Alyssa Thompson and Dominic Gehr, two of many athletes who decided to stay near home to compete for the UA track and field teams, both finished a strong second Friday in the multi-event competitions of the Jim Click Shootout at Drachman Stadium.
The meet swings into full gear Saturday as the UA lines up against Kansas State, whose women’s team is ranked 10th nationally; Auburn, ranked 19th for men; Ohio State, 21st for men; Cincinnati and Illinois.
Thompson, a UA senior, turned in the fifth-best heptathlon score in the nation and improved her personal-best score to 5,596 points in the seven events over two days. Unattached athlete Rachel Macintosch won with 5,683 points.
Thompson’s solid performance stands a good chance to qualify her to compete in the NCAA decathlon championships, which accepts only the 24 top scores in Division I.
“She still has a lot in her” to improve, UA assistant coach Matthew McGee said.
Gehr scored 6,709 points in the 10-event decathlon, landing him among the 20 top scores in the NCAA. He finished behind Kansas State’s Aaron Boot’s 7,397 points.
Thompson, a Salpointe Catholic graduate, spent one year at Wake Forest before transfeerring to the UA.
Gehr, the 2017 high school state decathlon champion from Marana, said he loved competing in front of his family and friends.
Athletes from Southern Arizona and the Phoenix area who compete for the UA bring a smile to UA head coach Fred Harvey.
“They are kind of my pride and joy,” he said. “We want all those good athletes from the state of Arizona to come here.”
Harvey and his assistants have done well in drawing athletes from around the world. This year’s team includes athletes from Germany, Latvia, Sweden, China and Kenya. But the core of the UA team is built on Southern Arizonans, those from Phoenix area and one from Nogales, Sonora —high jumper Karla Teran.
In the last two years, the Wildcats have scored local recruiting coups. First, they added blue-chip high jumper Justice Summerset. Now a sophomore, Summerset set the state high school record while at Mountain View; last year, he won All-American honors by finishing third in the NCAA finals.
Freshman Turner Washington, a U.S. high school champion discus thrower from Canyon del Oro, leads a strong corps of UA discus throwers. Washington was a silver medalist at the Junior Pan Am Games last year in Peru.
Middle-distance runner Carlos Villarreal, from Rio Rico, was another “catch” for the UA. He had options, ranging from Auburn to UCLA, but he said he decided to stay near home. He won All-American honors during the recently completed indoor season in the 1,500-meter run. He will run the 800 meters on Saturday.
“I’ve been a Wildcat fan my whole life,” Villarreal said. “I’m way happy here. I get to see my family and they come to all the home meets.”
