Small UA track squad shows big performances

A small squad of 10 athletes accompanied by assistant coach Fred Harvey, who is mainly responsible for the sprinters, traveled to the Skydome in Flagstaff for the second time this season to compete in the Northern Arizona Invitational over the weekend.

Many Wildcats, especially the distance runners, stayed at home to practice for the important Mountain Pacific meet next week in Reno, Nev.

In Flagstaff, senior Chima Ugwu threw a season-best and his second automatic qualifying mark in the shot put with a 62-11 feet throw to finish in first place. UA's usual strong discipline, the pole vault, however, was a disappointment.

Senior Dominic Johnson and sophomore Jeff Dutiot both failed to clear a height.

"He (Johnson) was definitely on but his timing was just a little bit off," Harvey said. Johnson also competed in the long jump to get some practice for upcoming decathlons but reached just 22-4 1/2 feet.

The highlight of the meet was represented by Arizona's women's 4x400 meter relay team. Sophomores Nicole Thomas and Carolyn Jackson and seniors Stephanie Russ and Shanna Griffin set a UA record with a 3:41.38 finish. The performance gave them a provisional mark for the Indoor NCAA Championship's at Indianapolis in March.

Jackson also showed her individual excellence with a 200 preliminary round win, a race Harvey used as a performance test.

"She has the great opportunity to break the 400 school record in the upcoming meets because she looked very good in the relay and the 200," Harvey said.

In the sprint competition, senior Saki Middleton reached the finals in the 55m dash and also ran the 200 in 21.61.

"It was a very good time because he came back after a long injury. He shows improvement after every race," Harvey said.

Meanwhile, freshman Leon Callen was disqualified in the 55m after making a false start in the preliminaries.