Track cancels meet, takes time to prepare for championships
The No. 30 men’s and No. 19 women’s Arizona track and field teams cancelled tomorrow’s meet and decided to focus the time on a tough training regimen to help prepare them for the conference championships in Seattle next weekend.
UA head coach Fred Harvey said the original plan was to send a group of athletes to the NAU Tune-Up meet in Flagstaff to help the coaches decide on the finalized roster that will compete at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships – the indoor version of the Pacific 10 championships. Only a certain number of athletes are permitted to compete for each team and this would have given some of the team a last chance to impress the coaches.
Harvey feels that the NAU meet was unnecessary, however, and was confident in the roster he already has and hopes to utilize the extra weekend of training to help his athletes get ready.
“”Our goal is to have both teams in the top three or four places.”” Harvey said. “”That requires everyone to be on top of their game, and not just one group.””
The conference championships will kick off next Friday at Dempsey Indoor Arena in Seattle and continue Saturday.
– Jeremy Hawkes
Men’s tennis to face stiff competition
The Wildcats are in Los Angeles to play No. 7 USC today at 1:30 p.m., and No. 6 UCLA tomorrow at 1.
“”Going into these matches, regardless of our ranking, we’ll compete the best we can,”” said freshman Jay Goldman. “”I see it more as a way to test our skills against two of the best teams in the country. There’s no pressure – we’re the big-time underdog here.””
No. 79 Goldman is just one of 12 freshmen to be nationally ranked.
Regardless of rank, the Wildcats have been holding on to their team cohesiveness and confidence the most.
“”We believe in each other’s abilities,”” freshman Andres Carrasco said. “”We’re both mentally and physically prepared to beat any team in the country.””
Nevertheless, a prayer is what some may think Arizona needs in its battle against the rowdy and brutal USC fans, but the Wildcats have a different perspective.
“”I’ve heard of the hostile conditions there, but we’ll do our best to block it out,”” Goldman said. “”It should be pretty interesting.””
– Kara Bauman
Arizona women’s tennis team with ‘nothing to lose’
It is one thing to have a couple of off-days. It’s another to play top-ranked teams immediately following the frustrating slump.
Today, the No. 52 Arizona women’s tennis team will play No. 12 USC at 1:30 p.m. and No. 7 UCLA tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Robson Tennis Center.
The advantage is not in favor of the Wildcats, as they face some stiff competition this weekend. Despite that glaring fact, the squad has a positive way of viewing the situation.
But the Wildcats agree that this week is no different than any other.
“”We have a few players with nagging injuries, so we’re spending as much time on the court as we can, without running the players into the ground,”” assistant coach Brian Ramirez said. “”Other than that, it’s just the usual preparation.””
In past matches against the Southern California teams, the Wildcats performed well at the heightened level.
“”We had very good individual success against them during our dual matches,”” Ramirez said. “”But we’ve not been able to string together enough individual wins to give us a team win in these matches.””
– Kara Bauman
Small mistakes doom men’s golf
The UA men’s golf team started out the second round of the John Burns Intercollegiate Tournament in a first place tie with
Auburn University and San Diego State, and early in the morning they looked as if they were going to continue their dominance.
But with a few critical mistakes on the back nine holes, the Wildcats fell to fifth place at 15-under-par.
“”We started out better than yesterday,”” said assistant coach John Knauer. “”But, we didn’t do much at the end.””
Freshman Tarquin MacMannus continued to tower above the individual scoreboard as he led the Wildcats with a 3-under-par 69 while currently sitting at the second overall spot in the tournament.
Senior Creighton Honeck also had a solid round shooting a 3-under-par 69, junior Tyler Neal added an even-72 and freshman Roberto Galleti shot a 1-over-par 73. Nick Park, meanwhile, struggled again shooting a 4-over-par 76.
“”We need to have all five guys in it. If we get everyone in it, we can win this thing,”” Knauer said.
– Nick Sturiale