Bobby McCoy and Christina Rodgers competed today for the University of Arizona track and field team at the Iowa State Last Chance Meet in Ames, Iowa, and Irene Lagat competed at the UW Last Chance Qualifier in Seattle, Washington.

All three Wildcats set new indoor personal bests in their respective events today. Bobby McCoy finished fourth in the 400m dash with a provisional qualifying time of 46.61, which was within three tenths of a second away from the first place finisher.  

In the women’s 800m run, Christina Rodgers completed the race in a provisional qualifying time of 2:06.14, which was good for third place. Entering this week’s competition only three athletes around the country have met the 2:05.00 automatic qualifying time in the 800m, and Rodgers now has a good chance at competing at the NCAA Indoor National Championships next weekend, with her personal best time today.

In Seattle, Irene Lagat finished the mile run with a personal record time of 4:53.97. That is the best time in the mile this season for the Arizona women’s team this season, however it is seconds shy of meeting the NCAA provisional qualifying standard.

The NCAA Indoor National Championships will take place March 14-15 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. If an athlete meets the automatic qualifying mark, they earn an automatic invitation to compete at the championship meet. However, if not enough athletes achieve automatic marks throughout the season, the NCAA will invite those who have reached provisional qualifying marks based on the collegiate descending order list.

Three Wildcats have automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships already this season: Zack Lloyd (shot put), Liz Patterson (high jump) and Shevell Quinley (pentathlon).  Thirteen Arizona athletes have reached provisional qualifying marks this season. On the women’s side:  Rodgers (800m run), Lagat (3000m run), Gabriella Duclos (pole vault), Jasmin Day (high jump), Quinley (long jump), and Megan Howard (shot put) have qualified provisionally. For the UA men: McCoy (400m dash), Luis Rivera (long jump and triple jump), Daniel Marshall (long jump and triple jump), Jordan Powell (long jump), and Jarred Sola (shot put) have all reached provisional qualifying marks 

The NCAA will release the accepted entries list for the NCAA Championships Monday evening.