Key athletes ready for upcoming NCAA Indoors

"Overall we had some outstanding individual performances, but not very good team results," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

UA's lack of depth was one reason the Wildcats finished with in a fifth place tie on the men's side (55 points behind winner Washington State) and sixth place for the women (61 points behind winner Stanford).

Once again, it was the same athletes who scored the points for Arizona. The highlight in Reno was undoubtedly Amy Skieresz's amazing performance. She won the 3,000-meter in 9:28.83, nearly lapping all of her opponents. The time also gave her an automatic berth for the NCAA Indoors at Indianapolis in two weeks.

But that was not Skieresz' only success over the weekend. At the meet, she was honored as the female athlete of the year for her achievements in 1997, when she was the 5,000 indoor and outdoor champion as well as the 10,000 outdoor champion at the NCAAs.

Over the weekend, Skieresz also anchored the winning distance medley relay (4:43) that broke the old school record. She gave her team the victory after receiving the baton in last place.

Sophomore Carolyn Jackson ran a provisional time in the 400, finishing in second at 54.59. But she has to wait until next weekend - when the NCAA announces the field of participants for the NCAA Indoors - to see whether her time was fast enough.

Meanwhile, in the men's competition, senior Dominic Johnson proved to be in good form, setting a new school indoor record of 18-1 in the pole vaulting competition. Johnson had already met the qualification standards for the NCAAs, while his teammate, sophomore Jeff Dutiot, has to wait to see whether his provisional mark of 17-7 is strong enough.

Arizona will also be represented by two athletes who already met the automatic qualifying marks in the shot put at the NCAAs. Seniors Chima Ugwu and Doug Reynolds' performance in Reno were different, though. Ugwu underlined his national title claim by winning the shot put competition with 62-6 feet, another new indoor school record. Reynolds, however, finished in fourth place with 59-9 3/4, far from his true capability.

Freshman Patrick Nduwimana was unable to improve his provisional mark of the season, despite a second place finish in the 800 in 1:50.44.

"Although he was strong in the finish, the second half of his race was slow. Otherwise he would have made it (the automatic qualifying mark)," Murray said.

Even though Nduwimana reached the provisional mark early in the season, his time probably will not be enough to get him into the NCAAs.