GymCats find no trouble in paradise

Aloha meant goodbye last weekend for the Wildcat gymnastic team, which traveled to Hawaii and sent three other teams - including two higher-ranked programs - home with season-opening losses.

The 17th-ranked GymCats competed in the Maui Invitational, a quadrangular meet also featuring No. 3 Michigan, No. 13 Oklahoma and Sacramento State.

Team titles in the vault and floor events - Arizona won the latter by a scant .025 of a point - were enough to hold off Michigan, which won the bars, and Oklahoma, which won the beam event. Oklahoma came in second while Michigan finished third. Sacramento State was a distant fourth.

Senior Randi Liljenquist set the pace for the GymCats, finishing first on floor, second on vault, third on balance beam and fifth on bars to claim the all-around title. Sophomore Andi McCabe's career-best 9.950 in vault won her the individual title. In her UA debut, freshman Katie Johnson raised eyebrows by tying Liljenquist for first place on floor with a score of 9.925.

The team returns to Tucson to face Brown and Boise State Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the McKale Center.

Icecats learn from nation's best

Defending champion and top-ranked Penn State swept both games from No. 12 Arizona last weekend at the Tucson Convention Center.

UA lost the opener 4-3 on Friday and fell apart during Saturday's 3-0 loss.

The Icecats outshot PSU 33-27 but failed to score during eight power plays.

Last year in Tucson, Penn State defeated Eastern Michigan to win the American Collegiate Hockey Association national title.

With the losses, Arizona dropped to 10-3-1.

The Icecats play host to Colorado State on Friday and Saturday at TCC at 7:30 p.m.

Men's swimming and diving wears out Wolverines

The men's swimming and diving team defeated Michigan 124-119 on Friday.

UA won the 400-meter medley with the team of Kristopher Souther, Greg Owen, Jeff Dash and Byron Jeffers.

Arizona also won the 400 freestyle relay with the team of Jeffers, Sother, Eric La Fleur and Max Leassner.

Other individual victories for Arizona were Juan Veloz in the 200 meter butterfly, Souther in the 200 meter backstroke and Owen in the 200 meter breaststroke.

In diving, Arizona's Omar Ojeda won the three-meter springboard.

UA holds their next meet, the Arizona Invitational, this weekend at the Hillenbrand Aquatics Center.