Coming off a successful weekend on the east coast, the UA track and field teams will look to continue their run toward the post-season when they travel to Idaho this weekend.

After qualifying several runners into NCAA post-season play at the Boston Distance Classic this past weekend, Arizona returns to action on Saturday competing in the Boise Elite Invitational.

For first-year head coach Fred Harvey, the importance of this weekend's meet has more to it than at first glance. Boise marks the beginning of the team's championship run, but it will also give the athletes a chance to check out the venue for this year's indoor championships. It is also the team's first of two competitions in Idaho within a three-week span.

"We're looking to give our kids a dry run," said Harvey, whose squads will be facing some of their toughest competition to date. "We chose this schedule to ready our kids for the championships."

Taking part in the pre-championship meet will be consistantly nationally ranked teams from Stanford and UCLA. Stanford's men's squad is currently ranked third, while the women rank sixth according to the current Trackwire poll. UCLA's women's and men's teams rank third and 15th, respectively.

Adding to the stiff competition will be the Nike Farm team. The Nike-sponsored squad consists mostly of ex-Stanford runners who have exhausted their four years of NCAA eligibility.

"We have a number of kids that are right there on the brink of NCAA qualifying," Harvey said.

Among those NCAA hopefuls is sophomore Jeff Hunter.

Harvey said he feels Hunter, regarded as the teams' top hurdler, is ready to qualify for the NCAA championships in Boise.

"Hunter is close to automatic this weekend," said Harvey.

As a freshman, Hunter ran the Wildcats' fastest time at the Pac-10 Conference championships in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 50.94.

Distance runner Jevon Mason, already with an NCAA qualifying time to his credit, will look to improve this weekend on his early season success. Harvey said this weekend's meet favors the running style of the University of Alabama transfer.

"This is a track we've been waiting for (Mason) to run on," said Harvey of Boise's 200-meter bent track. The type of track in Boise is considered one of the fastest types of tracks a runner can compete on.

Arizona will return to Boise on Feb. 21 to take part in the indoor championships.