The Arizona men's and women's track and field teams travel to Seattle tomorrow to compete against interdivision rivals at the Pac-10 Invitational.
The University of Washington will play host to 18 men's squads and 15 women's teams, including nine from the Pacific 10 Conference.
The Wildcats will have their work cut out for them, as 12 squads were ranked in the top 35 of the U.S. Track Coaches Association power rankings.
No. 3 BYU leads the men. The Arizona men dropped to 33rd after last weekend's disappointing last place performance at the Falcon Invitational. The Wildcats trail UCLA, Arizona State and Washington, but are well ahead of No. 54 Cal.
The Cougars also lead the women's teams, ranked fourth. The Wildcats came in 27th, behind Arizona State, Washington and UCLA. Idaho and the Air Force were ranked at 46th and 54th, respectively.
"We're as good as any team that's going to be there," said UA head coach Fred Harvey. "We are taking our cream of the crop and many NCAA qualifiers."
Despite recent frustrations because of a lack of overall preparation in past meets, team members said that team morale and confidence do not appear to be affected.
"We understand each other a lot more as athletes and as people," said sophomore Angel Perkins. "We are more united and have made an effort to learn how we are outside of the track."
"The beautiful thing about athletics is that you go through ups and downs all the time. (Our athletes) wouldn't be at this level if they didn't understand that," Harvey said.