Men’s tennis drops two of three over break

Spring break was no walk on the beach for the No. 59 Arizona men’s tennis team, which hosted two top-ranked teams.

No. 28 California (8-3, 3-2 Pacific 10 Conference) was the first opponent that the Wildcats (8-5, 0-4 Pacific 10 Conference) were hoping to upset on March 10. The match started out well for the Wildcats, who swept the Bears in doubles.

The team couldn’t carry the momentum into the singles matches, however. The only player who scored a point for Arizona was senior Jeff Groslimond, who won his match in two sets of 6-4 in the No. 2 position.

Women’s tennis puts halt to losing streak

After an upset by No. 41 Penn, the No. 23 Arizona women’s tennis team ended its five-game losing streak when the Wildcats (10-5, 1-4) took down No. 37 Oregon (12-4, 2-2) by a score of 4-3 in their first Pac-10 victory of the season March 10 in Eugene, Ore.

The Duck-dashing had more meaning for Arizona because Oregon usually took the win in the past, said Arizona head coach Vicky Maes.

The match started off slowly, with a close loss in the No. 1 slot of doubles play in a tie-breaker. Senior Stephanie Balzert and junior Juliette Mavroleon fell to Oregon, 8-7.

Two sweeps prepare gymnastics for Pac-10

The No. 15 Arizona gymnastics team’s sweep at Texas Women’s University Saturday night capped off an undefeated spring break, as the Gymcats (10-9, 4-3 Pacific 10 Conference) now prep for the Pacific 10 Championships to be held Saturday in Corvallis, Ore.

The Gymcats (196.575) blew past No. 23 Brigham Young (193.725) and host Texas Women’s University (191.425), winning all four individual events.

Arizona was paced by junior Aubrey Taylor’s 9.850 on the parallel bars, as she won that event. Sophomore Karin Wurm scored a 9.800 to take second place, followed by sophomore Danielle Hicks and freshman Suzanne Alvey, who both scored marks of 9.750.

Wurm’s overall 39.400 trumped her previous career mark of 39.250 to win Saturday’s overall title.

Arizona beat No. 19 Denver (194.300), Cal State-Fullerton (193.000) and Southeast Missouri State (190.500) March 10 in Tucson with a 194.725 on Senior Night.

After disappointing performances on the balance beam and uneven bars, Arizona scored a 49.225 on the floor to win the meet.

Arizona’s seniors Erin Muirhead and assistant coach Jessamyn Salter were honored following their final meet in front of the Tucson fans.

“”I was really proud that Erin hit both of her events,”” Ryden said. “”She really did well tonight.””

Track and field performs well at Willie Williams Classic

The No. 9 men and unranked women’s Arizona track and field teams made the transition from indoor to outdoor competition look easy as they kicked off the start of the outdoor season in the Willie Williams Classic at Roy P. Drachman Stadium over the weekend.

“”It’s a great meet,”” Harvey said. “”The nice thing about the meet is that we’ve had over 1,600 high school athletes compete in it as well.””

On Friday, senior sprinter Marquita Taylor ran a personal best in the 200m and won the competition with a time of 23.87.

Junior sprinter Nikki Martin placed third in the race with a time of 24.14.

Taylor, who barely edged out sophomore Angelique Smith of Central Arizona by 0.01 seconds, ran an NCAA regional qualifying performance, Harvey said.

“”It was a super performance,”” Harvey said. “”The nice thing about it is she beat a very, very good sprinter.””

Despite being rattled with injuries, Arizona’s men’s track and field team was able to come back after a strong second day to place 10th overall at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., March 10-11.

The team endured several mishaps, as senior hurdler Jeff Hunter suffered an injury and senior distance runner Jonah Maiyo ran a strategically poor race, said Arizona track and field head coach Fred Harvey.

Hunter, who was predicted to place in the top seven in the 60-meter hurdles, strained his quads in the warmup just prior to going on the track. Maiyo, meanwhile, finished 10th in the mile with a time of 4:21:46.

“”Those two alone could have vaulted us into the top five,”” Harvey said.

Women’s swim and dive takes third at NCAA’s

The No. 6 Arizona women’s swimming and diving teams came away with a third-place overall finish in the NCAA Championships Thursday through Saturday, tacking on two individual titles and three relay titles.

This was the third time in the past three years that the Wildcat women placed third.

No. 2 Auburn won the championship with 518.5 points, and No. 1 Georgia placed second with 515.5 points, while the Wildcats racked up 415 points. The top three teams obliterated the rest of the field, as the closest competition behind the Wildcats was No. 3 California with 291 points.

Junior swimmer Whitney Myers took two individual titles, winning the 400-yard individual medley in 4:06.32 and also winning the 200y individual medley title.

The 400y freestyle relay team broke an NCAA record at the meet. The team of sophomore Courtney Cashion, senior Jenna Gresdal, Myers and sophomore Lacey Nymeyer won with a time of 3:12.77.

The Wildcats broke another NCAA record in the 200y freestyle relay. The team of Cashion, freshman Anna Turner, Gresdal and Nymeyer took the title in a time of 1:27.98.

The other title the Wildcats captured was the 400y medley relay. The team of Gresdal, senior Erin Sieper, Myers and Nymeyer clocked in a time of 3:31.70.

The No. 23 Arizona men’s golf team hit a rough spot over spring break, finishing 15th in the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas and tying for sixth place at the Hall of Fame Invitational in Humble, Texas.

The top finisher for the Wildcats in the Texas tournament, which was held Friday through yesterday, was junior Josh Esler, who finished the event tied for 11th place with an overall score of 7-over-par 223. Junior Brian Prouty and sophomore Travis Esway tied for 32nd, while junior Henry Liaw and freshman Nick Park tied for 35th place.

No. 60 Oklahoma took the Invitational with an overall score of 16-over-par. Arizona tied No. 42 Purdue for sixth place, just behind No. 11 East Tennessee State.

In the tournament in Nevada March 10-12, Arizona’s top finisher again was Esler, who tied with Esway for 57th place with a three-round score of 235. No Wildcat finished a round under par in the Collegiate, as Arizona finished last in the field with a combined three-round score of 79-over-par.

No. 5 Nevada-Las Vegas won the Collegiate with a combined score of 15-over-par.

The Wildcats will hit the links again March 26-28 for the National Invitational Tournament in Tucson.

Laxcats take two of three in California

Despite winning two of three games over the break, the Arizona club lacrosse team was frustrated at its inability to bring home a sweep.

The No. 12 Laxcats (5-2) dropped the first game of their road trip to No. 20 Chapman (6-4) on March 10, 16-8.

Both Arizona head coach Kenny Broschart and senior defensive midfielder Carson Parmelee were unhappy with how the team played at Chapman.

“”That was probably the worst game I have ever been a part of,”” Parmelee said.

Chapman avenged the loss suffered in last year’s Western Collegiate Lacrosse League playoffs quarterfinals.

Arizona junior midfielder Harrison Crawford scored two goals and had one assist, and sophomore attackman Christian Burrows added two goals and an assist at Chapman, but it wasn’t enough to come out on top.

“”We didn’t play as a team,”” said senior midfielder Steve Luna. “”We won two out of the three, but we should have swept.””

Although the Laxcats suffered a discouraging loss the first game, they were able to stay focused and win the two remaining games.

“”We were able to bounce back and play our style of lacrosse,”” Broschart said.

The Laxcats went on to beat Loyola Marymount (2-5) 15-9 on March 11 and UCLA (7-3) 10-7 on March 12 to finish the trip strongly.