UA track and field traveled to southern California this weekend to compete in the Rafer Johnson/ Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational.

The meet, on the campus of UCLA, saw several Wildcats earn post-season qualifying marks against elite squads from Arkansas, UCLA, Georgia, Hawaii and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

"We did exactly what we wanted to do," said head coach Fred Harvey. "We're trying to start building on our performances."

Jeff Hunter led a trio of sophomores to post first place victories. Hunter's time in the 110-meter hurdles was the best in the field. The sophomore continued to dominate, having won four events the previous week at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson.

"Jeff continues to do great things for us," said Harvey.

Hunter was also a member of Arizona's winning 4 by 400 meter relay squad.

Aaron Powell and Jin Daikoku earned wins for the Wildcats as well, in the 800- and 1,500-meter races, respectively. Powell's time was the fastest of the meet, at 1:53:67.

Seniors Kyle Goklish and Eric Bohn claimed the top two spots for Arizona in the 10,000-meter run. Robert Cheseret's win in the 5,000-meter run earned him his second NCAA qualifying time, the first being in the 800-meter dash.

On the field Friday for the Wildcats, Mike Mensah claimed top honors in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 5 inches. The following day, the junior from Burnaby, B.C. Canada, earned a third place finish with a jump of the same distance.

The women's field squad continued its strong performances in Los Angeles. First year pole-vaulter Connie Jerez claimed her third victory in as many meets with a personal best leap of 13 feet, 7.25 inches, improving upon her NCAA qualifying mark.

Sisters Amber and Rachel Varner finished Friday's meet with third and fourth place finishes, respectively, in the shotput.

Several women excelled on the track for Arizona, most notably Beth Hoge. The junior from Bismarck, N.D. recovered from an injured foot to post a win in the 5,000-meter race. Last week Hoge claimed victories in both the 800-meter and 1,500-meter distance races.

"She's really starting to show her skills," said Harvey of Hoge's emergence.

On Friday Sharifa Jones stole the show for the Wildcats with an impressive performance in the 100-meter hurdles. The sophomore transfer from the University of Michigan finished first with a personal best time of 13.78, a mark that would have been a Pac-10 and NCAA regional qualifying time had it not been aided by wind.

According to Harvey, the allotted wind for a Pac-10 meet is 2.00. The wind on Friday in Los Angeles for Jones was calculated at 2.01, an unfortunate mark Harvey referred to as a non-factor.

The Wildcats return to Arizona this weekend to compete in the Mesa Invitational and Sun Angel Classic in Tempe.