This Week on the Track ?- The No. 16 Arizona men’s and unranked women’s track and field teams will travel to Eugene, Ore., this weekend to compete at the NCAA West Region Championships. The meet will take place May 25-26.
The Arizona men placed third at the 2006 West Region Championships, scoring 75 points. The women’s team placed ninth with a total of 25.
Arizona in the Rankings ?- The Wildcat men have been nationally ranked throughout the entire 2007 season, and are currently ranked 15th in the Trackwire 25 and 16th in the USTFCCCA poll. The women’s team is unranked.
Trackwire 25
May 15, 2007
1. Florida State, 54
2. LSU, 51
3. Auburn, 44
4. USC, 36
5. Oregon, 35
6. Tennessee, 31
7. Louisville, 30
=8. UCLA, 24
=8. Baylor, 24
10. Arizona State, 22
11. Clemson, 19
=12. Arkansas, 17
=12. Wisconsin, 17
14. North Carolina, 16
=15. BYU, 15
=15. Arizona, 15
=15. Liberty, 15
=15. Mississippi, 15
=19. Washington, 14
=19. Texas Tech, 14
=19. Texas, 14
=19. Georgia, 14
=23. McNeese State, 13
=23. South Carolina, 13
=23. Kansas, 13
| USTFCCCA Poll
May 15, 2007
1. Florida State
2. LSU
3. Auburn
4. USC
5. Oregon
6. Tennessee
7. UCLA
8. Texas
9. Arizona State
10. Baylor
11. Wisconsin
12. Arkansas
13. North Carolina
14. Louisville
15. Clemson
16. Arizona
17. Washington
18. Mississippi
19. BYU
20. Texas Tech
|
Individually, the men’s team has five athletes who are ranked in the Trackwire Dandy Dozen. Jake Arnold is ranked second in the country in the decathlon, Adam Kuehl is third in the discus and 12th in the shot put, Obed Mutanya is eighth in the 5,000 meters, Jarred Sola is ninth in the shot put and Dan Austin is tenth in the discus. The women’s team has two athletes who are currently ranked, with Gabriella Duclos at No. 4 in the pole vault and Shevell Quinley at No. 6 in the heptathlon.
NCAA West Regional ?- The Wildcat women have 12 athletes qualified for this weekend regional in 15 events and one relay, while the No. 8 men have 18 athletes in 19 events and one relay.
In order to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, student-athletes first must meet qualifying marks and compete at one of the four NCAA Regionals. The University of Arizona will compete in the West region, along with schools from Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Utah.
Throwing far ?- The Wildcat throwers are regarded by many as some of the best in the country, and the group has had a strong 2007 season thus far. The men’s team has four athletes qualified for regional in the discus, with Adam Kuehl (62.53m), Dan Austin (60.48m), Korion Morris (53.26m) and Jarred Sola (51.73m) posting qualifying marks. Kuehl’s mark is fifth in the region, while Austin’s mark ranks seventh. Of the top 15 discus marks in the NCAA, ten come from the West region. In the shot put, Kuehl (19.19m) and Sola (18.81m) are set to compete and their marks rank fifth and seventh respectively. Sola and Austin have both also qualified to compete in the hammer with their marks of 55.66m and 56.63m.
On the women’s side, Kelli Burton has regional qualifiers in the discus (53.09m), hammer (59.34m) and shot put (15.70m). Burton’s mark in the shot put ranks fifth, while her mark in the discus is ninth. Megan Howard also has a regional mark of 59.50m in the hammer that is ninth in the region. Also for the women, Leigh Bernstein will compete in the javelin (43.93m).
Clearing the Bar ?- A trio of Wildcat women have achieved regional qualifying marks in the jumping events. Gabriella Duclos has Canadian junior record clearance of 4.20m. This is the top mark in the region. In the high jump, Jasmin Day (1.80m) and Liz Patterson (1.78m) also achieved regional qualifiers. Day’s clearance is sixth in the region while Patterson’s mark is ninth.
