O’Riley and Vanek Grab Podium Finishes on Day One of Pac-12 Championships
BOULDER, Colo. – Arizona Track and Field kicked off the final Pac-12 Championships on Friday at the University of Colorado's Potts Field. Jared O'Riley and Sydnie Vanek highlighted the day for the team with both posting top-three finishes in the javelin and long jump respectively. A total of nine Wildcats scored points on the day as both the men and women sit in third place overall in the team standings at the end of day one.
TOP-THREE FINISHES
Jared O'Riley – Third, Men's Javelin, 228-3 (69.57m)
Sydnie Vanek – Third, Women's Long Jump, 20-5.25 (6.23m)
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS SCORERS
Jared O'Riley – Third, Men's Javelin, 6 points
Sydnie Vanek – Third, Women's Long Jump, 6 points
Jesse Avina – Fourth, Men's Javelin, 5 points
Ava David – Fourth, Women's Hammer, 5 points
Lauryn Ford – Fourth, Women's Long Jump, 5 points
Reinaldo Rodrigues – Fifth, Men's Long Jump, 4 points
Taylen Wise – Sixth, Women's Long Jump, 3 points
Pierce LaCoste – Seven, Men's Long Jump, 2 points
Jenica Bosko – Eighth, Women's Long Jump, 1 point
FIELD HIGHLIGHTS
The first podium finish of the competition for the Wildcats came from Jared O'Riley in the men's javelin. O'Riley finished third overall with a throw of 228-3 (69.57m) which is right around his season best. This is the second year in a row that O'Riley has finished in the top three in the event at the conference championships, as he won the competition last year. His teammate, Jesse Avina, finished fourth overall in the event in what was the first Pac-12 Championships of his career. Avina posted a mark of 212-7 (64.80m) as the pair scored 11 points for the Arizona Men.
Sydnie Vanek finished third overall in the women's long jump to grab the Wildcats second podium finish on the day. The freshman posted a leap of 20-5.25 (6.23m) on her way to a top-three finish. Senior Lauryn Ford had a big performance for the Wildcats, placing fourth overall with a jump of 19-10.25 (6.05m). Additionally, Taylen Wise and Jenica Bosko scored for the Wildcats in the event. Wise finished sixth with a mark of 19-6 (5.94m) and Bosko placed eighth with a mark of 19-3.5 (5.88m). The four Arizona Women combined for 15 points for the team.
In the women's hammer, senior Ava David posted a personal best mark of 198-11 (60.65m) to finish fourth overall and score five points at the conference championships. David ranks fourth all-time in school history in the event and has now scored points in the hammer at three straight Pac-12 Championships with this being the highest finish of her career. She is peaking at the right time having posted personal bests in two of her last three competitions.
The Wildcats had two scorers in the men's long jump: Reinaldo Rodrigues and Pierce LaCoste. Rodrigues finished fifth overall with a leap of 24-11 (7.59m) and LaCoste placed seventh with a mark of 24-7 (7.49m). The pair scored six points for the Wildcats. Rodrigues has scored points in all three of the Pac-12 Championships he has competed in during his collegiate career. Sir Jonathan Sims also made the final for the event but finished in ninth place with a jump of 24-4.25 (7.42m).
In the women's javelin, freshman Aislin Martinez-Pompa posted a throw of 146-9 (44.74m) to place 13th overall.
TRACK HIGHLIGHTS
McKenna Watson notched a sixth-place finish in the prelims of the women's 200m to qualify for Sunday's final. Watson ran a personal best time of 23.51 which puts her 8th all-time in school history in the event. She finished second in her heat but had the fastest qualifying time for non-heat winners. Five other Wildcats also competed in the event: Jade Brown (24.22), Dakota Minor (24.62), Camila Aguilar-Perez (24.69), Presley Money, and Zana Ryan.
In the prelims of the men's 200m, Tyson Tippett clocked a time of 21.23 to place seventh and advance to Sunday's final. He finished with the third fastest time for non-heat winners. Trayvion White-Austin (21.34) and James Onanubosi (21.37) just narrowly missed out on making the cut, finishing ninth and 10th overall with only the top eight moving on. Brian Limage ran a time of 21.51 to finish 16th in the prelims as well.
Two Wildcats advanced to Sunday's final in the women's 400m hurdles: Antonia Sanchez Nunez and Keilee Hall. The pair ran in the same heat and finished second and third respectively, with Sanchez Nunez grabbing an automatic bid and Hall clocking the second fastest time outside of top-two heat finishers to advance. Sanchez Nunez's time was 57.62 and Hall's was 58.40. Cecelia Woods and Athena Montgomery competed in the event as well.
Yan Vazquez was the top finisher for the Wildcats in the men's 400m hurdles, but narrowly missed out on qualifying for the event's final. He finished 10th with a time of 51.90. Logan Hasher ran a time of 53.72 in the event as well and Julius Cheek clocked a personal best time.
In the men's 1500m prelims, Ian Sanchez Lopez placed 16th, Cooper Quigley 17th, and Michael Urbanski 20th. In the prelims of the women's 1500m, Kelly Lyn Wetteland, also on the Arizona Triathlon team, finished 14th overall.
MULTIS HIGHLIGHTS
The day started for the Wildcats with the women's heptathlon. In the first heptathlon event of the day, Hollan Powers clocked a personal best time of 13.63 to finish third. That time is an Arizona heptathlon single-event school record.
In event two, the high jump, Powers posted another personal best mark, clearing a height of 5-3.25 1.61m) to finish seventh. In the shot put, Powers finished fifth with a near-personal best throw. To finish day one, Powers ran a wind-eligible personal best time in the 200m of 24.74 to finish third. She sits in sixth place overall with 3332 points and three events remaining tomorrow. Freshman Emily Psarras also finished 10th in both the shot put and the 200m and sits in 12th place.
UP NEXT
Day two of the Pac-12 Championships begins on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. MST at Potts Field in Boulder, Colo.
TEAM SCORES
MEN (3/21 Events Scored)
1. Washington – 38
2. USC – 21
3. Arizona – 17
4. Stanford – 14
5. California – 9
6. Colorado – 7
7. Oregon – 6
8. Washington St. – 5
WOMEN (4/21 Events Scored)
1. Colorado – 37
2. UCLA – 27
3. Arizona – 20
4. Oregon – 17
4. Stanford – 17
6. USC – 13
7. Washington – 8
8. Washington St. – 6
9. Oregon St. – 4
9. Utah – 4
11. California - 3
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