After almost defeating the NCAAβs outdoor champion in the worldβs fastest 1,500-meter race so far this season, Arizonaβs Carlos Villarreal returns to action Saturday at the Desert Heat track meet at the UAβs Drachman Stadium.
Villarreal and his male and female teammates will face competitors from 10 teams, including NAU and Pac-12 rivals Oregon, Utah and Arizona State.
UA coach Fred Harvey is looking for his athletes to fine-tune their performances in this final meet before the Pac-12 championships, which the Wildcats will host on May 11-12.
Last Friday, Villarreal lined up against the NCAAβs premier 1,500-meter runners at the Bryan Clay meet in Azusa, California. They included 12 of the 13 athletes with the NCAAβs fastest times so far in the 1,500.
βWe knew the race was going to be fast,β Villarreal recalled. βI was excited.β
After the gun went off, the UA redshirt junior said other runners βstacked the frontβ and made it hard for him to take a leading position. At the halfway point, Villarreal stood far back in ninth or 10th place.
With about 400 meters to go, Villarreal said he heard someone yell: βCarlos, this is your part of the race. You gotta go.β
Villarreal accelerated into a faster gear.
With 300 meters to go, he exploded into a full sprint and started passing runners, one by one.
At 200 meters to the finish, he moved into third place. Then, with an extra push, Villarreal took the lead over Oliver Hoare, the 2018 outdoor champion from the University of Wisconsin.
Villarreal and Hoare battled side by side, breath by breath, stride for stride toward the finish. But with 20 meters to go, Villarreal recalled, βmy legs started to give out and I locked up.β
As he leaned toward the finish line, he stumbled forward and fell. Hoare won the race in 3:37.20, two-hundreds of a second faster than Villarreal, who finished in 3:37.22.
At this early point in the outdoor season, Hoareβs time ranks No. 1 in the world, with Villarreal No. 2. Villarrealβs run is also the second fastest 1,500 in Wildcats history.
ASUβs William Paulson finished third, and NAUβs Gordie Beamish, the NCAA indoor champion in the mile, placed seventh.
Harvey said Villarreal will run the 800 meters on Saturday and may also act as the early pacesetter in the 1,500 meters. It is not known in which event Paulson or Beamish will compete.
Among UA athletes to be recognized Saturday with senior awards are Tatum Waggoner and Karolina Pahlitzsch. Waggoner holds the Pac-12βs fifth fastest time, 52.84, in the 400 meters, and Pahlitzsch ranks third among 400-meter hurdlers at 58.60.
Also on the womenβs team, junior Karla Teran ranks No. 2 in the conference after clearing 5 feet 9ΒΎ inches in the high jump.
Harvey is especially enthusiastic about the performance of the menβs team, which is ranked 14th in the country. He noted that in addition to Villarreal, other Wildcats hold top marks in the conference and in the nation.
Jordan Geist holds the No. 1 mark in the nation in the shot put with a distance of 70-10. Bailey Roth stands fifth nationally so far in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with the Pac 12βs best time of 8:38.68.
Phillip Austin leads the conference in the long jump at 25-4ΒΎ. James Smith stands No. 2 in the conference in the 400 hurdles at 50.29. And in the high jump, Justice Summerset ranks second in the Pac at 7-2Β½.
Other teams at the meet are Grand Canyon, UTEP, San Diego State, UNLV, Cal State Northridge and New Mexico State.
In last yearβs Desert Heat, Michael Saruni of UTEP set a collegiate record by clocking 1:43.25 in the 800. ASUβs Maggie Ewen tossed the shot put 63-10ΒΌ to establish another NCAA record.
