After setting seven NCAA qualifying marks last weekend, the Arizona track and field team is hoping for more of the same in the 87th-annual Drake Relays today in Des Moines, Iowa.

The two-day competition emphasizes the relay events and features some of the top track and field squads in the country.

"We get to see a lot of schools we never get to compete against, especially many teams from the Midwest and the Southeast," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

The Wildcat men and women will defend their titles in the distance medley events. The men will field a team for the 4x800-meter relay, and the women will run in the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays.

The UA women's 4x400 relay team is looking to improve on its NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3 minutes, 37.63 seconds set on March 30. The all-senior squad of Karen Bennett, Allison Dring, Michele Ferguson and Michelle Johnson is hoping to lower its time by 5 seconds to gain an automatic qualifying time of 3:33.00 for the NCAA Outdoor Championship in Eugene, Ore., on May 29 through June 1.

Arizona is also hoping for a little cooperation from the weather today in Des Moines. Murray said that the last five years UA has competed, the weather has been unseasonably cold and windy. Two years ago, it snowed both days of the competition and limited the performances.

"Back in the Midwest, you don't know what your going to get, but hopefully, the weather will be good this year," Murray said.

With the team's success at last weekend's Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, Calif., Arizona now has six athletes who have automatically qualified and 11 who have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships.

"This is the time of year where performances need to be at their best in order to get qualified," Murray said.

A few Arizona athletes are on the bubble for making it into the NCAA Championship field and are looking to improve their marks this weekend at the Drake Relays.

Senior Aaron Corcorran, who was an NCAA qualifier last year in the hammer throw with a personal best throw of 213 feet, 4 inches, has not yet matched that effort this season. Corcorran will have three more chances to qualify including the Pacific 10 Conference Championship on May 18-19.

Fellow seniors Gabriel Torre and DeeDee Buzzi will also be using this event to improve their provisional marks. Torre has a season and personal best throw of 58-2 1/2 in the shot put, but Murray said that he will have to throw in the 60-foot range to go to Eugene.

Buzzi, who has been slowed all season with hamstring and nerve injuries, has qualified for the 100-meter high hurdles with her time of 13.74 set on March 14, but Murray said she will have to improve on that time because the NCAA women's hurdle field is extremely fast this year.