Wildcats Punch Five More Tickets at NCAA West First Round Championships
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arizona Track and Field wrapped up day three of the NCAA West First Round Championships on Friday at Arkansas' John McDonnell Field. The day contained all men's events as the Wildcats punched five more tickets to Eugene, Ore., for the NCAA Championships.
Trayvion White-Austin went 3/3 on the day, qualifying in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m. He was joined by the rest of his 4x100m relay teammates, Brian Limage, James Onanubosi, and Tyson Tippett, along with Sir Jonathan Sims in the triple jump and Yan Vazquez in the 400m hurdles.
TICKETS PUNCHED
Sir Jonathan Sims – Men's Triple Jump
Yan Vazquez – Men's 400m Hurdles
Trayvion White-Austin – Men's 100m | Men's 200m
Trayvion White-Austin, Brian Limage, James Onanubosi, Tyson Tippett – Men's 4x100m Relay
FIELD HIGHLIGHTS
In the men's triple jump, Sir Jonathan Sims punched his second ticket of the week to the NCAA Championships. Sims, who qualified in the long jump on Wednesday, posted a personal best leap of 52-2.5 (15.91m) in the triple jump to finish seventh overall on the day. That mark is fourth all-time in school history. This is the second consecutive meet where Sims has jumped a personal best in the event, with the last coming at the Pac-12 Championships to help him earn the conference crown. It will be the sophomore's first career NCAA Championships appearance.
"I felt like today was all about just making sure my body was taken care of," said Sims. "It's been a really long season and I still have a long way to go with the championships and trials so I wanted to make sure my body was okay. I know that my coach put me in the best position so as long as my body was healthy everything would go well today." On the thought of going to Eugene for the championships, Sims added," I love Eugene, especially for the triple jump. That's where I jumped my previous PR last year at the U20s so I'm pretty excited about it."
Freshman Sam Hala'ufia competed in the men's discus.
TRACK HIGHLIGHTS
To open the day on the track, Arizona's 4x100m relay team of Trayvion White-Austin, Brian Limage, James Onanubosi, and Tyson Tippett punched their ticket to Eugene, with a season best time of 39.07 in the quarterfinals of the event. The team finished second in their heat to automatically qualify and placed fifth overall. That time is also the fourth fastest all-time in school history. This will be the second year in a row that White-Austin, Limage, and Onanubosi have advanced to the NCAA Championships in the relay.
"I'm really proud of our guys in the 4x100m," said White-Austin. "We've been working all year and we got what we deserved today."
Trayvion White-Austin clocked an incredible time of 10.05 (+2.9) in the quarterfinals of the men's 100m to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the event. That time is a wind-aided personal best and school record for White-Austin, who holds the program record in the 100m with his eligible PB time of 10.14 that he ran this outdoor season. White-Austin finished fourth in his heat and 11th overall to punch his ticket to Eugene, in an ultra competitive 100m that included five sprinters going sub-10 seconds. This marks the first time in the senior's career that he will compete in a solo event at the NCAA Championships. Tyson Tippett finished 22nd as well with a time of 10.27 (+2.9).
White-Austin kept it going in the quarterfinals of the men's 200m, qualifying in his third event of the day with a time of 20.48 (+2.1). White-Austin finished fourth in his heat, which was the first of the afternoon, and had to anxiously wait for the results of the next two heats to see if he had posted a top 12 time in the competition. White-Austin ended up finishing 12th overall to grab the last spot to Eugene and impressively go 3/3 on the day on advancing in his events (100m, 200m, 4x100m).
"I just wanted to get to the next meet and get to those championships," said White-Austin. "Executing my warm ups and believing in myself were the keys for me today. The competition was really tough, but I knew I could hang with them, so I did. I worked so hard for this, and I worked for a very long time to get to this, so it feels good."
In the quarterfinals of the men's 400m hurdles, Yan Vazquez clocked a big personal best time of 50.54 to qualify for his first career NCAA Championships. Vazquez finished fourth in his heat but clocked the ninth overall fastest time on the day to advance to Eugene. The sophomore's new personal best time moves him up to fourth all-time in school history in the event.
Zachary Extine finished 21st in the quarterfinals of the men's 110m hurdles.
UP NEXT
The final day of the NCAA West First Round Championships begins on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. MST with field events. Track events will begin at 3:00 p.m. MST as the Arizona Women will be competing to close out the first round championships.
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