UA's Skieresz earns 2nd NCAA title in four months

Skieresz finished eight seconds ahead of Wisconsin's Kathy Butler, who was expected to be her greatest competitor.

"She ran extremely well," UA head coach Dave Murray said. "She was a little bit nervous at the beginning. She let Kathy Butler control the race for too long before she finally decided to take charge."

The time was the fastest by an American-born collegiate athlete this year.

Skieresz won the cross country national title in November.

The other five athletes that Arizona sent to the championships did not fare quite as well.

Sophomore Emily Nay was disqualified in the 5,000m due to an official's error. The official miscounted the number of laps Nay completed and stopped her one lap short.

"She was running very well, she could've been a top eight finisher," Murray said. "It happens from time to time, but it was disappointing because it robbed her of All-American status (which comes with a top eight finish)."

Senior Dee Dee Buzzi made it to the semifinals of the 55m hurdles.

"She ran one of her best times of the year, it just wasn't good enough," Murray said.

The three members of the men's team did not do much better.

Junior Bob Keino lost a battle to a week-long illness and did not make it out of the preliminaries in the mile.

"It was too bad, he would have placed in the top four or five," Murray said.

Junior Dominic Johnson no-heighted on the pole vault and sophomore Tapio Kolunsarka did not place in the 35-pound weight throw.

"We don't put a lot of emphasis on indoors. Now we just have to get ready for some outdoor competition," he said.

The Wildcats will have a bye week prior to hosting the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson on March 21-22.

Nine other schools will be sending teams to compete, including Brigham Young, Arizona State, Nebraska, Boise State, Dartmouth and Illinois.