Women cruise past UCLA, fall to Trojans; men defeat USC

Arizona swim and dive teams faced their first test of the season this weekend as the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins came to Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. The men swam past the Trojans 193.5-106.5, but the women fell to No. 5 USC 156-144.

“I was really pleased with both teams,” Arizona head coach Eric Hansen said. “The women lost a close, hard-fought battle, but we made a lot of progress.”

The women also defeated No. 25 UCLA 172-128 on Saturday.

“It was a good learning experience,” sophomore Ashley Evans said. “It was our first back-to-back weekend of the year, and it’s what we needed.”

The swim teams’ next meet will be in Texas in December. Swimmers said they were pleased with where the team is before Texas, where many of the Wildcats expect to swim qualifying times for the NCAA championships.

“There’s something here going on right now that isn’t happening anywhere else in the nation,” said junior Sam Rowan. “These guys want to win a national championship, and that’s how we race.”

— Cameron Moon

Mixed results for hockey

After four straight blowout victories, the No. 20 Wildcats finished their six-game homestand this weekend with mixed results, losing a 6-5 heartbreaker to Colorado on Friday and then beating Colorado State 7-3 Saturday.

“We have a lot to improve on,” head coach Sean Hogan said. “For us to be a contender like I want us to be, we have to get better.”

The Wildcats began the weekend sluggishly, giving up a goal just 24 seconds into Friday’s game. Colorado then added another to put the UA in a 2-0 hole, and while the Wildcats managed to tie the game several times, they never broke through to take the lead.

According to Hogan, Friday’s game was the worst 60 minutes the team has played all season.

The Wildcats returned to form on Saturday against Colorado State.

The Division II Colorado schools were stronger competition than the Wildcats’ two previous opponents, but with six straight games against ranked teams on the schedule, the loss to a mediocre Colorado may hurt come selection time.

“I think we show signs of some really good hockey and some signs of really, really bad hockey,” Hogan said. “We are developing a culture here, we are developing a team. It’s going to take a little bit of time.

“I’m still confident that we can do it this year with these guys.”

— Kyle Johnson

XC women take second, Lalang wins fifth race

The Arizona women’s cross-country team finshed in second place at the NCAA West Regional Championships in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday. Men’s freshman Lawi Lalang ran his first 10K race. It was his fifth consecutive win, breaking his previous record-setting streak.

“It didn’t feel any different between the 8K and the 10K. It was just another 2K,” Lalang said. “It was a nice race with good weather.”

Lalang finished with a time of 28:34 minutes.

“I started really easy for the first 5K. I was in the back and slowly just kept moving. In the last 5K I broke away and had a good gap,” Lalang said.

With a more relaxed mentality, the women were able to come off a disappointing fifth place finish at the Pac-12 Championships and put on a much stronger performance. The Wildcats beat No. 8 Stanford, who came in third. No. 6 Washington took the team win and Oregon’s Jordan Hassay won the women’s 6,000-meter race.

“Overall I am very happy with my performance and the team’s performance,” said sophomore Elvin Kibet, who led the women. “We are really motivated right now and believe we can compete well at the championships.”

Kibet clocked in at 20:09 and a fourth-place finish followed by junior Jen Bergman, who finished sixth overall with a time of 20:15.

— Emi Komiya

Miccini and Vidaller put up fighting chance at Clay Court Classic

Sophomore Giacomo Miccini lost in a close quarterfinals match of singles play at the Dick Vitale Lakewood Ranch Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic on Saturday against Minnesota’s Julian Dehn, 5-7, 6-7.

“It was good to see Giacomo get some wins in this tournament,” head tennis coach Tad Berkowitz said. “Even though he fell in the quarterfinals, he ends the fall season on a positive note.”

Fellow sophomore Andre Vidaller joined Miccini in doubles play, but the duo was defeated by a team from Minnesota in the second round of the tournament.

— Iman Hamdan