W-swim in first after day 2 of Pac-10s

The key to the No. 4 Arizona women’s swimming team’s success this season has been the stellar performance of the relay teams, and that trend continued yesterday in the second day of the Pacific 10 Conference championships in Long Beach, Calif.

The 200-yard freestyle relay ‘A’ team of freshman Emma Darlington, juniors Taylor Baughman and Lara Jackson and senior Lacey Nymeyer took first place to earn Arizona valuable points as relays are worth double.

“”We’re two-for-three in the relays and if we can keep that going that would be great,”” said Arizona head swimming coach Frank Busch.

The dive team did its part to score points toward a potential conference championship in the diving portion of the Pac-10 Championships in Seattle. Freshman Ben Grado took third in the 3-meter springboard and senior Matt Bisordi placed fifth.

– Brian Kimball

Track kicks off Pac-10 Championships in Seattle

The No. 32 Arizona men’s and No. 18 women’s track and field teams will kick off their first team scoring meet at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships today in Seattle. The meet is like the indoor track and field version of the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, with eight of the 10 teams in attendance.

Events begin today at noon and will resume tomorrow at 10 a.m.

UA head coach Fred Harvey said this is by far the biggest event the team has competed in this year.

The meet will not be without its fair share of competition. Five Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top 35 on both the men’s and women’s sides, including in-state rival ASU, which brings the No. 1 men’s and No. 2 women’s teams.

Despite the high level of competition, Harvey remains optimistic.

“”The name on the jersey does not win championships, the athletes do,”” he said. “”Even if the other schools have their best meets of the season, if we have our best meet, we will win.””

– Jeremy Hawkes

Wurm questionable for Gymcats

When the No. 18 Arizona gymnastics team takes the floor tonight in McKale Center for the matchup against the Washington Huskies (1-8, 1-3 Pacific 10 Conference), the biggest question mark will be the availability of senior All-American Karin Wurm.

Wurm’s knee mysteriously swelled up Monday – forcing her to the sidelines for Monday’s and Tuesday’s practices – and has cast a shadow over whether she can compete.

“”(My knee) is feeling a lot better,”” Wurm said. “”We’ll see how it goes from here and I hope that I’ll be able to compete.””

Despite the possibility of being without one of the best gymnasts in the nation, the Gymcats (5-3, 2-3) are confident they can continue to improve.

“”Obviously its hard to lose your top all-arounder,”” said junior Bree Workman. “”But we’re lucky to have a great team lineup on vault and floor. It may affect us a little bit on beam and bars, but it won’t affect us in confidence.””

– Michael Fitzpatrick

Men’s tennis has winning attitude

It’s not very often that the Arizona tennis program finds itself with five home matches in one weekend, but that is exactly what is slated for both tennis teams.

The men’s team will host two of them, against Loyola Marymount today at 10 a.m. and BYU tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., at the Robson Tennis Center.

“”There’s not too many weekends where both teams are in town,”” said UA head coach Tad Berkowitz. “”So it’ll be kind of nice for the guys to go out and support the girls, and (vise versa).””

For Andres Carrasco, having the support is nice but he’s more focused on his frame of mind.

“”These teams are pretty good, and we have to keep up the same attitude if we want to beat them,”” Carrasco said. “”It’s going to be tough – both teams are really well-balanced.””

– Kara Bauman

Women’s tennis to play 3 matches in a row.

It has been a long season for the Arizona women’s tennis team, which has been somewhat plagued by injuries. But this weekend will be even longer, as the team will be in action for three home matches in a three-day span.

The Wildcats will compete at the Robson Tennis Center against Colorado today at 1:30 p.m., UC Santa Barbara tomorrow at 10 a.m. and San Diego State on Sunday at 10 a.m.

The number of injuries may be an area of concern for the Wildcats, as they have essentially no time to recuperate.

“”There are people who are banged up, and three matches in that period of time is very tough, not only physically, but mentally as well,”” said UA assistant coach Brian Ramirez. “”But the bottom line is that these are key non-conference matches, and in order for us to move forward, we need to pick up three wins this weekend.””

– Kara Bauman