Los Angeles, Calif. – The University of Arizona Wildcat men's and women's track and field teams finished the Pac-12 Championships Multis on Saturday in Los Angeles, Calif. UCLA hosted the two-day competition at their own Drake Stadium. Redshirt junior Pau Tonnesen won the decathlon with a personal-best score of 7,823 points. Sophomore Alyssa Thompson's personal-best score of 5,343 in the heptathlon was good for sixth place. The standard portion of the meet takes place on May 16-17, also at UCLA's Drake Stadium.
Tonnesen started Sunday with another personal-best mark, running the 110-meter hurdles in 15.05 (+1.5 wind) and scoring 843 points. Tonnesen then won the discus competition with a throw of 145-10 (44.45m), good for 756 points. Tonnesen then had a personal-best clearance of 16-2 (4.93m) and scored 889 points in the pole vault. He then threw the javelin 168-9 (51.44m), adding 610 points to his total. Tonnesen ran the 1,500-meter race in 4:48.58, a huge personal-best time that was good for 627 points. Tonnesen's winning score of 7,823 is the fifth-best mark in UA history and is No. 3 in the country on the year. He is the third Wildcat to win a conference title in the event. Derek Huff won in both 1988 and 1989 along with Jake Arnold who won in 2006 and 2007.
“It was a great meet,” Tonnesen said. “There were a lot of great decathletes and I really enjoyed competing with them. I'm really happy with the meet. I had a big personal best in the shot put and I vaulted well. I can't wait to get to the NCAA Championships and try for 8,000 points.”
Redshirt junior Harrison Ivie finished in seventh place after 10 events, scoring 6,994 points. Ivie ran the 110-meter hurdles in 15.31 (+1.5 wind) and scored 812 points. Ivie had a toss of 120-7 (36.75m) in the discus, adding 599 points to his total. Ivie scored 769 points in the pole vault with a clearance of 14-10.25 (4.53m). Ivie then threw the javelin with a throw of 150-4 (45.82m), tallying 527 points. In the 1,500-meter race, Ivie posted a personal-best time of 4:51.29 and scored 611 points.
Thompson started the day in the long jump with a mark of 19-5.25 (5.92m, +0.4 wind), good for 825 points. Thompson then had a mark of 124-8 (38.00m) in the javelin, scoring 629 points. She ran the 800-meter race in a personal-best time of 2:23.58, tallying 776 points. Thompson's previous score of 5,320 was good for eighth-best in UA history. Her score of 5,343 from this weekend is still the eighth-best mark in program history.
Freshman Tiana Bonds took eight place with 4,957 points. Bonds scored 717 points in the long jump with a mark of 18-3 (5.56m, +1.6 wind). Bonds had a toss of 96-2 (29.32m) in the javelin and added 464 points to her score. She then clocked a personal-best time of 2:23.11 in the 800-meter run, good for 782 points.
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