WALNUT, Calif. – The 2023 Pac-12 Championships continued on Saturday for Arizona Track and Field. Jordan Geist highlighted the second day of competition for the Wildcats, claiming his second victory of the competition, this time in the shot put.
 
Zach Landa (shot put), Reinaldo Rodrigues (long jump), and Kristjan Sigfinnsson (high jump) all added in podium finishes as well for the team. Additionally, five other Wildcats (Youssef Koudssi, Mackenna Orie, Tapenisa Havea, Skylar Sieben, and Ava David) scored and four more (Talie Bonds, Alisa Lyesina, Taylen Wise, Neysia Howard) advanced to running event finals tomorrow.
 
TOP-THREE FINISHES
Jordan Geist – Pac-12 Champion, Shot Put
Zach Landa – Third, Shot Put
Reinaldo Rodrigues – Third, Long Jump
Kristjan Sigfinnsson – Third, High Jump
 
FIELD HIGHLIGHTS
The Arizona Men absolutely dominated the men's shot put, finishing first, third, and fourth overall. Jordan Geist followed up his hammer throw victory yesterday with his second win at the 2023 conference championships, this time in the shot. Geist led from the jump, with all of his throws surpassing 20m. Just like yesterday, his best mark on the day of 20.75m (68-1) came on his last throw of the competition after he had already secured his victory. Geist has now won four shot put Pac-12 Titles and sixth overall throughout his collegiate career.
 
The shot put domination didn't end with Geist though, as Zach Landa and Youssef Koudssi placed third and fourth overall in the event as well. Landa's podium finish and best throw came on his last toss of the competition, which was 19.64m (64-5.25) and propelled him in front of his teammate Koudssi. Opposite of Geist and Landa, Koudssi's best mark in the event came on his first throw, where he matched his personal best of 19.50m (63-11.75) to finish fourth. Overall, Geist ranks first in school history in the event, Landa ranks fourth, and Koudssi ranks eighth, so the three have dominated the event for the entire year. All three Wildcats also rank in the top 20 of the nation in the event as well.
 
Reinaldo Rodrigues had another podium finish for the Wildcats in the men's long jump. Rodrigues placed third overall after posting a personal best leap of 7.86m (25-9.5) (+3.1) on his second attempt. Due to the wind being greater than 2.0 m/s, that mark is considered a wind-aided time, but if it wasn't it would've moved Rodrigues up to sixth all-time in school history. For all conditions, that mark puts him 19th in the nation as well.
 
In the men's high jump, freshman Kristjan Sigfinnsson finished third overall after clearing a height of 2.09m (6-10.25), adding to the men's podium finishes on the day.
 
Ava David kicked off day two of the Pac-12 Championships for the Wildcats with an eighth-place finish in the women's hammer throw. David, who ranks fifth all-time in school history in the event, finished the day with a best throw of 56.73m (186-1).
 
The Wildcats continued their success in the shot put later on in the day, with Mackenna Orie and Tapenisa Havea finishing fourth and sixth in the women's event. Orie's best throw came on her third attempt and was 16.52m (54-2.5). Havea's best came on her fifth attempt and was 16.05m (52-8).
 
TRACK HIGHLIGHTS
In the prelims of the women's 100m hurdles, Talie Bonds clocked the fastest time in the qualifying round of 12.75 to advance to tomorrow's final. She has now won four consecutive 100m hurdles races. Additionally, Taylen Wise clocked a big PR time of 13.91 to advance to the final tomorrow as well.
 
In the women's 100m prelim, Neysia Howard ran a personal best time of 11.49 to finish ninth overall and advance to tomorrow's final.
 
Alisa Lyesina advanced to the women's 800m final tomorrow after running a season best time in the prelim of 2:05.25.
 
Trayvion White-Austin just narrowly missed out on advancing to tomorrow's 100m final, as the top nine seeds advanced, and he finished 10th. He clocked a time of 10.40 in the event. Carl Hicks and Isaac Davis ran times of 46.70 and 46.93 in the prelims of the men's 400m but missed out on advancing to tomorrow's final as well in a very competitive event group. In the prelim of the men's 800m, Cade Russo finished 10th with a time of 1:52.52, just barely missing out on advancing to the final.
 
MULTIS HIGHLIGHTS
Skylar Sieben and Hollan Powers wrapped up the final three events of the women's heptathlon for the Wildcats. Overall, Sieben placed sixth with 5218 points and Powers finished in 10th. In the javelin, Sieben had her highest finish of the competition, placing fourth in the event. Then in the final event of the competition, Sieben finished sixth in the 800m.
 
The Pac-12 Championships conclude tomorrow with the majority of the running event finals and a handful of field event finals as well. Field events will begin at 11:00 a.m. MST and running events will get started at 1:00 p.m. MST. The final Pac-12 Awards Presentation will be held at the end of the meet at 4:40 p.m. MST. Live results can be found here and the meet can also be seen on the Pac-12 Network.
 
DAY TWO SCORES
MEN (8/21 events scored)
1. Washington – 68
2. Arizona – 53
3. USC – 44
4. Oregon – 35
5. California – 24
6. Stanford – 24
7. Colorado – 22
8. UCLA – 17
9. Washington State – 16
10. Arizona State – 9
 
WOMEN (8/21 events scored)
1. Washington – 60.50
2. Oregon – 55
3. California - 33
4. UCLA – 31.50
5. Oregon State – 31
6. Colorado – 26
7. USC – 23
8. Stanford - 17
9. Utah – 15
10. Arizona – 12
11. Arizona State – 7
12. Washington State – 1
 
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