In the late afternoon of June 5, 1998, Arizonaβs athletic department was on the brink of the greatest season in school history.
The Wildcats had finished No. 2 nationally in softball and womenβs swimming, No. 3 in womenβs golf, No. 5 in menβs basketball, No. 6 in menβs swimming, No. 9 in womenβs basketball and No. 11 in womenβs track and field after distance running superstar Amy Skieresz completed a sweep by winning national titles in 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
Arizona was poised to win the NCAA championship in menβs track and field, which wasnβt a stretch. Track and Field News, the bible of the sport, had predicted the Wildcats to finish No. 2 a few days before the NCAA finals in Buffalo, of all places.
Coach Dave Murrayβs team had a first-place finish in the javelin behind Esko Mikkola, a No. 2 finish in the shot put behind Chima Ugwu and a No. 2 placement in 5,000 meters behind Abdi Abdirahman. A day later, freshman Klaus Ambrosch would win the decathlon.
To complete the unforgettable 1997-98 season, the Wildcats were favored to win the discus behind Pac-10 champion Doug Reynolds, and finish first or second in the decathlon behind Dominic Johnson.
And then a storm front passed through Buffalo. The scheduled 6 p.m. start of the discus was delayed for three hours. By the time the discus competition began, it was windy and cold, about 40 degrees. Many thought the competition would simply be postponed and held a day later, on Saturday.
The NCAA track community raised an eyebrow when the NCAA chose the University of Buffalo as the site for the 1998 championships, where weather in early June can be iffy. It had no regular site for the NCAA finals as it does today β Oregon has played host to the track and field championships since 2013 β but in the late β90s the NCAA had jumped from site to site, awarding the tournament to a high bidder.
Boise State, for example, had been signed for the 1999 championships.
On that cold night in Buffalo, NCAA officials ordered the discus competition to begin a few minutes after 9.
Reynolds, who routinely threw the discus 200 feet, could only manage 181 feet. He did not place, nor earn a point. Most had predicted Reynolds to win and collect 10 points for the Wildcats.
Abdi Abdirahman was a key part of UA's No. 4 finish in 1998. That season was the Wildcats' best hope for a national title in men's track and field in program history.
Their chances to win an historic NCAA championship ebbed.
βIt shouldβve been postponed until Saturday,ββ Murray told me. βIt wasnβt conducive to staging a championship event. It was too late and too cold.ββ
A day later it got worse. Johnson, an Amphitheater High School state champion and 1996 Olympian in the pole vault, failed to clear any height. Instead of winning and gathering 10 points, he did not score. A day earlier, Johnson was No. 2 overall, winning the 100 and 400 meter runs, finishing second in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.
Despite the schoolβs two leading performers failing to score, Arizona somehow finished No. 4 overall, with 41 points. Arkansas won with 58 points, followed by Stanford at 51 and TCU at 48. Had Johnson and Reynolds finished 1-2 or 2-1, Arizona wouldβve been the national champion with 59 points.
It remains the highest finish in UA menβs track history; the 41 points are the most Arizona has ever scored in the NCAA finals. Murray took the positive road rather than belabor the misfortune of his two leading athletes.
βWe finished fourth, which is like being in the Final Four in basketball,ββ he told me. βI prefer to think of it as a very satisfying season rather than talk about what couldβve been. This was a one-shot deal. We had a lot of positives.ββ
The Wildcats also had a pair of seventh-place finishers (two points each) with Abdirahman at 10,000 meters and Patrick Nduwimana at 800 meters.
Johnson, who still holds Arizonaβs pole vault record at 18 feet, 2 inches, was understandably distraught. Murray quickly came to his side.
βDom has been a pillar of this program for four years,ββ he said. βHeβs a team captain. He was as good as anybody in the country at pole-vaulting. He scored a ton of points for us in the Pac-10 and NCAA meets over the years. One off week canβt undo the positive impact heβs had.ββ
Both Reynolds and Johnson have gone on to career success.
Johnson is the UAβs volunteer pole vault coach and a long-time entrepreneur in construction and food service in Tucson. Reynolds, who has been the head track coach at New Mexico State and an assistant coach at Arizona, Alabama, Kentucky and Kansas, is the throws coach at Florida State. The Seminoles finished No. 4 at last weekβs NCAA championships.
The β98 Wildcats remain the standard for track and field success at the UA. The 2006 UA team also finished No. 4 overall, but scored 34 points and did not threaten champion Florida State, which scored 67 points.
