By
Ryan Finley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Smith's injury hobbles Arizona
Some might say that Arizona's fate in the Roy Griak Invitational was decided Tuesday when junior Steve Smith was injured in a car accident.
The Wildcats, dogged by an injury to a sore Smith, finished fourth in the weekend meet in St. Paul, Minn.
"He missed a stop sign and got nailed pretty bad," senior David Lopez said of Smith's injury. "Steve was hurting pretty bad - he bruised his ribs."
Lopez led all healthy Wildcats in the invitational, which was eventually won by Providence College. Individually, the race was won by Keith Kelley of Providence, who finished with a time of 24 minutes and 12 seconds.
Lopez finished 15th overall with a time of 24:49.
"A couple of things went wrong," Lopez said. "(Junior Mike) Cramer didn't get off fast enough. (Freshman) Andrew Carlson went out too early and too fast."
Carlson, who placed fourth in the Purdue Invitational on Sept. 9, finished a distant 73rd.
"Andrew didn't have as good a race as he did earlier," Murray said. "But again - I think it's just a case of freshman-itis."
The team, ranked as high as fifth in the Mondo NCAA Division I preseason poll, was disappointed with its finish.
"It's all a learning experience," Lopez said of the team's finish. "It's still early and there's still a lot to do."
Junior Tom Prindiville finished 17th, to his own surprise.
"I was definitely happy with my race," he said. "It wasn't my best, but I know that I should definitely be racing up there."
The story of the weekend, though, was the fact that Smith even raced, finishing 42nd overall while still feeling the effects of the accident.
"He had trouble breathing," head coach David Murray said. "But (Smith's) a competitor and wanted to go."
Smith was unable to practice throughout most of the week.
"He had to take a few days off, and he only did about half of the workouts," Prindiville said. "It played a part."
Despite the disappointing finish, the Wildcats believe that they have what it takes to succeed. UA won the Purdue Invitational, it's first invitational of the year.
"We're definitely a top-10 team," Murray said. "I think we're closer to 10th than fifth"
Prindiville said that it may be too early in the season to be making any judgments.
"It's only September," he said. "We're peaking for Nov. 20 and nationals. We're on a good pace. Everybody's running hard and running well."
