Arizona’s track and field teams will trek to Lubbock, Texas, this weekend to compete in the Texas Tech Open & Multis, one of the early tests of the spring season.
Th will mark their second indoor meet of the young season. Last week, the UA traveled to Flagstaff for the Lumberjack Team Challenge, where it won four events. The Wildcats were paced by junior Talie Bonds, who won the women’s high jump with a personal record of 1.78 meters. The jump ranks first in the Pac-12 and among the top 20 in in the NCAA.
Following Bonds in the winner’s circle were teammates Trayvion-White Austin and Tanner Kippes. Austin won the 60-meter dash with a personal record of 6.71, while Kippes shattered a “PR” of his own with a 5-meter vault in pole vault.
Arizona hurdler Shannon Meisberger said she was elated to see her teammates score personal records. “You’re always happy when you and your friends PR,” she said. “It means their training isn’t wasted. They’re growing as an athlete and that’s always great.”
This weekend’s event will feature dozens of teams, highlighted by Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Auburn, and Florida State. The Wildcats will send 28 athletes to Lubbock. The men’s and women’s running events begin Friday afternoon and resume Saturday morning.
When determining which athletes to send to each meet, Arizona coach Fred Harvey said he considers several factors.
“Usually (for indoors), it’s very dependent on the facility,” Harvey said. “(For) sprinters, hurdlers, and jumpers, the better competition is going to be in Texas. We don’t take the distance runners at this point to Texas because the better competition happens to be in Seattle.”
Harvey was alluding to the University of Washington Invitational, where nine Wildcats will be competing this weekend as well.
Harvey’s strategy serves a purpose.
“It’s going back to how you get to the national championship as individuals,” Harvey said.
The Wildcats will have few opportunities to qualify for the NCAA Championships, so it’s paramount that they make the most of them. “The overall theme is getting that constant push towards (placing in the) top 16 in individual events and getting to the national championships,” he said.
The Wildcats understand that this weekend marks their toughest slate of competition. Despite that, Meisberger said she’ll have the same mindset no matter the level of competition.
“You always have to be acting like you are in the best heat possible and racing the best race,” Meisberger said. Track is a sport where an athlete must be in full control of their own domain and the opponent has no effect on their outcome.
“You have to look inward and not be looking at what your opponent’s doing,” she said.
Harvey’s message: “We’ve got to continue to push and compete high. This competition, the level is going to be higher than the last time we went to Texas Tech. The level each meet is going to increase dramatically, and we have to be prepared for it.”
