Johnson and Costa split time at practice

In the 11th practice session of spring football, UA quarterbacks Nic Costa and Jason Johnson split most of the snaps in Friday's scrimmage in Arizona Stadium.

Johnson, last season's starter and a senior this season, completed 6-of-9 passes for 77 yards and had one interception. Costa, a redshirt freshman, was 0-for-5 passing and rushed three times for 12 yards.

The Wildcats ran through skeleton punting and position drills for 30 minutes, and the team scrimmaged for the last hour of practice. The shortened scrimmage consisted of 50 plays.

"Overall, we still have a ways to go on both offense and defense," head coach John Mackovic said. "We wanted to do more passing, but we ended practice early because we were running out of runners. We also were a little bit out of control, and that is not what our team is about. I explained to the players that we can't do things that will hurt our team."

UA's defense had five quarterback sacks on the day, led by junior defensive end Andre Torrey's two sacks. Senior linebacker Ray Wells had two solo tackles and a sack, and sophomore defensive end Fata Avegalio also tallied two hits and a sack. Senior linebacker Scott McKee added the fifth sack for the Wildcats.

Junior defensive back Gary Love, who switched from wide receiver to defensive back this spring, had two tackles and intercepted a Johnson pass on the last play of the scrimmage for the team's only turnover.

Other defensive players who had strong outings were junior linebacker Matt Molina, who had two solo hits, and junior strong safety Anthony Fulcher who added two tackles. Redshirt freshman linebacker Pedro Limon finished the day with two tackles.

"Defensively, we are flying to the football, and that is exactly what we wanted to improve this spring," Mackovic said. "I am pleased with the way the defense is running to the football. We are playing aggressively, and that is a mighty step up for us from a year ago."

The Wildcats return to the practice facility tomorrow at 4 p.m. to begin the team's final week of spring drills. The team will close the week with the Spring Game Saturday at 1 p.m. in Arizona Stadium. All practices are open to the public.

Gymcat honored for academic excellence

Arizona senior gymnast Lindsay Compitello was named to the Pacific 10 Conference 2002 All-Academic team on Friday.

This is the second consecutive year Compitello has received first-team All-Conference academic honors.

She is one of three senior captains for the Wildcats and has maintained a 3.75 grade point average this season as a communication major.

Compitello comes from an academic background. Her mother, Suzanne, is a high school math teacher and her father, Thomas, is a middle school principal.

Throughout her career, the 5-foot-2 gymnast has received many academic honors.

She was named a National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches Scholastic All-American in 2000 and 2001, and earned Mary Roby Academic Achievement Awards in 1999, 2000 and 2001. She was also named to the 2001 Pac-10 Conference's All-Academic first team.

The native of Downingtown, Pa., has appeared in eight meets for UA this season on the beam and the floor.

To be eligible for selection to the conference's academic teams, a student must have a 3.0 overall grade point average and be a starter or significant substitute for their team.

Compitello and the rest of the Gymcats will travel to Tempe for the 2002 South Central Regional Championship Saturday.