UA track teams capture trophy at the Jim Click Wildcat Shootout

Charles C. Labenz Arizona Daily Wildcat UA senior, Kyle Dorsey placed first the 400 meter hurdles in Saturday's Jim Click Wildcat Shootout track meet with a time 52.13 seconds.

It didn't stop them, though, from downing Colorado, Baylor and Michigan State to take home the trophy at the fourth-annual Jim Click Wildcat Shootout.

The Wildcats won on the combined strength of both the men's and women's teams' scores. Arizona finished with a score of 345 (179 men, 166 women), followed by Colorado at 278 (146 men, 132 women), Baylor with 275 (117 men, 158 women) and Michigan State at 144 (51 men, 93 women).

"It was a good meet," UA head coach Dave Murray said. "We had a couple things not go well, with injuries to A.J. (Cornelius), who strained his hamstring in the long jump and Dameon (Ortiz) pulled his hamstring before the meet."

The men were paced by several strong performances, including sophomore Tapio Kolunsarka winning both the hammer throw (216 feet, 1 inch) and the javelin (177-03), sophomore Jussi Autio in the pole vault (16-6 3/4), sophomore Brian Malloy in the triple jump (46-9), senior Akin Akinremi in the 100-meter dash (10.57 seconds) and senior Kyle Dorsey in the 400m hurdles (52.13).

"I'm not pleased with the time or the (way) I ran the race, but I'm always pleased with winning," Dorsey said. "And in a team (scored) meet, anything I can do to help is good."

The men were without junior runner Bob Keino, who has been ill for the past two weeks. Kolunsarka, whom Murray described as "being on his deathbed last week," competed despite still feeling the effects from his own bout with illness.

The women were led by the usual suspects, freshman Erin Aldrich and sophomore Amy Skieresz.

Aldrich, as she did the previous weekend at the Willie Williams Classic, set a new personal record in the high jump at 6-feet, 3 1/2 inches.

"Hopefully I can keep it up," Aldrich said of her tendency to better herself in each meet. "Next week I can go as high as I want, instead of just going over my PR and then stopping."

She also competed in both the long jump and the triple jump.

"Today Coach Murray put people in different events for team (scoring) purposes," Aldrich said. "I know that when we have team meets I may have to do extra events, but my main focus is the high jump."

Fellow freshman Tara Flaming came in second in the high jump with an NCAA provisional qualifying height of 5-10.

Skieresz was the only winner on the women's side in any running event, breezing to the finish line in the 3,000m run with a time of 9:36.47.

While not terribly impressed with her own performance, Skieresz felt that it was nonetheless important to win.

"Of course (it's important), cause you have the whole team that you're responsible for, not just yourself," she said.

Other winners included senior Holly Montoya, who set a new school record with a distance of 179-2 in the hammer throw, freshman Mandy Shefman in the shot put (44-6) and senior Megan Salisbury in the javelin (134-5).