Arizona will be off with the starting gun this weekend as two of its athletes travel to southern California to kick-off the Pac-10 Combined Championships.

Amanda Underwood and Jake Arnold will represent the Wildcats this Saturday and Sunday on the campus of the University of Southern California. The two will be looking to put some early points on the board for the Wildcats, who send a full squad to Los Angeles the following week.

Underwood will represent Arizona in the heptathlon while Arnold competes in the Decathlon.

A sophomore from Immaculate Heart High School in Tucson, Underwood is the more proven scorer of the two. She finished the season accumulating a personal best 4,490 points competing in the heptathlon this season. Ranked No. 6 in the conference, Underwood faces the best the Pac-10 has to offer.

Arizona hasn't scored a point in heptathlon or decathlon meets in the past six or seven years, head coach Fred Harvey said. Last year Underwood finished ninth in the heptathlon.

"The way she has been training and performing this season I think we can get some points from her," Harvey said of Underwood. The first year coach feels Underwood has the potential to finish anywhere between fifth and seventh this weekend in Los Angeles.

The heptathlon features seven events-the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin and 800-meter run.

Competing for the Wildcats in the decathlon will be freshman Arnold. The Santa Rosa native will be making his Pac-10 Championship debut this weekend. Despite not posting any points to-date this season, Harvey feels Arnold may be a dark horse and surprise some people this weekend in Los Angeles.

"(Arnold) goes in there with the same attitude every time," Harvey said. According to Harvey, Arnold is a "happy-go-lucky" guy who is not afraid of anything.

"He doesn't know any better to be afraid," Harvey said of Arnold's inexperience. It is because of Arnold's demeanor that Harvey feels Arnold has the ability to shock the competition and could easily finish within the top five.

Last weekend in Tempe, competing in the Arizona Tri-meet, Arnold improved upon his personal best in the javelin throw by over 10 feet. The freshman took third place in the event with a toss of 176'10". The pole-vault remains Arnold's strongest event, although he has greatly improved upon his long-jumping abilities over the past weeks.

The decathlon features 10 events including: the 100-meter dash, long jump, pole-vault, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw, 400-meter dash, 1,500-meter run, 110-meter hurdles and the high jump.

The rest of Arizona's squad will head to USC the following weekend looking to claim the Pac-10 title. Last season the Wildcats finished fifth overall behind winners Stanford men and UCLA's women.

This season UCLA enters the tourney ranked No. 1 in the nation in both its men's and women's squads. Arizona's No. 10 men and No. 11 women will face tough competition from Washington State's No. 13 men and No. 7 women.