Skieresz Feels Fit in Return to Running

Arizona sophomore Amy Skieresz appears to have completely recovered from the Achilles’ tendon injury that forced her to miss the NCAA track and field championships in May.

The 1995 graduate of Agoura High rolled to her second consecutive cross-country victory of the season in the Mountain West Invitational at the University of Montana Golf Course on Saturday.

Skieresz, runner-up in the NCAA championships last year, clocked 20 minutes 22 seconds over the 6,000-meter course to defeat former Oregon standout Melody Fairchild by 18 seconds.

Skieresz’s next race will be the Maine Invitational on Oct. 12, followed a week later by the NCAA Championship Preview meet at Dell Urich Golf Course in Tucson, where she and UCLA freshman Kim Mortensen are expected to race each other for the first time as collegians.

Skieresz defeated Mortensen regularly in high school when the two were at Agoura and Thousand Oaks, but Mortensen is coming off a senior track season in which she set a national high school record of 9:48.59 in the 3,200 meters.

True test: After winning her first two college races by a minute or more, Mortensen should be severely tested Saturday in the Stanford Invitational when she’s expected to race sophomores Mary Cobb of Stanford and Courtney Pugmire of Brigham Young, among others.

Cobb placed fifth in the NCAA championships last year and Pugmire was 30th.

Go see Cal: Who said Northern and Southern California don’t get along? The women’s volleyball roster at the University of California is full of Valley-area athletes.

The Golden Bears have a pair of former Harvard-Westlake players, freshman Jenni Kriste and UCLA transfer Amanda Selby, who will be a sophomore after she sits out this season.

The Bears also have Jessica Dinaberg, a junior who is a graduate of El Camino Real High.