EUGENE, Ore. ?- The No. 5 Wildcat men had a strong first day of competition at the Pac-10 Championships presented by 76 PROClean Gasolines, and are
currently in first place with 56 points. Robert Cheseret added to his impressive resume with a third consecutive Pac-10 title in the 10,000 meters. The senior
All-American now has eight Pac-10 championships (six in track, two in cross country) during his illustrious career.
Cheseret won the 10,000 meters in a time of 30:32.92. He ran near the front of the pack throughout the race, but with 600 meters to go he was able to pull away
and cruise to victory. Cheseret will look to go for a sweep of the distance events on Sunday when he competes in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters. He won all
three events during the 2004 Pac-10 Championships, and won both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters last year.
“It’s good to win again,” said Cheseret. “I’m looking for two more tomorrow though. I really just need to get rested and focus on coming back strong tomorrow.”
“Until that 10,000-meter race was over, my heart rate hadn’t been below 100 all day,” joked distance coach James Li.
Earlier in the day, Cheseret qualified for Sunday’s finals in the 1,500 meters with an impressive run. With 600 meters to go, he was knocked to the ground and
fell well behind the pack. Not deterred, he was able to catch up with the leaders and finish in a time of 3:50.29. Also qualifying for the finals were Kenny Frank
(3:49.95) and Jonah Maiyo (3:50.32).
“I knew that I needed to finish in the top four to make it to the finals,” said Cheseret. “I was shocked when it (the fall) happened, and I really had to sprint to
catch up to the pack.”
In the shot put, Sean Shields, Shawn Best and Jarred Sola all scored points for the Wildcats by placing in the top eight. Shields placed second overall with his
best throw of 19.50m. The senior All-American currently has the No. 3 throw in the NCAA.
Best was competing for the first time during the 2006 outdoor season and placed fifth (18.23m) in the competition. Up until last week Best had been redshirting
the outdoor season, but pulled his redshirt to compete during this weekend’s championship. “Knowing that we could achieve something that the school had
never done before, I felt it was necessary for me to do what I could to help the team,” said Best. Sola placed eighth with his toss of 17.35m.
In the long jump, Jordan Powell placed second with his personal best jump of 7.69m. This jump is No. 6 on the Arizona Top 10 list. The freshman entered the
competition with the second-best jump in the conference during 2006, and did not disappoint during his first conference championship meet.
“I really wanted to do it for the team,” said Powell. “I came out prepared to compete and did my best. I know I’ll do even better when regionals come around as
long as I keep working at it.”
Daniel Marshall also scored points for the men’s team in the long jump with his personal best of 7.37m. This was good enough for sixth place. Marshall will also
be competing in Sunday’s triple jump, where he is expected to be one of the favorites.
In the javelin, Saku Kuusisto registered a third-place finish with his throw of 67.09m. Kuusisto, who has the No. 4 throw in the NCAA during 2006, overcame an
elbow injury to take the bronze.
Pac-10 decathlon champion Robert Arnold tied his personal best of 5.20m to take sixth in the pole vault. The team also got points from Chris Ogle (9:05.88) and
Mohamed Trafeh (9:09.94) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Ogle qualified for the upcoming West Regional Championships with his time.
Qualifying for tomorrow’s finals were Dan Cook (14.15) and Arnold (14.52) in the 110-meter hurdles, as well as Bobby McCoy (20.97) in the 200 meters.
Cook’s time of 14.15 and McCoy’s time of 20.97 are both personal bests in their respective events.
The women’s team finished day one in seventh-place with 10 points. Freshman Shevell Quinley has done most of the work thus far, scoring seven of the
team’s points. Quinley, coming off a fourth place performance at last weekend’s Pac-10 Combined Events Championships, continued her strong freshman
campaign with a seventh-place finish in the long jump (6.01m) on Saturday.
Emily McGregor also scored points for the Wildcats, placing sixth in the 10,000 meters. She crossed the finish line in a personal best time of 36:00.51.
In the 100 meters, Nikki Martin clocked the No. 2 time in Arizona history during the preliminaries (10.51) to advance to tomorrow’s final. Her time was the fifth
fastest of the day. Also qualifying was Marquita Taylor in the 200 meters (23.79) and Jennifer Whitlock (13.43) in the 100-meter hurdles. Whitlock’s time is a
personal best and is the fourth fastest in Arizona history.
Mackenzie Edwards and Marissa Urban both reached the finals in the 1,500 meters with their personal best performances. Edwards finished the race in
4:28.03 and Urban followed shortly after in a time of 4:33.39.
“We are in a very good position to do what we came here to do,” said head coach Fred Harvey. “We need to step it up during day two and just go out there and
get it done.”
The Pac-10 Championships presented by 76 PROClean Gasolines will continue tomorrow afternoon. Neither Arizona team has ever won a Pac-10 team title.
