By Chris Jackson
Arizona Summer Wildcat
August 26, 1997

Summer chronicles

For three months, all seemed calm at the University of Arizona. But not every student spent the summer lying around and enjoying the sun. Many of Arizona's athletes and coaches stayed busy, some by choice, others due to circumstances beyond their control. These are the highs and lows that many of the UA's sports teams and athletes experienced over the summer.

May 16- The UA men's basketball team arrives in Sydney, Australia, to begin a three-week tour playing against nine different teams. In their first game on May 19, the Wildcats lose to the Australian 22-and-under team, 86-85 in overtime, at the Gosford City Sports Stadium. Jason Terry called it, "The longest day of my life," referring to the 17 hour time difference between Gosford and Tucson. The game began at 3:30 a.m. Tucson time.

May 26- The Arizona softball team wins its fifth national title in seven years with a 10-2 victory over UCLA in Oklahoma City. Pitcher Nancy Evans is named MVP after pitching 40 consecutive innings. It is Arizona's second straight title.

- Michael Dickerson leaves the Arizona men's basketball team during its tour of Australia, heading home to Seattle to be with his ailing grandmother. His departure came after a 31-point effort against the Melbourne Tigers two days earlier. His grandmother is later released from the hospital and Dickerson says that he is staying in Seattle for the remainder of the summer.

June 6- Amy Skieresz wins the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The following day she wins the 5,000-meter race, becoming the first athlete, male or female, in NCAA history to win four national titles in one school year. Skieresz previously won the 5,000m at the Indoor Championships back in March and was the 1996 NCAA Cross Country champion.

June 8- The men's basketball team returns from Australia, having gone 5-4 over the three week tour. After starting out 1-3 and losing Dickerson, the Wildcats bounced back to win four in a row before falling, 120-96, to the Melbourne Magic, last year's Australian National Basketball league champions, in their final game. Arizona will have a rematch come November, when the Magic visit McKale Center in Tucson for an exhibition game. Most of the Wildcats players head home to work on their game and take a breather before the fall semester begins in August.

June 11- University police arrest UA football players Mikal Smith and Leland Gayles after discovering 67 illegally obtained textbooks in the trunk of Gayles' car. They are accused of using stolen Athletic Department book vouchers to purchase textbooks at University-area bookstores, and then trying to sell the books back at 50 percent of their value. The Athletic Department issues textbooks to all full-scholarship athletes at the beginning of each semester. Those books are property of the Department to be returned at the end of the semester.

June 12- Amy Skieresz is named the Pacific 10 Conference female track athlete of the year. Skieresz won almost every race she participated in during the season, including setting the conference record in the 10,000-meters at the Penn Relays on April 26.

June 18- UA sophomore high jumper Erin Aldrich qualifies for a spot on the US national team, which will compete at the 1997 World Track and Field Championships in Athens, Greece. This came after Aldrich posted a personal-best height of 6 feet, 4-inches at the US Track and Field Championships. Aldrich was one of three high jumpers named to the team.

June 26- Athletic Director Jim Livengood presents a plan to the Arizona Board of Regents for a new $10.2 million athletic center. The strength and conditioning center would be 22,000 square feet, three times the size of the current weight room. The center would be in addition to the $500,000 renovation of the football coaches' complex at Fred Enke Plaza that has already been completed. It is part of Livengood's efforts to bring Arizona up to par with the other Pac-10 football programs. The center would be built on the north lawn of McKale Center and would take about 13 months to complete.

June 27- UA softball player Julie Reitan dies in her sleep. The 21-year-old outfielder suffered from diabetes, and autopsy results later reveal that she died from hypoglycemia, a low blood sugar disorder. The disorder caused Reitan to have a seizure in her sleep, though it is rare for such a seizure to be fatal. Funeral services for Reitan were held on July 30, with most of her teammates, members of the community and head coach Mike Candrea in attendance.

July 2- UA gymnastics coach Jim Gault announces he'll retire after the 1997-98 season. It will be Gault's 18th season at Arizona. He won five Pac-10 coach of the year awards and helped guide the Wildcats to seven straight NCAA appearances from 1987-93.

- UA softball head coach Mike Candrea is named the Speedline/NFCA Division I Coach of the Year for the second year in a row, after the Wildcats won the NCAA title for the second straight year. He was also named Pacific-Region Coach of the Year on June 18.

July 31- The UA football team is picked to finish sixth in the conference at the Pac-10 Media Day in Los Angeles by the members of the press. Other predictions have the Wildcats finishing as high as third and as low as seventh.

- UA football players Leland Gayles and Mikal Smith are formally indicted on fraud charges. Gayles and Smith await a pre-trial conference on September 11. Both players are suspended indefinitely by head coach Dick Tomey.

August 14- Camp Cochise, the UA's annual practice to start the fall season, gets underway. Coach Dick Tomey prepares the Wildcats to open the season on the road for the first time since 1994. The Wildcats play Oregon in Eugene on Thursday, September 4. Their first home game will be on Sept. 13 against Alabama-Birmingham.

- Associate Athletic Director Butch Henry resigns to become the Athletic Director at Florida International University in Miami. Henry served as the director for internal services and media coordination, focusing on football and basketball scheduling.

August 25- Sports Illustrated ranks the UA football team 15th in the country. It is the highest rating for Arizona in any preseason poll this season, as the Wildcats were ranked 31st in the Associated Press poll and did not receive any votes in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll. SI predicts the Wildcats will finish second in the Pac-10.