The Arizona track teams compete in the final meet of a four-meet home stand tomorrow against in-state rival ASU in the Arizona International tomorrow at Drachman Stadium beginning at 11:30 a.m.
The teams are led by the throwing tandem of junior Sean Shields and sophomore Adam Kuehl, who placed first and second in the discus during Saturday's Jim Click Shootout and also boast the nation's top two throws in the same event.
"Before the season started, we all made an agreement that we were going to do the best possible job to prepare for this season," said Arizona assistant coach John Frazier. "I think what we did (during the indoor season) has definitely shown what they're capable of."
Arizona head coach Fred Harvey said a lot of the throwers' success could be attributed to their mentor.
"John Frazier, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is one of the top throws coaches in the country," he said.
Frazier, a graduate of UCLA, is in his fourth year of coaching at Arizona and has produced five All-Americans during his tenure here.
So, do his throwers have room for improvement?
"Oh, man," Frazier said. "I don't want to put any limits, but there's a lot more feet on shot, and a lot more feet on discus."
Frazier said he feels Shields has a definite chance at an individual championship at the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 8-11 in Sacramento, Calif.
"If (Shields) stays along the same lines of what he's been doing, he can have a good shot at winning," Frazier said, noting the fact that Shields wasn't able to start throwing until January because of a wrist injury.
Frazier said Kuehl continues to improve as he learns to approach his throws differently.
"He's still on an upward trend right now," he said. "What's helped him is that he's focused at what's going on in the ring, as opposed to looking how far he's going to throw."
Technical aspects will be the focus of the meet for both teams heading into tomorrow.
"We're in a training block where we're starting our power and speed development in the sprints and hurdles," Harvey said. "There's a real strong emphasis on power development in the weight room and some technical aspects in terms of starts, hurdles and blocks."
That this will be the fourth home meet in a row was lost on some athletes and met with pleasure by others.
"For me it doesn't matter where the meet is, a meet's a meet," senior jumper Courtney Washington said.
Meanwhile, her coach said it made a big difference.
"It's always nice to wake up in your own bed, get to your own track, and not have to rush to an airport," Harvey said.
"Any time you don't have to travel, especially just coming off of spring break, having all these meets here makes it that much easier to get all your study time in," he said.