Baseball:

Cats make first World Series trip since '86

The Arizona baseball team advanced to the College World Series for the first time in 18 years, in only head coach Andy Lopez' third season with the program.

The Wildcats didn't just go to the college baseball Mecca to see the sights, they finished tied for fifth, knocking out Arkansas, in their first trip since their last of three national titles in 1986.

With the appearance, Lopez became the third coach in CWS history to lead three different schools to Omaha and the fastest coach to do so in Arizona's storied baseball history.

In Super-Regional play, Arizona used a dramatic comeback win over Long Beach State and National Player of the Year Jered Weaver in the series opener and a 4-3 win over the Dirtbags in the final game in 11 innings to reach Omaha.

The Arizona/Long Beach State series was the only Super Regional to go the full three games and the Wildcats were the only road team to win a Super Regional.

"It is just an absolute thrill," legendary former UA head coach Jerry Kindall said, after providing color commentary for the Super Regional on ESPN. "It's been a long time and now this ball club is going to carry the torch back there. Arizona baseball is back into the national picture."

Arizona's 2-1 Super Regional win tied them with Stanford for the seventh-most CWS appearances, with 15.

Later in the summer, junior Trevor Crowe played for the USA national team, batting .295, with .321 on base percentage and tied for a team high in stolen bases.

The USA won the FISU World University Baseball Championships in Tainan, Taiwan, after struggling early in their preparation games.

In the Cape Cod League, senior Pat Reilly led the league in batting and junior Jordan Brown was third in the league in RBIs.

Football:

Top recruit dies during first workout

The first loss of the Mike Stoops era came earlier than the team's first scheduled game, when incoming freshman McCollins Umeh died during a voluntary summer workout on June 8.

Umeh, 18, collapsed 20 minutes into a 30 minutes workout on campus, less then 24 hours after arriving from Houston.

An initial autopsy revealed the relatively mild 97-degree heat did not play a factor in his death, and a few weeks later determined he had an enlarged heart.

Stoops, who because of NCAA rules is not allowed to attend voluntary workouts, saw Umeh right before his workout.

"He was special. I feel fortunate to have known him for as long as I've known him. I'm sorry that a lot of people in this room will not have that experience because he was a great, great person. He stood for all of the right things and had an unbelievable future. Again, I couldn't say enough about him as a person and all of the great things he wanted to accomplish," Stoops said. "I've only known him for a short time and you knew everything they said about him was true."

Umeh, a 6-foot-3-inch, 245-pound defensive end, was the Wildcats' top recruit after changing his mind from a verbal commitment he gave to football power Kansas State.

Umeh's father, Betrand, a former player for the Nigerian national soccer team, said his son's death was a "great tragedy" but also the "will of God."

"One of the greatest tragedies a man can have is the dad burying his son," he said. "It should be the other way around."

Umeh arrived on campus June 8 at 9:30 a.m, passed a comprehensive and thorough exam and was released for conditioning according to UA senior associate athletics director Rocky LaRose. He began the workout at 1 p.m., and at 1:26 p.m., the 911 call was made, she said.

Umeh was one of three signees from Klein Forest, along with safety Dominic Patrick and wide receiver Bobby McCoy. Klein Forest head coach Gene Johnson also joined the Wildcats as an offensive graduate assistant coach.

Softball:

Top-seeded Cats miss first World Series in 18 years

The top ranked and top seeded Arizona softball team was upset twice at home and failed to advance to the Women's College World Series for the first time since 1987.

The Wildcats barely beat the 64th seeded team Centenary 2-1 to open the tournament and beat Louisiana-Lafayette 4-0 in round two, where national player of the year runner up Alicia Hollowell nearly pitched a perfect game. Arizona was then upset by Oklahoma 3-2 and the Ragin' Cajuns 9-0 to close out its season.

The Wildcats had beaten the Sooners 9-1 earlier in the year and had only lost three times in NCAA tourney play at home prior to this season.

Later in the summer, Hollowell and sophomores Caitlin Lowe and Kristie Fox played for the USA Schutt Elite team, which failed to repeat as Canada Cup Champions, getting knocked out by China.

