UA SPORTS BRIEFS

UA cross country team sweeps 2nd straight meet

The Arizona men's and women's cross country teams both took home titles at the Aztec Invitational for their second straight victories this season.

"We had a real good meet and I'm pleased with all of our performances," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

Seniors Amy Skieresz and Abdi Abdirahman won the individual titles for the Wildcats for the second straight week. Abdirahman took the men's title in 24 minutes, 56 seconds, while Skieresz won the women's race in 17:03.

The women's team, led by Skieresz, finished with 42 points, 12 points ahead of second place Arkansas. Pacific 10 Conference rival UCLA finished third with 104 points and Southern Utah was fourth with 146.

"We knew it would be a challenge running against Arkansas and it was our depth that showed real well in the end," Murray said.

Freshman Tara Chaplin finished second overall for the second straight week. She finished eight seconds behind Skieresz at 17:11. Juniors Kristen Parrish (17:48) and Claire Becker (18:25) finished eighth and 14th, respectively, and freshman Jennifer Burris was 17th, finishing in 18:33.

"I was real impressed with Kristen (Parrish). Last week, she finished about a minute behind Amy, but she improved so much this week. She was our biggest improvement," Murray said.

The men's team, led by Abdirahman, took the top four spots and five of the top six to finish with 16 points, one point away from a perfect score. Southern Utah finished a distant second with 79 points, Long Beach State was third with 134 points, and UCLA was fourth with 137 points.

"The men's side was not real strong, but I am most impressed with the times the men turned in. They were all lower than they were last year at this meet," Murray said.

Juniors Micheil Jones (25:02) and Jeremy Lyon (25:21) finished second and third. Sophomore David Lopez was fourth in 25:22 and senior Jeff McLarty finished sixth in 25:39.

"We go out there and go hard for the first mile and see how we feel. We try to run as a team," Abdirahman said. "After winning our first two meets, we are ready to race anybody."

The Wildcats' next meet is Saturday, Sept. 26 at the Mountain West Classic in Missoula, Mont.

Mike Jenkins can be reached via e-mail at Mike.Jenkins@wildcat.arizona.edu.

Volleyball team cruises to best start ever

From staff reports

No. 21 Arizona set a school record for consecutive victories with 10 as the Wildcats defeated Washington 5-15, 15-13, 15-8, 15-11 yesterday afternoon. After the first weekend of Pacific 10 Conference play, Arizona is 10-0 and the conference's only undefeated team.

Neither team hit particularly well, with Arizona hitting .150 and Washington hitting .047.

UA sophomore outside hitter Allison Napier led all players with 19 kills, while freshman setter Dana Burkholder had 47 assists. Junior outside hitter Raelene Elam had 8 digs and sophomore middle blocker Marisa DaLee had 9 blocks.

Kristina Laffling led the Huskies (1-5, 0-2) with 15 kills and 9 digs.

Arizona defeated Washington State 15-12, 15-7, 15-12 Friday afternoon. Burkholder had 47 assists in the Pac-10 opener for both teams. UA senior middle blocker Keisha Johnson Demps led all players with 17 kills and sophomore middle blocker Marisa DaLee had a hitting percentage of .476 with 13 kills. Junior outside hitter Raelene Elam had a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs, plus four service aces.

Washington State's Colleen Smith had 12 kills.

Women's soccer teamdrops two matches over weekend

From staff reports

The women's soccer team had high hopes heading into this weekend's James Madison Tournament in Harrisonburg, Va., but instead finished last after losing to Kansas and George Washington.

In the first round against Kansas on Friday, the Wildcats allowed a goal late in the first half when Lindsay Horner headed a corner kick past UA goalie Inger Airheart, who had seven saves in the game.

Despite outshooting the Jayhawks 18-14, the Wildcats couldn't put the ball in the net and lost 1-0.

In the consolation game yesterday morning, George Washington scored with only 4:29 left in the game to lift the Colonials to a 2-1 victory.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first half, the Wildcats tied the game up when Brooke McManus took a pass from Nikki Jones and beat GW goalie Rima Sudhu.

The Wildcats' record now stands at 1-4-1 heading into their next match, a home game against Denver Friday afternoon.