Weekend Briefs

Amy Skieresz was named Athlete of the Meet as the Arizona men's and women's track teams finished fifth and second, respectively, at the Mountain-Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track and Field Championships in Reno, Nev. over the weekend.

Skieresz set a school record in the 5000-meter run with a time of 16 minutes, 2.17 seconds, which was also good enough to qualify her for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

"Obviously, the highlight of the meet was Amy Skieresz's performance," UA head coach Dave Murray said. "To run a 16:02 at that altitude is unbelievable."

The women finished with a score of 90.5, second to Stanford's score of 103. Other first place finishers for the women were Dee Dee Buzzi in the 55m hurdles (7.85), Shanna Griffin in the 800m (2:11.20) and Emily Nay in the 3000m (9:48.23). The women's 4x400m relay team also took first with a time of 3:49.03.

Only two of the Wildcat men claimed first place. Luther Kopf was first in the 800m (1:51.21) and Tapio Kolunsarka was the leader in the 35 pound weight throw (67 feet, 1 inch).

After a bye week, the Wildcats will head to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. on March 7-8.

-Chris Jackson

Tennis loses to Florida

Florida upped its 37-consecuative match win streak Saturday with its 6-1 victory over the UA women's tennis team in the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Team Tennis Championship in Madison, Wisc.

The lone victory for UA came for junior All-American Vicky Maes who defeated Amanda Baasica in straight sets, improving her singles dual-match record to 9-1. Maes and senior Khristen Pietrucha teamed up to win their doubles match, however Florida claimed the doubles point by winning two of the three doubles matches.

The Wildcats (6-4, 1-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference) reached the semifinals with two 4-3 decisions.

On Thursday, Arizona beat 13th-ranked Tennessee and beat No. 14 Wake Forest in the quarterfinals in Friday - the loss was the first this season for the Demon Deacons.

Betsy Miringoff, who joined the team less than 24 hours before the trip started, lost all three of her singles matches over the weekend.

- Staff Reports

Softball undefeated at tournament

The #1 ranked Arizona softball team rolled past the competition on the first day of the 11th Annual Louisiana Classics tournament on Saturday.

Arizona (13-0) defeated Alabama, 9-0, host Southwest Louisiana, 4-1 and Baylor, 6-2 in round robin play. The Wildcats clinched the #1 seed for Sunday's tournament, where they will match up with #4 seed Alabama for the right to play in the tournament championship.

Carrie Dolan threw a no-hitter against Alabama (2-4), going five innings while striking out four. Center fielder Alison Johnsen had two triples, three runs scored and five RBI to pace the Wildcat offense.

Nancy Evans struck out eight en route to victory against USL (5-2). Johnsen drove in two runs and scored two against Baylor (8-2).

Next up for the Wildcats is the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tucson, starting Feb. 28 against Kent State and DePaul.

- Staff Reports