FILE PHOTO Arizona alumnae Jennie Finch winds up for a pitch against Stanford last April. Finch is one of five Wildcats named to the USA Softball National Training Team.

USA Softball announced Tuesday that five of the 22 athletes selected for the National Training Team are from the UA. Wildcat senior Lovie Jung and junior Mackenzie Vandergeest are among the players on the list. Former Wildcat All-American Jennie Finch will also play alongside Arizona graduates Nicole Giordano and Leah O'Brien-Amico.

The National Team will train throughout the winter in Chula Vista, Calif.

The group will earn an automatic invitation back to the Pan Am tryout camp in June 2003.

USA Softball will be going for its fifth consecutive Pan Am gold medal at the 2003 Pan Am Games in August in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Senior punter Ramey Peru quit the UA football team Monday afternoon, citing the need to begin a job search, coach John Mackovic said.

Peru, an accounting major, was last in the Pac-10 last season with an average punt of 37.9 yards. His average this season was 36.9 on 13 tries, but he did not play Saturday against North Texas.

Freshman Danny Baugher will take over as the team's punter.

A day after Arizona landed a top-five basketball recruit in Ndudi Ebi, another decided against bearing a Wildcat uniform.

The Kansas Jayhawks received a verbal commitment from 6-foot-11 David Padgett of Reno, Nevada.

As a junior last season, Padgett, averaged 23.0 ppg., 14.0 rpg. and 8.0 bpg. for Reno High School, but dislocated his kneecap on Jan. 18 and missed the rest of the season.

Students and fans will be able to honor recently enshrined basketball head coach Lute Olson Nov. 26 . The UA Athletics Department and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame will be hosting an event open to the public.

The tribute will be held at the Sheraton El Conquistador from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.. Fans will have the opportunity to congratulate Olson on his induction.

The ticket price is $85 per person with $50 being a tax-deductible donation.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Athletics Department, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Bobbi Olson Ovarian Cancer Fund at the Arizona Cancer Center.

For ticket reservations, call 621-6133 ext. 5.

Tickets to watch Arizona defend its Pac-10 tournament title at the 2003 Pac-10 Basketball tournament are now on sale.

The three-day tournament that begins March 13th will feature the top eight teams in the Pac-10.

Tickets are only available in seven-game packages for $135.

The package includes tickets for all seven games in the upper level of Staples Center. Tickets can be purchased by calling TicketMaster at 213-480-3232 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.