In a season that has seen 18 athletes and one 4x400-meter relay team qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and six school records broken, the Arizona track and field squad heads into the championship portion of the year hoping to sustain that high level of performance.

The Wildcats will travel to the Pacific 10 Conference Championships in Los Angeles on May 18-19 and then have 10 days off before heading to Eugene, Ore., the site of this year's NCAA championships, held May 29 to June 1.

"We have had a very good season up until this point, but how we perform at the Pac-10s and NCAAs will really be the basis on how good our season is," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

Two areas where Arizona has been particularly strong are the throwing events and the pole vault. Junior Chima Ugwu, a junior college transfer student from Central Arizona by way of Nigeria, has established himself as one of the best in the country in the shot put and discus.

Ugwu broke the indoor school record in the shot put with a throw of 61 feet, 4 inches at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference Championships on Feb. 23 and has automatically qualified in the shot put and discus for the outdoor championships with marks of 64-4 1/2 and 196-10, respectively.

In the men's hammer, freshman Tapio Kolunsarka has also automatically qualified for the NCAAs with his throw of 229-1, set on April 20. Kolunsarka's mark is the second-best in the nation so far this season.

Dominic Johnson shattered his own UA outdoor pole vault record at the Drake Relays on April 27 with an automatic qualifying vault of 18-1 1/2. Autio broke Johnson's indoor school record at a triangular meet on Feb. 10, vaulting 17-1 1/2.

On the track, the Wildcats were led by senior Michelle Johnson. Johnson, from Phoenix, earned a school record of her own on April 6 at the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, finishing second in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 57.17 seconds. That mark automatically qualified her for the NCAAs for the third straight year.

At last year's outdoor championships, Johnson earned All-American honors in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing seventh. She has also provisionally qualified in the 100-meter high hurdles with her time of 13.52 and will anchor the women's 4x400-meter relay squad at the NCAAs.

Johnson will be joined by sophomore Bob Keino at the outdoor championships. Keino set two automatic marks this year qualifying, in the 5,000 meters and 1,500 meters. He finished with times of 13:45.09 and 3:41.13, respectively.

Freshman Amy Skieresz has also qualified for the NCAA championships in the 5,000 meters with her school-record breaking time of 15:45.59, but is listed as day-to-day for the championship meets with what has been diagnosed as either bursitis or tendonitis in her left foot.