AMY WINKLER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona senior All-American Brianna Glenn, left, prepares to take the relay from junior Seynabou Ndiaye during the 4x100m event of the California vs. Arizona Challenge Saturday at Drachman Stadium. Team Arizona, comprised of UA and Northern Arizona, lost the meet to Team California, the combined teams of Stanford and UCLA.

The combined teams of Arizona and Northern Arizona came up short this weekend against UCLA and Stanford in windy conditions at the California vs. Arizona Challenge.

The track meet, held at Drachman Stadium, paired UA and NAU as Team Arizona and UCLA and Stanford as Team California in the debut of the unusual format.

Wildcat junior J.R. Harrison said bragging rights were at stake Saturday.

"There's a lot of pride in all these schools," Harrison said. "We would have liked to beat all of them, including NAU, but they happened to be on our team."

Team California posted the sweep, cruising to the title on the women's side by a score of 130.5 to 71.5 and narrowly winning the men's title, 106-97.

Senior UA All-American Brianna Glenn said the meet's format was an interesting change of pace.

"It was something different. I think it's a good idea, if you have two competitive teams on both sides," Glenn said. "It brings something different than a regular track meet."

Many of the participants said that Saturday's gusting wind, which inhibited play at concurrent Arizona athletic functions, affected their performances.

"(The times were) not the greatest. Track and wind are always a bad combination," Glenn said. "This meet came down to just competing and trying to get out there and do your best."

Harrison echoed Glenn's sentiments.

"The wind was definitely throwing off people's times," Harrison said.

But the wind didn't seem to slow Glenn much, as the defending national 200m and long-jump champion posted victories in both the long jump (20-8) and 100m (11.41). The senior narrowly missed a third first-place finish when she came in 1/100th of a second behind UCLA's Monique Henderson in the 200m.

Glenn said the wind wasn't her only impediment in the meet, citing injury as another factor.

"My times weren't good," Glenn said. "I had a couple little injuries I was trying to work through and just get through the day."

Junior sprinter Seynabou Ndiaye came in just behind Glenn in the 100m, claiming third place and improving her Pacific 10 Conference qualifying time with a time of 11.67. Ndiaye also teamed with three NAU runners to take the 4x100m title for Team Arizona.

UA senior Alexandra Komnos won the 100m hurdles with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 13.52, while fellow hurdler Chelsea Powell took first in the 400m intermediate hurdles title at 1:02.21.

Also victorious for the Wildcat women were junior distance runner Kim Bates in the 3,000m and fellow junior Julie DiMarni in the javelin. Sophomore pole vaulter Amy Linnen, the reigning NCAA indoor champion, renewed her rivalry with defending outdoor champion Tracy O'Hara of UCLA. Linnen finished second at 13-7 1/4, just behind O'Hara's 14-1 1/4.

On the men's side of the meet, senior sprinter Mike Kenyon won the 200m and 400m with times of 21.85 and 47.36, respectively. Senior Steve Smith and sophomore Mark Anderson claimed the top two spots in the 3,000m steeplechase, while sophomore Chris Chappell took top honors in the pole vault and sophomore Matt Wagner won the javelin title.

Harrison, who won the long jump and triple jump, said facing Pac-10 foes Stanford and UCLA provided a tune-up for the upcoming Pac-10 and NCAA championships.

"Now I want to win Pac-10's and then just glide into nationals," Harrison said.

The Wildcat track teams are next in action this weekend in Tempe at the Sun Angel Classic, the first of three road meets on Arizona's upcoming schedule.