Cross country takes second in San Diego

The UA men's and women's cross country teams both finished second in the team standings at the 60th annual Aztec Invitational Saturday, hosted by San Diego State.

The Arizona women finished second to No. 20 Duke while barely edging No. 15 Northern Arizona, which finished third with 109 points.

On the men's side, the Wildcats placed second to NAU. The Wildcats finished just ahead of Southern Utah, who placed third.

The Wildcat women were led by the ninth-place finish of senior Beth Hoge. Hoge completed the five-kilometer course in 18:21. Freshman transfer Emily McGregor was the second Wildcat across the line. McGregor placed 17th with a time of 18:46.

The Wildcat men competed without their top two runners from last week. Sophomore Robert Cheseret and junior Josh Ludwig remained in Tucson to focus on training.

Even without the duo, the Wildcats ran a very competitive race with a strong NAU squad that finished third at the 2003 NCAA Championships.

The UA men were led by freshman Mohamed Trafeh's fourth-place finish. Trafeh clocked a time of 25:47 on the 8,000-meter course. Redshirt freshman Chris Ogle was the second Wildcat across the line. Ogle finished 13th in 26:32.

A trio of Wildcats rounded out the scoring effort as they finished 25th through 27th. Sophomore Kenny Frank led the group, finishing 25th in 27:00. Fellow sophomore Ryan Ludwig was 26th, crossing the finish line at 27:05. Rounding out the group was senior Kevin Engelhardt in 27th place and a time of 27:08.

The Wildcats will head to Minneapolis for the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday.

Women's tennis upset in Waco

UA senior Maja Mlakar was the final Wildcat women's tennis player to fall in the open singles bracket of the Baylor Invitational this weekend, after the top-ranked duo of seniors Mlakar and Dianne Hollands were upset in the quarterfinal round of doubles play.

Mlakar, the lone Wildcat still alive in open bracket play through Saturday, lost to Daniela Muscolino 6-2, 5-7, 7-6. Mlakar, the No. 9 seed of the tournament, had defeated Muscolino's Tulsa teammate Santie Delport in the second round, following a first round bye.

Hollands and Mlakar lost to Georgia Tech's Kristi Miller and Alison Silverio 8-5 in the quarterfinal round. Their loss comes just eight days after being ranked the No. 1 doubles pair in the nation, according to ITA.

Hollands, who had lost to Miller in the second round of singles play, defeated Kindsay Grimes of Tulsa 6-1, 6-0 in their Gold Draw Back quarterfinal match. Hollands will next face Baylor's Iva Mihaylova in the semifinal match Sunday morning.

Junior Stephanie Balzert, who transferred from Baylor this fall, recovered from yesterday's first round loss in singles play, with two victories in the Green Back Draw. Balzert defeated Jenny Langer of SMU by virtue of Langer's injury in the Round of 16. Following the victory by default, Balzert played to her first victory as a Wildcat, defeating Tulsa's Carla Zabaleta 6-1, 6-1. Balzert will now face Lindsey Stauss of Georgia Tech in the semifinals of her bracket.