Though her collegiate career ended in a second-round loss to No. 1 seed Louisiana State in the NCAA women's basketball tournament, Arizona senior point guard Dee-Dee Wheeler has found a silver lining.

The Chicago native was named an honorable mention Associated Press and Kodak All-American and received an invitation to participate in the WNBA draft camp in New York April 8-10.

"Dee-Dee, those are big shoes to fill - (the point guard) is an extension of me," said Arizona head coach Joan Bonvicini. "Dee-Dee was just named All-American, which we're very pleased and excited for. And she's also just been invited yesterday to the WNBA draft. So we're excited for Dee-Dee. She's had a tremendous career here and should potentially play in the WNBA."

Wheeler ended her career as Arizona's second all-time leading scorer with 1,966 points and tops the list in games played (124), games started (118), minutes played (4,032), minutes per game average (32.5) and steals (304). She ranks in the top 10 in 13 other statistical categories.

-Lindsey Frazier

Men's swim start championships with school record time

The 2005 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships kicked off competition yesterday in Minneapolis.

During preliminary competition, the 400-yard medley relay team of freshmen Gerhard Zandberg, Ivan Barnes, Albert Subirats and junior Simon Burnett set a new school record with a time of 3:10.19.

The No. 8 Arizona men's team qualified for 12 finals later in the day.

Junior Lyndon Ferns, Burnett, Zandberg and freshman Jonas Persson clocked in a time of 1:17.49 to take third in the 200y freestyle.

Junior Tyler DeBerry took second place in the 500y freestyle with a time of 4:14.35.

Fellow junior Dave Rollins placed third in the 200y individual medley in 1:44.42. Ferns also placed second in the 50y freestyle with a time of 19.30.

The 400y medley relay team of Zandberg, Barnes Ferns and Burnett took second while diver John Collier placed 10th in the 1m springboard.

The Wildcats continue competition tomorrow through the weekend.

-compiled from press releases

Gymcats swing into Berkeley for Pac-10 Championships

With its eyes on a national final appearance, the Arizona gymnastics team heads to Berkeley, Calif., for the Pacific 10 Championships at 3 p.m. tomorrow in Haas Pavilion.

"I'm looking forward to the meet. It is the hardest meet of the year. It's televised. There are seven teams, all very good," said Gymcat head coach Bill Ryden. "It is a different style of competition. There is a lot of pressure."

Arizona placed fourth in last year's Pac-10 Championships.

The No. 19 Gymcats go up against No. 3 UCLA, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 23 Washington, No. 25 ASU, Stanford and host team California.

Last week, the Gymcats (195.650) swept the meet in College Park, Md., as they beat Maryland (194.125), Rhode Island (189.975) and James Madison (186.600).

Arizona all-time leading scorer Monica Bisordi said the team is confident heading into the tournament.

"I think we are real confident," she said. "(We) are consistent now. We're going to do really well."

"We feel good. We're healthier this week. We have a strong lineup," Ryden said. "Plus, we have been doing well over the last few weeks."

The meet will be televised on Fox Sports Net April 2 as a tape delay.

"It's exciting that it's on TV, but will they show us?" said senior Jamie Duce. "We were on TV at the Super Six, but they didn't show us."

Live stats from the meet will be available on http://www.calbears.com.