record to 8.08 at the Texas Tech Open Multi's, where she placed second. The next week, at the Don Kirby Invitational, she reset the record for the third time, running an 8.01 and finishing third.
 
At her most recent meet, the Ken Shannon Invitational, Bonds clocked a time of 8.05 and finished second overall, as she looks to go sub-eight seconds for the first time. Additionally, Bonds just barely missed the qualifying cut in the high jump, with her season best leap of 1.81m (5-11.25).
 
JORDAN GEIST
Geist started the year off in an incredible fashion, winning the shot put at the Lumberjack Team Challenge with a school-record and indoor personal-best throw of 21.48m (70-5.75). This throw also ranked 10th all-time in the NCAA for the men's indoor shot put. At the Texas Tech Open Multi's, Geist swept the shot put and the weight throw, winning both events. His weight throw mark of 22.24m (72-11.75) was also a personal record.
 
At the Don Kirby Invitational, Geist won the shot put again and placed second in the weight throw. Finally, in his last meet, the USATF Indoor Championships, Geist's throw of 21.36m (70-1) in the shot put helped him finish runner-up at the championship event against mostly professional throwers. Additionally, Geist has thrown over 21m eight times this year in the shot put, and over 20m 16 times. Subsequently, his nine best shot put throws are also the nine best throws in the NCAA this year.
 
ALEXA PORPACZY
Porpaczy started the year off with a victory in the high jump, clearing 1.84m (6-0.5) at the Lumberjack Team Challenge and edging out her Wildcat teammate Bonds. At the Texas Tech Open Multi's, she cleared a height of 1.81m (5-11.25) to place third overall.
 
Porpaczy continued her trend of placing in the top three, as she finished second overall at the Don Kirby Invitational with a high jump lifetime best mark of 1.85m (6-0.75). Finally, at her most recent meet, the Ken Shannon Invitational, she jumped 1.80m (5-10.75) and finished third. Going into the meet, Porpaczy is tied with six other competitors who have cleared 1.85m on the year.
 
JUST MISSED THE CUT
The Wildcats had several other competitors who just barely missed the qualifying marks that would have placed them in the top 16 for an event. Zach Landa's PR throw of 19.43m (63-9) in the shot put at the Lumberjack Team Challenge had him ranked 17th in the NCAA. Youssef Koudssi also had a personal best mark in the shot put at the Lumberjack Team Challenge, throwing 19.30m (63-4) which had him ranked 20th.
 
Additionally, Kristjan Sigfinnsson and Katie Daily had big performances at the Ken Shannon Invitational, which was the last chance to get qualifying marks in. Unfortunately, other competitions from across the country pushed the two outside of the top 16. Sigfinnson had a PR jump of 2.20m (7-2.5) in the high jump and ranked 17th. Daily cleared 4.30m (14-1.25) in the pole vault, which was a new personal record, but ranked 19th.
 
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