Arizona Wildcats senior Shannon Meisberger rocketed out of the starting blocks and sprinted toward the first of 10 hurdles Saturday night at the Desert Heat Classic at Drachman Stadium.
She quickly took the lead, leaping over the first five hurdles with ease, taking 15 steps between the barriers.
But something was not quite right, Meisberger thought. Her 400-meter hurdles event is one of the toughest in NCAA track and field, requiring not only speed and skill in clearing the 30-inch-high hurdles, but also mental toughness to count your steps between hurdles and to pace yourself for the grueling race around the oval track.
“I was going too fast, the fastest ever,” Meisberger said Sunday.
She slowed down and decided to do 16 steps to hurdle No. 6. That plan did not go well. She smashed into the top of the hurdle, bruising her right shin and almost toppling over.
From her experience of running the event for nine years — in high school in Lenox, Massachusetts, and in college — she recovered her balance and pushed on.
Making the final turn and heading toward the finish, she looked like a certain winner. But wait. Oregon freshman Shana Grebo was gaining ground on the Wildcat senior. Meisberger said she was too “focused on the finish” to notice her. Meisberger lunged forward at the finish line.
The official timer showed Meisberger in first place in 57.15 seconds, barely nipping Grebo, who ran 57.20.
Meisberger was the national runner-up last season in the NCAA championships, but has yet to finish a race this year without one problem or another. Her best time this year, 56.45 seconds, ranks 10th in the NCAA.
With the Pac-12 and NCAA championships coming up, Meisberger said she’ll work with coach Fred Harvey in intense workouts to try to peak at the right time.
“I want to run the race I know I can run,” she said. “I know I can run faster.”
With strong male and female athletes from a half-dozen teams competing Saturday, the only other Wildcat to win a first place was Alexa Porpaczy, who cleared 5 feet, 10 inches to capture the high jump.
Among UA Wildcat women competitors, Sam Noennig was fourth in the discus at 177-0 and second in the shot put at 57-3 3/4. Talie Bonds took second in the 100-meter hurdles (13.25). Katie Daily placed second in the pole vault (12-7½). In the long jump, Jenica Bosko was second at 20¼.
Among the men, Arizona junior Trayvion White-Austin placed fourth in the 100 meters in 10.42. Jacob Chamberlin took third in the hammer at 207-4.
Jordan Geist, an All-American in the shot put who is redshirting this season, came up with one of the meet’s top performances. He heaved the 16-pound iron ball 69 feet, even. In doing so, he defeated defending NCAA champion Turner Washington, a Tucsonan and former UA teammate now at ASU. Washington threw 66-7.
