Who's Going: The Wildcats will take a large, but somewhat limited contingent to the meet. Several athletes will open their competition for the season, while others will see work in their off events. Several athletes who competed during the entire indoor season will have the week off, as will the four athletes scheduled to run in the March 10-11 NCAA Indoor Championships.

Fast Forward: Five Arizona athletes are expected to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, March 10-11, in Fayetteville, Ark. The athletes -- Tara Chaplin (5,000m), Jeff Dutoit (pole vault), Brianna Glenn (60m, 200m, long jump), Carolyn Jackson (400m) and Andrea Neary (pole vault) -- reached solid provisional qualifying marks during the season and will likely advance to the NCAA meet. The Wildcats then open their outdoor season in full, March 17-18, by hosting the Willie Williams Classic at Drachman Stadium.

Wildcat Women's Watch: The Arizona women have several elite competitors on the team this season, led by quarter-miler Carolyn Jackson. The senior from Tucson, Ariz. will be a national title contender in both the indoor and outdoor 400m. Jackson is a three-time All-American and finished fifth in the 400m at the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Jackson tied for first in the 400m at the MPSF Championships and improved her NCAA provisional qualifying time in 54.06c. Two sophomores will also pace the Wildcats this year, Tara Chaplin and Brianna Glenn. Glenn, from La Mirada, Calif., will contend for Pacific-10 Conference titles in the 100m, as well as long and triple jumps. Chaplin, from Montpelier, Vt., won the Pac-10 5,000m title last season, and competed in five NCAA Championship events as a freshman -- a first for a Wildcat. Chaplin provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor meet in the 5,000m, with a time of 16:35.18 in Indianapolis. Glenn set three school indoor records at the ASU-NAU dual meet in Flagstaff, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA meet with those marks as well. She ran 7.34 in the 60m, 24.05 in the 200m and long jumped 20-7 1/2. Both Glenn and Chaplin won titles at the MPSF Championships, Glenn in the 55m and Chaplin in the 5,000m

Men's Movings: Three All-Americans return to the Arizona team this season, senior Jeff Dutoit (pole vault) and juniors Esko Mikkola (javelin) and Patrick Nduwimana (800m). Dutoit finished third at the NCAA Indoors and tied for seventh at the Outdoors last season. He provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor meet with a clearance of 17-6 1/2 (5.35m) at the Feb. 12 Husker Invitational. Mikkola won the1998 NCAA Championship and finished second last year in the javelin. Nduwimana advanced to the semifinals of the 800m at the World Championships last summer after finishing second at the NCAA Outdoor meet. All three will contend for national titles this year. Nduwimana, however, has a foot injury that will hold him out of competition this week. Sophomore Mike Kenyon, a transfer from Cal State-Sacramento will also be a leader for the team this year. He PRed at the meet in Flagstaff, running 47.51, but was beaten by sophomore teammate Matt Lea, who ran 47.45. The duo finished 2-3 in the 400m at the MPSF Championshps, and Kenyon was fourth in the 200m.

Last Time Out: Arizona had a very successful trip to the MPSF Championships in Reno, Nev. The men finished second and the women were third at the meet. Three Wildcat individuals won titles, and the men's distance medley relay team picked one up, as well. Tara Chaplin won the 5,000m in 16:51.56, Carolyn Jackson tied for first in the 400m in 53.76 and Brianna Glenn won the 55m in 6.84, a new school indoor record. Glenn also finished second in the 200m and was third in the long and triple jumps. Mike Kenyon and Matt Lea finished 2-3 in the men's 400m, while Keith Varga was second in the men's 55m high hurdles.

Rewind: The men's and women's teams had their first scoring meets of the season with full teams competing and finished with considerable success. The women beat ASU, 80-79, and NAU, 79-69. The men beat NAU, 95-78, but lost to ASU, 79-74. Sophomore Brianna Glenn set three indoor school records -- 60m (7.34), 200m (24.05) and long jump (20-7 1/2) -- and picked up NCAA Indoor provisional qualifying marks in the process. Junior Andrea Neary won the pole vault, breaking her own school indoor record in the process at 12-9 1/2. Senior Carolyn Jackson provisionally qualified in the 400m (53.97), while senior Jeff Dutoit improved his provisionally pole vault mark with a clearance of 17-8 1/2... The Wildcats picked up four NCAA provisional qualifying marks during the competitive weekend of Feb 11-12 at the Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. and the Cannon IV Classic in Indianapolis. Junior Andrea Neary broke her own indoor school pole vault record, clearing 12-7 1/2 (3.85m) and finished second at the Husker meet. Senior Jeff Dutoit also picked up a qualifying mark in the pole vault, clearing 17-6 1/2 (5.35m). Sophomore Brianna Glenn provisionally qualified in the 60 meters, finishing second at the Husker meet in 7.43. Sophomore Tara Chaplin provisionally qualified in the 5,000 meters at the Cannon IV Classic with a time of 16:35.18. Although she did not qualify for the NCAA meet, senior Nicole Thomas set an indoor school 60m high hurdles record in 8.57... Arizona opened its season at the Silver State Games Jan. 29 in Reno, Nev. Junior Andrea Neary had the lone NCAA qualifying mark, setting an indoor school record in the process, with a clearance of 12-6 (3.81m)... Senior Micheil Jones won the men's 3,000m in 8:33.58 (8:23.57aa).

