Arizona Wildcats junior Jordan Geist placed third in the shot put final and eighth in the hammer throw Wednesday at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. In the night’s last race, the Wildcats’ 4x400-meter relay qualified for Friday’s final.
Tucsonan Turner Washington won the shot put with a mark of 69-2 3/4. The Canyon del Oro High School graduate transferred to ASU after his freshman season at the UA. Adrian Piperi of Texas and Geist battled for second place, with Piperi prevailing at 67-11 3/4 and Geist at 66-11 1/4, his season’s best. Geist’s third-place finish ties his previous best in the NCAA finals and gives him All-American honors once again in the event.
Earlier in the day, Geist took the eighth spot, earning All-American honors, in the hammer throw. Geist earned six points for the Wildcat men's team in the shot put and one in the hammer. The UA's Israel Oloyede placed 13th among the nation’s best in the hammer throw. Oloyede came up short of his season's best throw, ending up with a mark of 229-7.
Freshman Johnnie Blockburger anchored the UA’s 4x400 relay team after 400-meter sprints by teammates Maj Williams, Calvin Wilson and Isaac Davis. On the wet Hayward Stadium track, the team came in 10th, clocking 3:07.02, off their school-record mark of 3:04.51.
Neither Blockburger nor Williams qualified for Friday's final in the 400-yard dash. Blockburger ran 46.40 in his heat on the rain-splattered track and Williams clocked 46.83.
The first of the two-day women’s competition will kick off Thursday. The men return to action on Friday and the women conclude the meet on Saturday.
