Opinion by Greg Hansen : Arnold: from wannabe to 'The Man'

This is what the UA track and field coach probably heard: "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I am hopeful I can earn a scholarship.''

Harvey gets it all the time.

"We have 12 1/2 scholarships to spread over our men's track and field roster, and we have 21 events,'' Harvey said. "Scholarships are precious. Everybody wants one.''

And what was the guy's name again? Jake? Jack? Who?

Arnold, a raw, self-taught decathlete who had no real specialty in track and field but thought/hoped/half-believed he could someday be a Pac-10 level competitor, admits he did not make a good first impression as a UA freshman.

"I don't think they were sure about me,'' he says now. "But I had decided to be a walk-on and attend the UA, with or without a scholarship. I visited on my own; I never took a recruiting visit anywhere.''

Do you know what Harvey called Jake Arnold while watching him work out last week at Drachman Stadium? He called him "The Man.''

Jake Arnold of Santa Rosa, Calif., is now a UA graduate student who won the 2006 NCAA decathlon championship and finished third in the '06 USA Track and Field national finals. It would be an upset if he is not on the American team when the Beijing Olympics begin in 13 months.

He has come so far, so fast, that it took his father, Michael, to put into perspective what his son has done and where he might yet go.

"Track is your business,'' Michael Arnold told his son. "And you are the product.''

Jake Arnold begins defense of his NCAA decathlon championship this morning in Sacramento, Calif., and unlike last season, when he was ranked No. 5 on the first day of competition, he is the man with a reputation, the man to beat.

His coach, UA assistant Sheldon Blockburger, jokes that one of Arnold's leading rivals, Texas standout Donovan Kilmartin, decided to take a redshirt season rather than compete against Arnold in Sacramento.

"He didn't want to finish second,'' Blockburger says with a laugh.

The former walk-on has scored an NCAA-best 7,946 points in a decathlon this season, more than 100 points ahead of Iowa State's Raven Cepeda, and 200 more than Tennessee's Chris Helmick. That bare statistical edge does not create a margin of error.

So Arnold and Blockburger work day after day: the 110 hurdles, the high jump, shot put and 100 meters one day, and a mix of the remaining six events the next. They go two hours at a time, serious business, driven to do what Arnold did last year at the NCAA championships.

"I had five PRs (personal records) that day,'' he says. "Five PRs in 10 events is almost unheard of. That's the kind of national tournament it took for me to win. Everybody else is working to knock me off, so I have to work harder than I ever did.''

Arnold is the third Arizona decathlete to win an NCAA championship. Derek Huff did so in 1989, and Klaus Ambrosch was the champion in 1998. Arnold's goal is to score more than 8,075 points today and Thursday. That is the school-record Huff scored in 1988.

The leading American total this year, pro or amateur, is 8,134, posted by former Michigan State All-American Paul Terek, who is probably Arnold's chief competition for a spot on the '08 Olympic team and at this summer's World Championships in Japan.

"Being at Arizona has been a fit, a great fit, for me,'' Arnold says. "We hired Sheldon two years ago, and that's the best thing that ever could have happened. He was one of the top (decathletes) in America for a long time, and ever since he got here, things have clicked.''

Blockburger and Arnold have agreed to stay together after the NCAA meet and train for the USA Nationals and, possibly, the World Championships. If all works out, they will be in China together next summer, walking in the Opening Ceremonies side by side.

A former coach at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and a world-class decathlete himself, Blockburger has been able to get Arnold to absorb the concepts of what it is to be a multi-event star.

"Sheldon understands the pacing required over two days and 10 events,'' says Arnold. "He understands the endurance, the techniques, the psychology. My turn-around has been amazing since he became my coach.'

Arnold was a pole vaulter in high school. His career turned, as if scripted by a screenwriter, when he broke his arm snowboarding. Unable to vault, he volunteered to run the hurdles for his high school team. He soon broke the school record. Someone suggested he try a decathlon.

A few months later, he was knocking on Fred Harvey's door.

Arizona's best

UA track and field athletes competing at the NCAA championships this week in Sacramento, Calif.

Men

• Adam Kuehl, shot put and discus

• Jake Arnold, decathlon

• Dan Austin, discus

• Bobby McCoy, 200 and 4x100 relay

• Troy Harris, 4x100 relay

• Daniel Marshall, triple jump

• Obed Mutanya, 5,000 meters

• Jarred Sola, shot put

• Marcus Tyus, 4x100 relay

• Xiong Xuehan, 4x100 relay

• Antoine Cason, 4x100 relay (alternate)

Women

• Kelli Burton, discus

• Jasmin Day, high jump

• Gabriella Duclos, pole vault

• Nikki Martin, 100

• Shevell Quinley, heptathlon

• Marquita Taylor, 200