Sidelines

With just one week remaining before the NCAA Indoors in Indianapolis, tomorrow's meet marks the beginning of the outdoor season.

"(The invitational) is a very easy way to start into the outdoor season because there's no pressure. You just go out there and compete," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

Arizona is sending 30 athletes to Sun Angel Stadium for the meet.

"A lot of the athletes who didn't have the chance to compete (in) indoors will get their first chance of competition up there," Murray said.

Seniors Chima Ugwu and Doug Reynolds, who qualified for the NCAAs in the shot put, will use this meet as an opportunity to get additional experience in the discus. After March 1, athletes can qualify for June's NCAA Outdoors in Buffalo, N.Y.

On the women's side, senior Dee Dee Buzzi will run the 200-meter. Buzzi was granted a sixth year of competition because of health problems in her freshman and sophomore years.

-Roland Lechner

Briefly

UA's men's swimming team began the Pacific 10 Conference championships yesterday in Long Beach, Calif. The meet runs through tomorrow.

1997 Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year and sophomore Ryk Neethling will defend his title in the 1,650-meter freestyle. He has been one of the nation's best distance swimmers this season, and he is focusing on the NCAA Championships three weeks from now. Neethling is favored to win his second-straight Pac-10 swimmer of the year award.

Stanford looks to win its 17th consecutive team title, while Arizona hopes to retain the third-place finish they had last season.

-Bryan Rosenbaum

By the Numbers

8:

The number of times UA women's gymnastics coach Jim Gault was named a coach of the year during his 18-year career at Arizona.

His honors include Western Collegiate Athletic Coach of the Year (1984, 1985); Pac-West Coach of the Year (1986); Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996).

Gault was also nominated for National Coach of the Year from the National Association of Collegiate Coaches/Women in 1986 and 1987.