Wildcat runners fend off illness and exhaustion en route to San Diego

For members of the Arizona cross country team, that means gearing themselves up to run over 50 miles every week in practice and on their own.

All that exercise, combined with the other problems that college students face, such as lack of sleep and a poor diet, can leave an athlete vulnerable to various illnesses and other problems.

"It happens every year around this time," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

This year, the illness bug has bitten both the men's and women's squads as they head into tomorrow's Aztec Invitational in San Diego.

While the men's runners who aren't feeling well, sophomore Jeremy Lyon, junior Jeff McLarty and freshman Tom Prindiville, all plan to go to California, one of the women cannot.

Sophomore Kristen Parrish, the team's No. 3 runner, is staying in Tucson this weekend after doctors discovered she had a low potassium level in her bloodstream.

"She's a very important cog in the team," Murray said. "I don't know how the women will do without Kristen. We'll have to rely on our back people to step up."

Parrish declined to comment on her condition, just saying that "I feel sick right now."

The low potassium level was most likely due to something lacking in Parrish's diet, according to Murray.

"It's good we found out," he said. "She had been running sluggishly in practice."

Murray is not too worried, though, because he sees the Aztec as "another meet to just evaluate ourselves at."

He does think that the men have a good chance of winning their second meet in a row, as UCLA pulled its first team out of the meet after running at Texas last weekend.

Murray, though, is excited to see UCLA's top female runner, Kim Mortensen, go up against UA junior Amy Skieresz.

Murray sees Mortensen as one of the few runners in the country that can challenge Skieresz, the defending NCAA champion.

The Wildcats also welcomed the last member of their team, junior transfer Katrin Engelen, who has come over from Germany to compete for Arizona.

"I'm not expecting a world-beating performance out of her," Murray said. "She's still adjusting to the climate, to the school, to everything. She's running good, though, so I hope she does well this weekend."

The Wildcats then will have two weeks off before traveling to Missoula, Mont. for the Mountain West Classic on Oct. 4, which Murray considers "our first real competitive meet."