The Arizona men’s 4x400 relay team sprinted to a 3:04.1 school record Saturday while qualifying for the NCAA track and field championships. Johnnie Blockburger anchored the final 400 in 44.91 seconds after runs by Maj Williams, Calvin Wilson and Isaac Davis to finish fourth.
Seven UA men and three women qualified during the NCAA West Preliminary Meet at Texas A & M. Blockburger (45.712) and Williams (45.76) also qualified Saturday in the 400-meter dash. Lillian Lowe advanced to Eugene with a high jump clearance of 5-10¾. Shannon Meisberger placed second in the 400-meter hurdles in 56.88 to make the championship field.
Earlier in the week, Justice Summerset won the high jump competition to advance. Jordan Geist qualified in the shot put and hammer throw. Israel Oloyede will also compete in the hammer in the NCAA finals. Samantha Noennig finished second to book her ticket to Oregon. Noennig won the 2019 NCAA pre-pandemic shot put championship, but this year is going up against stronger competition.
The women’s 4x400 relay team (Meisberger, Neysia Howard, Grace Reinholz and Alyssa Blockburger) just missed making it into the finals. Likewise, in the high jump, Karla Teran came up short, ending her UA career that saw her win a Pac-12 title in 2019 and place fifth in the championships. Sophomore Alexa Porpaczy also failed to qualify in the high jump.
