Three Arizona men's track athletes — Johnnie Blockburger, Justice Summerset and Jordan Geist — won individual conference titles at the weekend’s Pac-12 championships while Samantha Noennig, Arizona women’s team star, captured the shot put crown.
Oregon won its 14th straight men’s conference championship, followed by host USC, Washington, ASU and Arizona. On the women’s side, USC repeated as conference victor, while the Wildcat women finished eighth.
Noennig powered the iron ball 56 feet, 10 inches to earn her second Pac-12 title. A junior transfer, she won the event in 2019 while competing for ASU. Noennig also took third Sunday in the discus at 172-6.
Blockburger, a freshman from Tucson High, captured the 400 meters in 45.57 seconds, off of his best time but he competed in three events on Sunday. Isaac Davis was sixth for the UA in 47.88. Blockburger anchored the Wildcats to second place in the 4x400 relay (3:08.75), taking the baton after Calvin Wilson, Logan Hasher and Davis.
Maj Washington, scheduled to run in the relays and in the 200 meters, did not compete Sunday, apparently because of concern of aggravating a season-long injury.
Summerset, a four-year standout for the team from Mountain View High School, cleared the high jump bar at 7 feet, 2½ inches to claim the conference title.
Geist captured his third Pac-12 championship in the shot put on Saturday with a toss of 66 feet, 9¼ inches. He also came in second in the hammer throw Friday at 239-10. Israel Oloyede was third in the hammer at 233-11. On Sunday, Geist finished eighth in the discus at 173-7 while teammate Jakob Chamberlin was 7th at 176-4.
Tucsonan Turner Washington of ASU, the NCAA leader in the shot put and discus, did not compete in either event due to injury.
The UA men’s 4x100 relay team of Trevor Volpe, Blockburger, Trent Stimac and football wide receiver Tayvian Cunningham finished third in 20.10, good for six points. Dominic Gehr scored 6,804 points in the decathlon to place sixth.
In the women’s high jump, Lillian Lowe took second (5-10¾), Alexa Porpaczy fourth (5-8¾) and Diana Ramos tied for sixth (5-7). Shannon Meisberger took third in the 400-meter hurdles at 57.00. The 4 x 400 relay team of Grace Reinholz, Neysia Howard, Athena Montgomery and Alyssa Blockburger (Johnnie’s twin sister) took fifth.
In the heptathlon, Kylar Sieben took fourth, posting 5,635 points, the UA’s fifth-best score ever. In the pole vault, Katie Daily cleared 13-3½ to take sixth.
Wildcat athletes whose marks rank among the 48 best in the Western part of the nation (24 best for relay teams) will compete in the NCAA preliminary meet May 26-29 at Texas A&M. The NCAA championships will return to the University of Oregon on June 9-12.
