March 24, 2011
Accepted Entires and Meet Schedule
PALO ALTO, Calif. - The University of Arizona No. 11 women's and unranked men's track and field teams will send a small group of members from the distance squad to the Stanford Invitational this weekend in Palo Alto, Calif.
The meet will be the season opener for the majority of the athletes competing on Friday and Saturday and is just the second meet early on in the 2011 outdoor season for the Wildcats.
The Stanford Invite is known for being one of the largest meets to occur this early in the season and especially so in the distance events – a reason many UA athletes are opening up at Cobb Track.
One event to keep an eye on this weekend will be the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase which will feature junior school record holder and 2010 NCAA Outdoor finalist Hannah Moen opening up the outdoor campaign.
Moen is coming off from an impressive indoor season that saw her win the Mountain Pacific Indoor crown at 5,000-meters and finish as the runner-up in the 3,000-meter run. Moen just missed a national qualification in both events and will be looking to start the outdoor season with a bang to make up for it.
Also in the race will be senior Maggie Callahan, who was an NCAA first round qualifier in the event last season and holds the second fastest mark in school history in the steeplechase behind Moen.
In the women's 10,000-meters, last year's diamond in the rough Megan Meyer will open up a year removed from her NCAA first round qualification in the event. A relative question mark coming into the track and field season, Meyer burst onto the scene to the tune of the third fastest 10,000-meter time in school history behind distance legends Amy Skieresz and Tara Chaplin and clocked one of the fastest junior times in the world as a freshman.
With a year of experience under her belt, Meyer will look to push for the top spot on Arizona's all-time list and start that off with a big run to jump start the 2011 season.
The men won't send quite the roster as the women, but an athlete to watch is senior Brian MacArthur in the steeplechase. MacArthur has steadily improved in the event in season's past and if the indoor campaign was any indication, he looks primed to really cross over into one of the conference's elite in the event.
The majority of the collegiate events will take place Friday starting at 11 a.m. PST and continue throughout the evening with the 10,000-meter runs not set to start until approximately 9 p.m. Live results will be available at www.gostanford.com and www.flotrack.org will also be providing coverage as the meet goes on. A complete recap of the day's meet will be available at the conclusion of Friday's running events at arizonawildcats.com
