Track teams split up for weekend meets

The only athlete UA is sending to Indianapolis is junior Amy Skieresz, who will run in the 5,000-meter.

"The competition for Amy is better there. (She's) going there primarily to meet the automatic qualifying mark (16:20), with which she shouldn't have problems with," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

Skieresz set a collegiate record at the Indianapolis track last year.

Neither the Indianapolis nor Lincoln meet are team competitions. Nevertheless, coaches consider them good chances to see how their athletes measure up to others.

So far, 1,200 athletes from over 100 schools are signed up for the Cornhusker Invitational.

Arizona is sending 16 athletes to Lincoln.

"The main purpose of this meet is to try to get some solid qualifying performances," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

Freshman Patrick Nduwimana is one of the most promising athletes to accomplish this. He won the 800 last week in Flagstaff in an average time, because of the altitude and the lack of equal opponents. But he'll be up against stiffer competition at the Cornhusker Invitational.

"This week he'll compete against some very good runners. We definitely expect a much faster time and hopefully one that gets him the automatic mark (for the NCAAs)," Murray said.

UA's strong pole vaulters include senior Dominic Johnson and sophomore Jeff Dutiot. While Johnson already has an automatic berth for the national championships in March, Dutiot is looking to qualify this weekend.

Senior throwers Chima Ugwu and Doug Reynolds are competing in the shot put competition while sophomore Klaus Ambrosch and senior Jacob Schneider will start in the hurdles.

Sophomore Saki Middleton, who came back this season after two years of steady injury problems, promises to be a qualifying candidate in the 55m dash.

"He looks like he's starting to come around. We hope that he also can get a NCAA qualifying (time), which I think he is capable of," Murray said.

Competing in Nebraska on the women's side will be sophomore Carolyn Jackson, who will run the 400. Although she already reached a provisional mark, it may not be enough to qualify for the NCAAs.

"She needs to improve her time and that's the purpose of this weekend," Murray said.