Wildcat men 3rd, women 8th at NCAA regionals

PORTLAND, Ore. ÷ The UA men's cross country team placed third in the overall team standings and the UA women's team finished eighth during Saturday's NCAA West Region Championships at Blue Lake Park. Stanford swept the team and individual titles.

The men's squad was paced by freshman Robert Cheseret's third-place finish. Cheseret covered the 10,000-meter course in 29:35, three seconds off of the pace set by winner Ian Dobson of Stanford. Cheseret's third-place finish broke up a sweep of the top five spots by Stanford, as the Cardinal's top five runners finished 1-2-4-5-6.

UA junior Jonah Maiyo had another strong race, finishing 10th in the individual standings. Maiyo clocked a time of 30:06 to edge Jeff Gardina of UC Santa Barbara and Eric Logsdon of Oregon. Senior Kyle Goklish finished in 23rd. Goklish completed the race in 30:22 as the Wildcats' No. 3 runner.

Junior Mike Howard jumped into the No. 4 spot for Arizona, placing 45th overall in 30:52. Senior Eric Bohn rounded out the scoring efforts by the Wildcats as the No. 5 runner with a time of 31:00. Senior Matt McInvale finished the race in 65th place with a time of 31:22, followed by sophomore Jin Daikoku, who placed 82nd in 31:54.

The UA women were led by junior Beth Hoge's 41st-place performance. Hoge clocked a time of 21:49 on the 6,000-meter course. Sophomore Adrienne Goeller wasn't too far behind Hoge, finishing 50th in the overall individual standings with a time of 22:07. Senior Nicole Gurnicz stepped up for the Wildcat women, jumping into the No. 3 spot and an overall finish of 63rd at 22:18.

Wildcat sophomore Michi Hirakawa-Wong placed fourth for the UA, finishing the race in 67th place with a time of 22:21. Sophomore Amber Steen completed the scoring for Arizona as the No. 5 runner. Steen was 79th, clocking a time of 22:36. Freshman Ashley Ippolito placed 88th in 22:41, followed by freshman Karen Langdorf, who was 133rd in 23:24.

The top two teams from each region earn automatic berths to the NCAA Championships, giving Stanford and Cal Poly the automatic berths on the men's side, while Stanford and UCLA claimed the women's automatic berths.

The Arizona men will have to wait for confirmation today to find out if they have earned an at-large bid to the national championship meet. This year's championships will be held in Waterloo, Iowa Monday. The University of Northern Iowa will play host to the meet.

Swimming and diving teams sweep Trojans

The UA men's and women's swimming and diving teams began their Pac-10 season with a pair of victories over the Southern California Trojans on Friday. The 14th-ranked men's team defeated fifth-ranked USC by a score of 131 to 111 while the seventh-ranked women defeated the fifth-ranked Trojans with a score of 133 to 110.

The Wildcat women also played host to Pac-10 foe UCLA Saturday, leaving with a 144-118 victory over the Bruins. The women's record improved to 3-0 overall.

The men's diving team dominated the boards, claiming the top two spots in the one-meter and three-meter events. Sophomore John Collier earned 18 points, winning first place in both events, while senior Alex Vollelunga was not far behind in second place for both.

On the diving boards for the women, freshman Mary Yarrison took second place in both the one- and three-meter events, earning eight points for the Wildcats. Senior Daniela Bemme placed third in the one-meter and fourth in the three-meter events, contributing five points.

"We crushed USC," said head diving coach Michelle Mitchell-Rocha. "This was a little shocking, but not at all surprising because I knew we had the potential. I was really pleased."

Starting things off for the men's swim team were sophomore Dave Rollins and seniors Greg Owen, Luis Rojas, and Eric La Fleur, who won the 400-meter relay in a time of 3:53.96.

The Arizona women's swim team dominated the Trojans, earning first place in six events. Leading the Wildcats was junior Jessica Hayes, who won first place in both the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:04.78 and the 200 backstroke in a time of 2:16.45.

The 400 medley relay team of Hayes, senior Jessica Wagner, freshman Whitney Meyers and sophomore Marshi Smith won first place in a time of 4:17.95. Smith also took first place in the 50 freestyle in a time of 27.49. Wagner swam a time of 2:37.29, where she earned first place in the 200 backstroke, and Junior Emily Mason won the 200 butterfly in a time of 2:16.90.

Against UCLA, Wagner continued to dominate the breaststroke events, winning the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:02.16 and the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:16.77. Both times are B standard qualifying times for the NCAA Championships.

Mason also had a pair of victories against the Bruins, placing first in the 1000-yard freestyle in a time of 9:55.14 and later in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:50.88. Sophomore Marshi Smith also claimed first place in the 100-yard backstroke on Saturday.

On the diving boards, the Wildcats earned 11 points, contributing to the victory. Freshman Mary Yarrison took claim to second place on the one-meter board with 256.95 points and Bemme earned third place on the three-meter board with 273.23 points.

The Wildcats will continue their season Dec. 4-6 when both the men and women travel to Austin, Texas for the Texas Longhorn Invitational.