As the indoor season draws near, the University of Arizona men and women's track and field squads traveled to Idaho this weekend, looking to place more of their athletes into post-season play.

At the Boise Elite Invitational on Saturday, several Wildcats qualified for both NCAA and Mountain Pacific Conference Championship post-seasons. Tough squads from UCLA, Stanford, Texas and Utah State added to the competition in Boise.

Sophomore Jin Daikoku provided the spark for Arizona, earning himself two MSPF qualifying times. With a time of 4:14.79, Daikoku outlasted Erik Emilsson of UCLA to earn Arizona first place in the mile.

"That was one of the feature performances of the weekend," said head coach Fred Harvey. "The kids on the team were watching him run and he just got everyone fired up."

Daikoku's other qualifying time came in the 800-meter, winning heat with a time of 1:54.42.

Highlighting the afternoon on the men's field side was standout Sean Shields, with a toss of 64 feet 3 inches in the shot put. The sophomore qualified for an NCAA birth finishing second behind two-time world champion John Godina.

Excelling on the field for the Wildcats as well was pole vault specialist Kevin Opalka. Opalka's leap of 17.0 feet earned him a first place tie and extended his MPSF qualifying mark.

For the men's runners, Adrain Thomas qualified for the MPSF post-season play. Thomas, who has been hampered by hamstring injuries the past two seasons, ignited the team much the same way Daikoku did, providing a positive spark.

Despite having a faster qualifying time of 7.51 in the 60-meter dash, Seynabou Ndiaye took the race with a time of 7.65 seconds. The 400-meter run belonged to Angel Perkins who won with a personal best time of 55.17.

Harvey said the team's confidence is continually building.

The weekend's success should carry the Wildcats into the conference championships in two weeks. The Mountain Pacific indoor meet, also to be held in Boise, will pit many of the same teams against one another.

"We stacked up extremely well," Harvey said. "We showed UCLA and Stanford what's in store for the MCPS."

Next weekend when Arizona takes on Arizona State and Northern Arizona University, his team will be ready. The Wildcats will take part in the annual double-dual meet in Flagstaff on Feb. 14.