On the men’s side, Jake Arnold (5.20m) and Nick Mossberg have qualified in the pole vault (5.05m), while Terrell Reese has qualified in the high jump (2.13m).
Ready for Takeoff ?- In the long jump, Jordan Powell and Daniel Marshall have qualified on the men’s side with their jumps of 7.47m and 7.40m respectively, while Shevell Quinley has qualified for the women with her jump of 6.25m (No. 8). Also for the men, Marshall has the fourth best jump in the region in the triple jump (15.51m).
Tearing up the Track ?- Marquita Taylor and Nikki Martin both have regional qualifiers in the 100 and 200 meters. In the 100 meters, Martin’s time of 11.50 is fourth in the region while Taylor’s best time of 11.61 is 10th. In the 200 meters, Taylor’s time is 23.68 (No. 4) while Martin is at 23.86 (No. 10). The two are also members of the women’s 4x100-meter relay team along with Shevell Quinley and Ashley Gadson that has the No. 5 time in the West (45.01).
On the men’s side, Dan Cook’s time of 13.91 in the 110-meter hurdles is the seventh-fastest in the region. The men’s 4x100-meter relay team of Troy Harris, Marcus Tyus, Bobby McCoy and Xiong Xuehan has qualified for regionals (39.78) with the No. 3 time in the West, and McCoy will also compete in the 200 meters where his time of 21.11 is currently ninth.
Distance Dominance ??- The Wildcats have four athletes who have qualified for regionals in the distance events. Obed Mutanya has the fifth best time in the region in the 5,000 meters (13:48.86) and has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 10,000 meters (29:04.42). Mackenzie Edwards has qualified in the 1,500 meters (4:25.91) and a pair of 3,000-meter steeplechasers has also qualified in Ryan Ludwig (9:00.03) and Chris Ogle (9:03.18).
Multi-Event Madness ?- The Wildcats feature two of the premier multi-event athletes in the NCAA, as both Jake Arnold and Shevell Quinley have already qualified for the 2007 NCAA outdoor championships. Arnold won the 2007 Pac-10 title last week, and in 2006 won the Pac-10 and NCAA championships. During the 2007 indoor season he broke the school record in the heptathlon and finish second at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships. He is currently ranked first in the country in the decathlon with his personal best score of 7,946. Quinley placed 18th at the 2006 NCAA Championships in the heptathlon during her freshman year, and is the school record holder in the pentathlon indoors. She achieved an automatic qualifying score of 5,657 at the Pac-10 Combined Events Championships that is the sixth best in the NCAA in 2007.
Indoor Recap ?- The Wildcats’ men’s track and field team finished the 2007 indoor season ranked 14th in the USTFCCCA poll. This came after the Wildcats placed 14th at the NCAA Indoor Championships with 19 points.
Individually, the Wildcats had four athletes earn All-American honors at the NCAA Championships. Jake Arnold placed second in the heptathlon to earn indoor All-American status for the second consecutive year. Adam Kuehl and Shawn Best both earned their first All-American honors in the shot put, as the duo placed fifth and sixth respectively. Obed Mutanya also earned All-American status, doing so in the 3,000 meters.
Three school records were broken during the indoor season. Troy Harris lowered the time in the men’s 60 meters to 6.70. Jake Arnold broke his own heptathlon record two times, pushing the total to 5,909 at the NCAA Championships. Shevell Quinley also broke her own record in the pentathlon twice during the indoor season, with the record now standing at 3,913.
Last Year ?- The Arizona men placed fourth at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships with 34 points and the women’ tied for 70th with one point.
Six Wildcats earned All-America honors for their performances during the 2006 season. On the men’s side, Sean Shields (shot put and discus), Jake Arnold (decathlon), Adam Kuehl (discus), Obed Mutanya (5,000 meters), Jordan Powell (long jump) and Robert Cheseret (5,000m) were recognized for their outstanding athletic achievements, while Rachel Varner (discus) earned All-American honors for the women.
