Skieresz, UA men impress again at NCAA Track & Field Championships

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat

Her stage this time, last week's NCAA championships in Buffalo, N.Y., where she was named the NCAA Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, helping the women's track and field team to a 11th-place finish.

Skieresz set a new meet and school record with 15:33.77 in the 5,000 while she cruised through the 10,000, lapping more than three-quarters of her competitors and finishing almost a full minuet ahead of second place.

Skieresz, only a sophomore, is the first woman in NCAA Division history to win the 5,000 and the 10,000 in consecutive years.

The men's team finished in a tie for third place, the highest in school history, behind freshman Esko Mikkola's NCAA Championship record throw in the javelin and junior Klaus Ambrosch's victory in the decathlon.

Junior Abdi Abdirahman also contributed with a second-place finish in the 5,000-meter while senior Chimu Ugwu took second in the shot put.

Swim for the gold

Sophomore swimmer Ryk Neethling, capitalizing on his victories in the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle events at the NCAA Championships in Auburn, Ala., was named the Pacific 10 Conference Men's Swimmer of the Year for the second year in a row.

While Stanford's coach Skip Kenny beat out UA's Frank Bush for the men's coach of the year award, Bush, who also coaches the women's swimming team, was named the conference's top coach for leading the women to a second place finish in the NCAA championships and a third-place finish in the Pac-10 championships.

The coach of the year award is Bush's third. He has won two for his work with the women's team, the other being in 1991, and one for coaching the men's team in 1993.

New season, new blood

After loosing half of her coaching staff when associate head coach Traci Waites and assistant coach Bill Broderick departed for the University of Pittsburgh, UA women's basketball coach Joan Bonvicini has reloaded by hiring Sam Dixon to work with the post players and Karen Caires to work with the guards.

Both Dixon and Caires, who will be assistant coaches, will also assist Bonvicini and new associate head coach Denise Dove, who was an assistant coach last year, with recruiting and scouting duties.

Men's basketball coach Lute Olson was faced with replacing a coach as well after Phil Johnson's departure to become head coach at San Jose State.

Olson ended up bringing a Tucson native back home, hiring former Oregon assistant coach John Jay, who graduated from Tucson's Salpointe Catholic High School and graduated from UA in 1981 with a degree in biology.

Jay, who will work with post players along with recruiting, scouting and public relations duties, will fill the role vacated by Rodney Tention, who was promoted into Johnson's old assistant's job.

A good walk spoiled

The women's golf team finished the season ranked second in the MasterCard collegiate golf rankings, dropping from their previous first-place ranking after finishing third at the NCAA Championships in Verona, Wisc.

Jenna Daniels paced the Wildcats, finishing the NCAA Championships in eighth place with a four-round score of 2-over-par 290. She ended the season ranked as the sixth best women's collegiate golfer.

Krissie Register, who finished the NCAAs in a tie for tenth, ranked fourth in the final MasterCard standings.

The men's golf team finished the season on a disappointing note, placing last of 30 teams in the NCAA Championships and failing to make the cut into the third and fourth days of competition.

The Wildcats scored a 17-over-par 553 during the two days while Andy Barnes and Rory Sabbatini placed highest among the Wildcats in a tie for 82nd place.