They are called trials because that is where you are judged, and if several UA athletes get the verdicts they want, they will find themselves in the Summer Olympics.

The Games start in Atlanta on July 19, but Wildcat athletes will soon be spreading across the globe in search of places on their respective country's team in Olympic trials.

Six current Arizona athletes will take to the track, field and diamond in the hope of finding Olympic success (and some hardware to take home). Medals are nothing new for Wildcats. In Barcelona four years ago, UA's Crissy Ahman-Leighton won two gold and a silver in swimming and sprinter Michael Bates brought home the bronze in the 200 meters.

There may be seven Wildcats trying out, but freshman distance runner Amy Skieresz, who finished second in the NCAA cross country championships and ran the second fastest 5,000 meter time in Pacific 10 Conference women's history, has developed what has been diagnosed as either tendonitis or bursitis in her left foot. Skieresz qualified for the trials in the 5,000, and according to UA track coach Dave Murray, her condition will be evaluated daily up to the U.S. Trials, which begin June 10 in Atlanta.

Softball player Leah O'Brien, who redshirted this past season, already survived the selection process last semester to find a place on the first U.S. softball team. O'Brien, who hit .433 as a center fielder last season for NCAA runner-up Arizona, is considered a strong bet to start in left field. The U.S. team is expected to dominate the rest of the field on its way to a gold medal.

Hurdler Michelle Johnson has automatically qualified for trials in the 400-meter hurdles and has a provisional time in the 100-meter hurdles. According to UA assistant coach Fred Harvey, Johnson's time in the 100 (13.50 seconds) should be good enough to get her a spot in that event as well. For Johnson, a senior from Phoenix who set a UA record in the 400 with a 57.17 at the Sun Angel Classic that gave her the automatic berth, going to the Olympics has been something she's dreamed about since she was a little kid. Her family used to joke with her about it at family picnics when she would run around, and for Johnson, who finished seventh last summer at the Mobil USA Track & Field Championships in the 400 meters, the time to rise to the occasion is now.

"I am going to continue to work hard and stay focused and keep training right on through the NCAA Championships," Johnson said. "I am starting to feel the pressure because I haven't had the greatest races this past year, but I know I'm capable of much more."

Harvey, who will be at the trials with her, said Johnson's experience against strong fields will help her against the nation's best.

"Her experience at the Mobil Championships will be her saving grace at the trials," Harvey said. "Now she has seen and raced against the best in the world and she knows how to handle herself."

---

Junior Chima Ugwu will try and earn a spot on the Nigerian team in both the shot put and the discus. The Nigerian trials will be June 20 in Lagos. Ugwu, who also has a spot on the football team, holds the best mark in the NCAAs this year in the shot put with 64-4 1/2. He also qualified automatically in the discus with a throw of 196-10.

He is a veteran of international competition, having participated in the Pan-Am Games, the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup Games. Ugwu is considered the best thrower in Africa, although he would like to raise his personal bests to at least 67 feet in the shot put and 215 feet in the discus to prepare for the trials and the Olympics.

"It is a very, very important goal of mine to go to the Olympic Games. It has been a dream of mine since I was a boy," Ugwu said. "The Olympics are the only big competition remaining for me to compete in."

Like Johnson, Ugwu's experience will serve him well in the coming months.

"Chima is used to high levels of competition and feels at ease in tense situations," said UA assistant Mike Maynard, Ugwu's coach.

Vaulter Dominic Johnson has dual citizenship in America and St. Lucia, a small West Indian island nation, and he will put both to good use. Johnson, a sophomore who shattered his own UA record in the pole vault at the Drake Relays two weeks ago with a vault of 18-1 1/2, will compete in both countries' trials. He will find out May 15 if he has made the St. Lucia team.

He could be part of St. Lucia's first Olympic team, but just being at the Games brings certain personal rewards as well for Johnson.

"I would like to meet Sergei Bubka at the Olympics, but I tend not to get excited about that stuff because if I do it is like admitting defeat," he said.

Finland is where a pair of UA athletes hail from, and on July 5 vaulter Jussi Autio and hammer thrower Tapio Kolunsarka will begin their quest for the Olympics.

Kolunsarka, a freshman from Kuortane, finished fourth in the hammer throw during the 1994 World Junior Championships and in 1993 set a Finnish junior record in that event. Autio, also a freshman from Lahti, placed 10th in the 1994 World Junior Championhsips and holds the UA indoor school record with a vault of 17-1 1/2.

The two have known each other for five years while making the rounds on the track and field circuit and spent 11 months together in Finland's military.

While Autio has UA's school record, he knows he will have to do better than that to make it to Atlanta.

"In Finland there is a lot of competition in the pole vault with even guys who can vault over 18 feet, so it is very hard to say what my chances are," Autio said.

So six, and maybe seven, UA athletes will attempt to qualify for the greatest spectacle in sport. One, O'Brien, is in for sure, and who knows how many will follow. These Wildcats, who come from Nigeria, Finland, St. Lucia and America could all find themselves sharing the same stage on a steamy summer day in a few months.

"It would show me that the UA has an amazing program with many special athletes," Dominic Johnson said about what he'd think if he saw a fellow Wildcat walking into the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremonies. "It would be really great to see them there."