Wildcat Wrap: Arizona men’s golf wins second straight tournament, jumps to No. 2 nationally

The Arizona Wildcats men’s golf team is up to No. 2 nationally in the latest Golfweek Sagarin Rankings after tying for first place in The Prestige last week.

Arizona and North Carolina shared first at the La Quinta, Calif. tournament, while Trevor Werblyo won the individual championship. The Wildcats finished four-under par as a team, and Werblyo also scored a four-under individually.

The victories give Arizona four total titles over the last two events, with the Wildcats and Brad Reeves previously sweeping the Arizona Intercollegiate team and individual championships.

Arizona head coach Jim Anderson said the performance at the The Prestige gives “us coaches a lot of confidence and encouragement” as the Wildcats move forward in their season.

Cross Country

Cross country concluded its regular season with a pair of victories Friday in the Dave Murray Invitational.

Victor Ortiz-Rivera won the 8k men’s race with a personal record time of 24:23.6, 13 seconds faster than the next finisher. Shem Kemboi finished ninth with a of 25:06.0. The Arizona men finished third in the team competition, behind UCLA and Cal.

In the women’s 6k, Keelah Barger ran a 21:43.3 for a winning margin of nearly nine seconds. Alisa Lyseina placed 8^th with a time of 22:09.8. The women’s team finished second overall, a point behind UCLA.

“I’m really happy that the team did very well,” said Cross Country coach Bernard Lagat, according to the school athletic site. “Victor and Keelah came here prepared. They knew what they had to do. The race shaped up to be a slower one for the girls so Keelah and the entire team knew how to run. All they had to do was go by the strategy of how the race unfolds. Same with Victor, he found himself feeling good in the front and decided not to look back, but to just go forward. That shows the confidence that the athletes have. I am very pleased with the results even though we were just one point away from the lead, but I like that because it gives us one more point to work towards next time.”

Women’s Golf

Women’s golf placed third at the Sun Devil Classic in the team’s first event of the spring with a full roster.

Yu-Sang Hou led the Wildcats with a score of 1-under par, which was tied for sixth in the individual tournament. Vivian Hou and Therese Warner each shot 5-over par for a tie of 16^th place.

Arizona finished 20-over par as a team, well behind first and second place finishers USC and ASU who both shot under par.

“I was proud to see our scores continue to improve on the final day of the event,” head coach Laura Ianello told ArizonaWildcats.com “Finishing third in a tournament filled with Pac-12 programs is a strong start for our first team event with Yu-Sang and Vivian back. We will see more improvement as a team during the next three weeks of practice as we prepared for our home event.”

Men’s Tennis

No. 21 men’s tennis earned a full sweep of NAU on Friday, winning both matches 7-0. Arizona is now 9-1 and on a seven-game winning streak entering Pac-12 play this weekend.

The Wildcats cruised to victory against the Lumberjacks as each singles win came via straight sets. All 10 active players won in singles over the pair of matches, giving Arizona an opportunity to flex its depth.

Arizona hosts Washington and Oregon on Friday and Sunday, two matches the Wildcats will need to win if they want to compete for a Pac-12 title this spring.

Women’s Tennis

Women’s tennis was swept on the road by Kansas and Kansas State over the weekend in a pair of uncompetitive matches.

The Wildcats lost 6-1 to Kansas with the lone win going to Khim Iglupas in singles. Arizona was then swept 4-0 by Kansas State. Igulpas and doubles partner Gitte Heynemans did earn a victory over KSU’s No. 46 doubles team, giving the Wildcats some consolation to take with them back home.