Wildcat track and field begin their championship portion of the season this weekend when Arizona heads north to Boise, Idaho, to challenge the best the region has to offer at the indoor Mountain Pacific Conference Championship.

Wrapping up a successful indoor regular season, Arizona returns to Boise with nearly a full squad ready to fight for post-season accolades. This weekend, the 18th-ranked Wildcat women face tough competition from nationally ranked schools such as No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Stanford and No. 23 Washington State. No. 6 Stanford's men will be the only ranked men's squad competing in the Friday and Saturday meets.

The conference championships will be a prelude to the NCAA indoor championships, to be held March 14 and 15, in Fayetteville, Ark. Going into the Boise meet, eight Wildcats have already qualified for the championships.

The trip to Boise will mark the second time in 13 days that the Wildcats will compete at Jackson Foods Track in the Idaho Sports Center. Arizona competed at the facility at Boise State University on Feb. 8.

Head coach Fred Harvey said he likes his team's chances in this weekend's competition.

"We are most definitely ready; we used last week to springboard ourselves physically and mentally into this week coming up," said coach Harvey. "The goal is to have the best opportunity to be in the top four or five teams in this meet."

Harvey also said he is looking for his entire squad to step up their game.

"Every athlete must go out and perform at the level they are capable (of). To really have big success, we need people who are fringe athletes to have to step and score in places they weren't expected to score."

Harvey and his coaching staff have their athletes ready for the championships.

"Our staff has done a great job in preparing everyone for what I call championship season; you can see the edginess, and that's a sure sign that they're getting ready to compete. (It's) great tribute to every coach on the staff. They have done a great job for us this year."

Competing for UA:

Men's track

Harvey said he feels this group of men's sprinters give the Wildcats a genuine opportunity for scoring in every event. Sophomore Jeff Hunter will be running in the high hurdles, 60-meter dash and leading off the 4x400 meter relay. Jevon Mason anchors the 4x400 meter relay, runs the 400-meter and makes his season debut in the 200-meter. Robert Cheseret runs the 3,000 and 5,000-meter races. Adrayn Thomas and Daniel Olea round out the 4x40 relay squad.

Men's field

The last time Sean Shields threw in Boise, the sophomore broke the Arizona indoor school shotput record with a toss of 64 feet, 3 inches. J.R. Harrison competes in both the triple and long jump. Kevin Opalka, Mike Mortensen and Chris Chappell head the men's pole vault squad.

Women's track

Seynabou Ndiaye, Angel Perkins and Sharifa Jones remain the top runners for the women's squad. Running in the heavily favored 4x400 relay will be Jones, Chelsea Powell, Lindsay Scarborough and Perkins. Amber Steen, running the mile, looks to contribute to the Wildcats' success this weekend. Due to injury, distance runner Beth Hoge will be forced to miss this weekend's championship.

Women's field

Amy Linnen, the number one female pole-vaulter in the nation, heads up the talented women's field team. Sharifa Jones looks to expand on her conference high long jump of 20 feet. Coming off a personal record last Friday and a solid week of practice, Amber Varner heads the women throwers.