Despite strong showings, Pillow is lone UA winner

Senior distance runner Jon Pillow was the lone winner, taking the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8 minutes, 57.92 seconds.

"We had a fairly good meet," UA head coach Dave Murray said. "The people we took up there did fairly well. Jon's performance was especially good."

Finishing fifth in the 3,000m was freshman Jeremy Lyon (9:16.34), a season-best time for him. Other Wildcat men who posted season-best times included freshman Micheil Jones finishing fifth in the 1,500m (3:49.00) and freshman Jeff McLarty taking fifth in the 5,000m (14:50.36).

Junior runner Bob Keino, who has battled illness for much of the season, came back and finished an impressive second in the 1,500m (3:48.39), good enough to qualify him for the Pacific 10 Conference Championships May 24-25.

"It's an excellent time considering he just started training again a week ago," Murray said.

Murray was also pleased with the Pac-10 qualifying performance of senior Dameon Ortiz in the 400m (8th, 47.42), which came despite the fact that Ortiz suffered a groin pull that kept him out of last week's Jim Click Wildcat Shootout in Tucson.

Senior Megan Salisbury led the Wildcat women by posting a personal-best throw of 149-feet, 7 inches in the javelin, which enabled her to finish third.

Junior Virginia Camacho finished eighth in the 1,500m with a season-best time of 4:32.

Other Wildcat women with stand-out performances included freshman Erin Aldrich in the high jump (2nd, 6-0 1/2), freshman Mandy Shefman in the shot put (5th, 42-4), senior Holly Montoya in the discus (5th, 141-7) and sophomore Emily Nay in the 3,000m (5th, 9:47.77).

Sophomore Amy Skieresz did not win an event for the first time all season, finishing sixth in the 1,500m with a season-best time of 4:28.06. Skieresz usually runs the 3,000 or 5,000m, said Murray.

"We dropped Amy down to the 1,500, which is more like a sprint for her," Murray said. "Amy doesn't like to get beat, but that wasn't her event so we're pleased with the time that she had."

There was no team scoring at the meet. Other competitors included Arizona State, Northern Arizona, Nebraska, Southern Cal and San Diego State, as well as many clubs and national-caliber individual competitors.

Next for the Wildcats is a three-way against ASU and NAU on April 12 in Tempe.