The Arizona track teams have enjoyed the early part of the season competing at indoor venues, not having to think twice about the weather looming outdoors.

Saturday, however, was a different story.

Lightning and heavy rain cancelled most of the events at the Wildcat Classic because of safety concerns.

"The rain is one thing. We could have delayed the meet if it was just rain," said Arizona head coach Fred Harvey. "But the lightning - we have nowhere to go here. We can't have the fans run underneath metal stands.

"It was a very, very difficult decision to make. It was based purely on the safety of the fans and the athletes," he said.

Four members of the men's and women's teams traveled to Seattle to participate in the University of Washington's Last Chance meet over the weekend.

The highlight of the day in Seattle was senior thrower Ilona Rutjes, who improved her NCAA provisional-qualifying throw to 52-5 1/2.

That mark ties her with freshman teammate Megan Howard for 13th on the NCAA performance list.

"We'll have two female shot-putters that we're pretty confident will make it to the (NCAAs) with those performances," Harvey said.

Results from Saturday's event at home were not available as of press time Sunday.

Harvey said he was pleased with the number of fans who attended the meet Saturday despite the conditions.

"For this meet I absolutely did not expect the numbers that we got out there," he said. "I'm hoping that for the Willy Williams (March 18-19) we get a pretty tremendous turnout."

Heading into this weekend's NCAA Indoor National Championships, 15 Wildcats have at least a provisional qualifier mark, but that number is subject to change depending on other performances around the nation.

"Realistically, we're probably looking at 10 of those athletes getting in, but I hang onto hope until the last moment," Harvey said.

Harvey said he hopes there will be a silver lining from the canceled meet.

"We do need a structure out here for safety purposes in case something like (the lightning) happens, and because we have nothing like that, we had to lose that competition," he said.