JOSH FIELDS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore Alexis Viggiano runs a hurdle event during the April 2 Arizona Invitational. The Wildcats prepare to take on ASU Saturday in Tempe at the Arizona/ASU/NAU Double-Dual.

The mood at practice for the Arizona track and field teams was very light Monday following their weekend off.

"The weekend off was really good for a lot of people," Arizona head coach Fred Harvey said. "The rejuvenation over the weekend really helped their psyche in terms of getting ready for this upcoming week."

It's a good thing everyone was in a playful mood, as Harvey turned a few heads when he came to practice sporting an ASU shirt.

"Nice shirt there, Harvey," senior hurdler Chelsea Powell joked.

Harvey shot her a smile. She knew why he was wearing it.

"I can just imagine coach going into the store wearing a disguise when he went to buy it," freshman jumper Steve MacGregor said.

The tradition stems from Harvey's tenure at Cal Poly, where he served as assistant women's coach for seven years. Every week before the Mustangs faced their rival, UC Santa Barbara in a dual meet, he would sport a shirt that featured their mascot, the Gauchos.

"I just wear it to spark some interest," Harvey said of his new Sun Devil shirt, the newness of the shirt evident with the trademark new-shirt crease still fresh in the sleeves. "At the end of the week, we'll have a little ceremony at the team meeting and distribute (the shirt) to the team."

The rivalry

While Harvey was busy motivating his team, some members didn't feel that the upcoming meet was anything out of the ordinary when considering the competition.

"Rivals are more for basketball and football," sophomore sprinter Maritza Mora said.

Harvey disagreed, stating that the rivalry is alive and well between the ASU and Arizona programs.

"I couldn't disagree more," he said. "That's just the mentality of our society. It's absolutely untrue."

Harvey further explained how much beating ASU meant to him.

"If we're ranked 99, they (ASU) had better be 100," he said.

Men remain third in Trackwire 25

Speaking of rankings, the men remained in third in the Trackwire 25, though Louisana State moved up three spots from No. 6 to tie the Wildcats.

The Sun Devils, who had been one spot behind the Wildcats at No. 4, fell to LSU's former spot at No .6, where they are tied with Pacific 10 Conference foe Southern California.

Individually, five Wildcat men were ranked in seven different events.

Junior distance runner Robert Cheseret is ranked No. 1 in the 5,000-meter in Trackwire's Dandy Dozen, which ranks the top 12 athletes in each event, and teammate Obed Mutanya, a junior, comes in two spots behind him at No. 3. Cheseret also ranked third in the 10,000.

Junior distance runner Jonah Maiyo came in at No. 4 in the 1,500.

Arizona shot put record-holder Sean Shields, a junior, is No. 3 in that event, as well as No. 5 in the discus. Fellow thrower Adam Kuehl, a sophomore, is one spot ahead of Shields in the disc at No. 4.

Though the Wildcat women remained unranked, their Sun Devil counterparts came in at No. 18.

Two women were individually ranked as well, senior Ilona Rutjes and sophomore Rachel Varner in the disc at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.