Hollowell went 2-2 and had a 1.30 ERA in six appearances and had 38 strikeouts in 27 innings. Lowe batted .394, started every game and scored seven runs and Fox hit .360 and 7 RBIs.

Track:

Cheseret dominates post season with three titles

As the old saying goes: Nobody's perfect, but then sophomore Robert Cheseret nearly was for the men's track and field team in the post season.

Cheseret won the 5,000-meter NCAA National Championship and five of his six post-season races overall.

Cheseret's only loss came in the 10,000 meters race at the NCAA Championship.

Cheseret's tear begin at the Pac-10 Championships in Tucson, where he won the 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters and became the only athlete to ever accomplish that triple crown.

At the NCAA Regional, Cheseret won his one race, the 10K.

Arizona takes 12th in final Director's Cup standings

Arizona moved up in the in the United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup ranking of Division I programs for last year, finishing 12th.

In 2003-04, Arizona finished 16th, its lowest finish since the Cup was started in 1994 and ended a run of nine top 10 finishes.

The rankings are determined by how the top 20 teams (10 women and 10 men) for each school perform.

With 18 sports, the UA misses out on points from two male sports.

Meanwhile, Stanford continued its strangle hold on the top spot, UCLA finished third, Washington eighth, California ninth, Arizona State 17th, Southern California 21st, Oregon 60th, Northern Arizona 69th, Oregon State 74th and Washington State 108th.

Golf:

Grieving men finish third, Blasberg leaves UA women

Playing without one of their own and their minds elsewhere, the men's golf team finished third at the NCAA Championship, and then senior Chris Nallen placed second in the individuals.

The Wildcats ended third without senior Nathan Lashley, whose parents Rod and Charlene, and girlfriend, Leslie Hofmeister, died in a plane crash in the Wyoming mountains after watching him play in the NCAA West Regionals.

Senior Nick Juszczak, who filled in for Lashley, finished 68th individually.

"It's a really good finish, especially under the circumstances with the tragedy of Nathan and his parents," said UA head coach Rick LaRose. "Also, playing really with four guys who had never played in any big tournament before, I thought they really did themselves proud under all the conditions."

The first team All-American, Nallen tied for second will Bill Haas of Wake Forest, six shots back of Ryan Moore of UNLV.

Arizona moved up the standings each day after finding themselves in 18th place after the first day of competition. The Wildcats finished the tournament at 28 over par, 14 strokes back of national champion California and eight back of second place UCLA.

The finish was Arizona's fifth top-three finish at the NCAA Championships, their third in the last five years.

More recently, Nallen advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur Championship this past weekend.

The women had a disappointing summer, as superstar Erica Blasberg decided to skip her final two years and go pro.

Blasberg went on the LPGA Futures Tour, but will likely have to go to the dreaded Qualifying School.

Blasberg joined the tour with eight tournaments left but only has one remaining to earn a spot on the LPGA Tour. She is 10th on the money list with $24,945, about $10,000 away from finishing in the top five and earning her tour card.

Blasberg is just the latest in a long line of UA golfers to leave early joining Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis in recent years.

Men's basketball:

Four Wildcats shine in international play

This year the men's basketball team will have a decided international flavor, and a handful of Wildcats got in the mode early.

Junior Hassan Adams and sophomore Mustafa Shakur played on the USA's World Championship for Young Men qualifying team. The Americans won the FIBA WCYM tournament in Halifax, Canada, beating teammate freshman Jesus Verdejo and Puerto Rico for the title.

Adams had 12 points, three rebounds and two steals in the 97-86 win, while Verdejo added 12 points for the Puerto Rican team.

North America wasn't the only continent with an Arizona tie.

Sophomore Ivan Radenovic averaged 10 points and 7.5 rebounds for the fifth place Serbia and Montenegro in the European Championship for 20 -and-under team.

"International competition is good for (Adams) and Mustafa. Jesus played in it as well as Ivan in the European Championships," said UA assistant coach Josh Pastner. "It gets you good experience because you are playing against the best players at your age group around the world; it gives you more confidence."