Seven athletes earn regional qualifying marks at Shootout

The No. 9 men’s and unranked women’s Arizona track and field teams outperformed their competition as seven athletes posted regional qualifying marks in Saturday’s Jim Click Shootout.

The home meet gave the Wildcats the opportunity to really “”show their stuff,”” said Arizona track and field coach Fred Harvey.

“”We’ve had an excellent meet,”” Harvey said. “”People are really starting to step up and compete at a level that we expect them to.””

The Wildcats were led by junior hurdler Dan Cook, who won both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles. Cook earned regional qualifying times in both competitions with times of 14.22 and 52.30, respectively.

Harvey said he was proud of Cook’s performance.

“”It was a real nice opening for him,”” Harvey said. “”To get those times this early and to get qualified for the NCAA regional meet in both races is excellent.””

Ruggers romp in Tempe, finish season with winning record

With senior flyhalf Mark Gallo back in the lineup, the Arizona men’s club rugby team (7-6, 3-4 SoCal Conference) beat ASU (7-5, 4-4) 37-27 in Tempe Saturday.

“”The guys just worked the game plan perfectly,”” said Arizona men’s rugby coach Dave Sitton. “”They executed as well in that game as they have all season.””

As junior flanker Chris Hintz attempted to tackle an ASU receiver, he was elbowed in the neck and eventually taken to the hospital. Tests later revealed that he sustained major trauma to the trachea, and he was subsequently placed in deep sedation.

From there, the rest of the contest played out exactly as history would have expected, as the Wildcats pulled away in the second half to ensure that their streak of 31 straight wins remained intact.

“”I can’t imagine ending the season with a loss of any kind,”” Sitton said. “”We have something to build on going into the offseason, a great springboard to get everybody in the program enthused.””

Laxcats finish strong in Michigan Invitational

The No. 15 Arizona men’s club lacrosse team did not get the start it was looking for in the most important road trip of the season at the Michigan Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich.

However, the Laxcats (6-3) were able to finish the weekend out strong with two wins to perhaps boost their chances for an at-large bid to the USLIA National Championships in May.

For the third straight time, the Laxcats came one game short of sweeping their road trip, finishing 2-1.

This time wasn’t as painful, however, as the Laxcats won the biggest game of their season yesterday, beating No. 10 Lindenwood (7-2) 12-9.

“”We were considered to be an on-the-bubble team, and so was Lindenwood,”” said senior close defender Carson Parmelee. “”This win was big because we were able to beat another bubble team and put ourselves into consideration.””

Arizona also beat Boston College (0-5) 14-8 on Saturday after losing 19-8 to No. 3 Michigan (7-3) on Friday.

Wildcats too much for Sun Devils in men’s tennis

The No. 62 Arizona men’s tennis team (9-5) beat rival No. 54 ASU (6-9), 6-1, to capture its second straight victory Saturday at Robson Tennis Center.

“”It’s always a little more on the line when you’re playing your in-state rival,”” said Arizona assistant coach Cory Hubbard.

The Wildcats’ nine wins have already topped last season’s entire win total.

Senior Roger Matalonga played after sitting out last week due to an NCAA rule that states a player can only compete in 25 events in the fall and spring combined, so he needed to miss one to be eligible the rest of the year, Hubbard said.

Although ASU has a losing record, the Sun Devils have shown signs of being a tough team to beat.

“”It’s good for us because our main goal is to be state champs, so it’s good to beat them at home,”” Hubbard said. “”They are ranked ahead of us, and they beat Stanford two weeks ago.””

Cats fall to Devils in women’s tennis

The No. 25 Arizona women’s tennis team knew going into this weekend’s match against No. 17 ASU that winning was going to be a tough task, which proved to be correct as the Sun Devils (10-4) defeated Arizona (10-6), 5-2 in Tempe.

Arizona started the day off strong by clinching the doubles point against ASU in Tempe.

“”It felt good to beat a team that is strong in doubles,”” said Arizona head coach Vicky Maes.

However, the Sun Devils came back and proved to be too difficult for Arizona to handle, taking all but one of the matches in singles.

“”We did well,”” Maes said. “”We really battled, but ASU beat us.””

One thing that Maes said the team is taking away from this weekend’s match is how they continue to improve.

“”Now we know how ASU plays, and we feel we have a good chance at doing much better when we play at home,”” Mavroleon said.