1999 In Review: The Arizona men took only six competitors to the NCAA Championships at Bronco Stadium/Ed Jacoby Track in Boise, Idaho, but the team scored 20 points and finished 14th. Four of the men at the competition earned All-America honors and two came away with second place finishes. The women, who only had three athletes at the event, finished in a tie for 66th with one point, but all three athletes came home as All-Americans. Freshman Maureen Griffin was the first Wildcat to compete at the meet, and she finished eighth in a rain-slicked hammer throw. Griffin fouled on her first throw, but came through on her third toss, throwing the hammer 190-11 (58.20m). She advanced to the finals of the event, but did not improve on any of her final three throws. Later on the first day, senior Abdi Abdirahman finished sixth in the men's 10,000m. Abdirahman entered the event with the nation's top time, but a slow pace allowed three Stanford runners to kick to the title. Abdirahman finished in 29:34.03, far short of his best time of the season. On the second day of the meet, two other Arizona female athletes earned All-America honors. Running for the first time since a serious hamstring injury at the Pac-10 Championships that originally was thought to keep her out of the NCAA meet, junior Carolyn Jackson finished second in her heat of the 400m in 53.83. However, her time was the ninth fastest time in the heats and only eight advanced to the finals. Competing in her first NCAA Outdoor Championships event, freshman Tara Chaplin earned All-America honors by finishing ninth in the women's 10,000m. Chaplin stayed with the lead pack for the first 12 laps, but began to fall back, finishing in 34:52.96. The third day of the meet was the busiest for the Wildcats with six athletes in competition. Junior Patrick Nduwimana was slowed by a strong wind in his face on the backstretch, but still finished second in 1:47.22 in the 800m. Nduwimana took the lead at the final turn and built it to three meters before he was passed in the final 15 by Missouri's Derek Peterson. Sophomore Esko Mikkola finished second in the men's javelin competition with a throw of 252-0 (76.81m). Mikkola's throw, which was into a strong headwind, was topped only by UTEP's Mahti Nahri. Sophomore Ola Larsen finished ninth in the event with a throw of 226-0 (68.90m). Junior Jeff Dutoit cleared his opening height of 16-10 3/4 (5.15m) in the pole vault, which was enough to put him in a tie for seventh place. A number of vaulters, including Dutoit, were affected by a crosswind in the event. Abdirahman concluded his collegiate career with a ninth place finish in the 5,000m, in 14:14.15. In the race, he earned the eighth All-American honors of his career. Junior Micheil Jones finished 20th in the same race in 15:09.70. Chaplin was the final competitor for the Wildcats on the last day of the competition, finishing 15th in the women's 5,000m in 17:01.03. The Wildcats had a very promising showing at the Pac-10 Championships in Tempe, Ariz., May 21-22. The men finished a surprising fourth. The women, plagued by injuries, finished sixth. Esko Mikkola defended his javelin title, while Ola Larsen finished second in the event. Abdi Abdirahman also defended his 5,000m title. Patrick Nduwimana won his first career Pac-10 title, winning the 800m in 1:46.43. Tara Chaplin and Maureen Griffin also won the first Pac-10 titles of their promising careers, taking the 5,000m and hammer throw competitions, respectively. Brooke Murphy, who walked on the program a year ago, captured a surprising win in the 10,000m. Carolyn Jackson did not compete in the finals of the 400m after pulling up 150 meters into the preliminaries with a hamstring injury.

The Coaches: In his 33rd year as head coach at the University of Arizona, director of track and field and cross country Dave Murray is the dean of Wildcat coaches. Murray, a 1965 graduate of Arizona and former Wildcat athlete, has coached 131 All-Americans in both track and field and cross country throughout his career. He has also coached 21 NCAA Champions, 18 in track and field and three in cross country. Aside from the day-to-day planning and direction of the program, Murray focuses on coaching the Arizona distance runners. Associate head coach Fred Harvey (13th year, Cal Poly-SLO, 82) coaches the Wildcat sprinters, hurdlers and relay teams. Harvey has coached several athletes who accomplished much at the national and world levels, including 1999 World Championship competitors Michelle Johnson (6th - 400m hurdles) and Patrick Nduwimana (semis - 800m). Associate head coach Mike Maynard (13th year, Azusa Pacific, 86) coaches the Wildcat throwers. He has also coached many national and world elite throwers and has coached in international decathlon competitions. Assistant coach Tom Hays (3rd year, Kansas, 89) directs the Arizona pole vaulters and jumpers, and assistant coach Dawn Mortensen (3rd year, Arizona, 96) works with the sprinters and hurdlers.

Murray's Musings: We are going to have a laid-back approach to this meet because they are not going to be running some of the events up there. We are also going to be giving a lot of people that ran a lot during the indoor season a rest. We are going to be running most of our distance runners up there to get them started for the outdoor season. We are looking to get some good efforts, but we don't expect to have any real amazing times or performances. That will start to come at the Willie Williams (March 17-18), where we are going to pick up a lot of our qualifying marks.

Bill Sawyer Invitational Competitors


Women -


100 Meters: Michelle Williams
200 Meters: Williams
800 Meters: Nicole Thomas
1500 Meters: Mandee Ash, Kimberly Bates, Katrin Engelen
3,000 Meters: Jennifer Burris, Erin Doherty
100m High Hurdles: Liz Giltner, Thomas
Shot Put: Nicole Kraus, Mandy Shefman
Discus: Shefman
High Jump: Giltner



Men -


100 Meters: Steve Pelligreen
200 Meters: Pelligreen
800 Meters: Tom Prindiville, Christopher Schaefer
Mile: Micheil Jones, Jeremy Lyon, Steve Smith, Mike White, Wade Juntunen,
Schaefer
3,000 Meters: Mike Cramer, David Lopez, Rick Weis
110m High Hurdles: Mike Sciacca
Long Jump: Chad Martin
High Jump: Peter Fabian, Warren Peters, Nicolas Weill
Shot Put: Richard Legarra, Jeremy Fulton
Discus: Legarra, Fulton
Javelin: Ola Larsen, Matt Wagner