Wildcat Wrap: Arizona women’s cross country wins UC Riverside Invitational

Editor’s note: With several sports going on this fall, Wildcat Wrap serves as a weekly recap that focuses on the Arizona programs that we do not have the time to cover on a regular basis but are certainly worthy of recognition.

Arizona women’s cross country won the UC Riverside Invitational over the weekend, beating 31 teams in the process.

The invitational consisted of one event, the 6,000m. Grace Driskell led the way for the Wildcats with a 20:35.1 run, good for 10th place. Erika Cunniam finished 14th with a time of 20:40.9, while Mia Chavez placed 21st, clocking in at 21:18.0.

The men’s team finished sixth in the 8,000m. Ian Sanchez Lopez finished 7th with a time of 24.01.1, while his brother, Iker, placed 15th with a time of 24:09.6.

The cross country program returns to action Sept. 30 when they host the Dave Murray Invitational.

Men’s golf

Men’s golf finished for a tie of 8th at the Fighting Illini Invitational in Olympia Fields, Illinois, a three-day event that featured several top teams. The Wildcats shot a team score of 858, or 18-over par.

Freshman Filip Jakubcik was the team’s low scorer with a 5-over, which was good for a tie of 26th place. Senior Chase Sienkiewicz was right behind with a 6-over par for a tie of 31st place.

“This week will be a great learning experience for our entire team moving forward,” coach Jim Anderson told ArizonaWildcats.com. “We had some ups and downs throughout the tournament, but our guys kept at it and battled until the end. We saw everyone in our lineup card quality scores in various points in the round, which is something we can grow from and develop.”

Arizona continues the fall season next week at the Folds of Honor Collegiate in Grand Haven, Michigan.

Men’s tennis

Arizona hosted the Wildcat Invitational this past weekend, which marked the debut of a trio of freshmen.

Jay Friend, a native of Tokyo won the singles blue draw of the invitational, beating a pair of opponents in straight sets before winning a three-set final over Gonzaga’s Sasha Trkulija 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.

Friend and Eric Padgham, a Brisbane, Australia native, also won a doubles match.

Dominique Rolland, a former world junior top 150 player out of Calabasas, California, fell in three sets of the grey singles draw final.

Men’s tennis heads to San Francisco later this week for the Battle in the Bay September 22-25.