Wildcat Wrap: Arizona’s Jordan Geist wins national championship in shot put

Editor’s note: With several sports going on, Wildcat Wrap serves as a recap that focuses on the Arizona programs that we do not have the time to cover on a regular basis but are certainly worthy of recognition.

Jordan Geist of Arizona track and field won the NCAA indoor championship this past weekend in the shot put. Geist’s throw of 21.15m (69-4.75) won the event. He became the first Arizona athlete to win an indoor title since Lawi Lalang in 2013.

”I don’t believe anyone deserves anything that they don’t work for! I personally was a part of Jordan’s in-home recruitment and the expectations from the track and field world were over the top before him even leaving high school,” said Arizona track and field coach Fred Harvey. Jordan never backed down from the challenge, and now he can call himself a National Champion! He has a forever place on my office wall.”

Two other Wildcats earned All-American honors: Talie Bonds in the women’s 60m hurdles and Alexa Porpaczy in the women’s high jump.

Men’s tennis

Arizona traveled to Oklahoma last week, where it beat No. 38 Oklahoma 4-0 and No. 56 Tulsa 6-1.

The Wildcats took down the Sooners with ease, securing the doubles point and three singles points. Herman Hoeyeraal upset Oklahoma’s No. 71 ranked Nathan Han 6-4, 6-1.

On Tuesday Hoeyeraal was named Pac-12 Player of the Week.

Arizona concluded the road trip with a dominant win over Tulsa. The Wildcats again won doubles, then took five of the six singles points.

Arizona begins conference action this week with a Bay Area road trip, facing No. 24 Stanford on Friday and No. 33 Cal on Sunday.

Women's tennis

The Wildcats women picked up a big win Tuesday, upsetting No. 35 Illinois 4-0 at home. Arizona won the doubles point, then breezed through singles action, winning three points by straight sets.

The UA is on a two-match winning streak, having beaten Penn 5-2 last week. Arizona returns to the court this weekend, where they’ll face Washington State on Friday and Washington on Sunday on the road.

Beach volleyball

Arizona went 2-0 this past weekend, beating No. 17 Pepperdine 3-2 and San Francisco 5-0 at the Malibu Invite. Sarah Blacker and Alex Parkhurst won on the No. 1 court in both matches.

The Wildcats return to play this weekend when they host the Arizona Invitational. They face Southern Mississippi and Texas A&M Corpus-Christi on Friday and Arizona Christian University and Cal Poly on Saturday.