By
Lindsey Manroel
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Men and Women on Pac-10 and NCAA quest
After coming off of a weekend sweep against two of the Pacific 10 Conference's elite teams - California and Stanford - the UA women's swim team will face Texas.
On a quest for a Pac-10 Championship title and NCAA success, No. 2 Arizona will face the No. 10 Longhorns as UA begins its run toward the end of the regular season.
"Each dual meet is just another stepping stone toward the big meets," junior Jenny Vanker said. "We want to win all we can but we focus on the Pac-10's and NCAA's."
The Wildcats last defeated the Longhorns, 247-106 in the 1999-00 spring season and enter this year's meet as a heavy favorite.
During the weekend sweep - a 146-97 win against the Golden Bears and a 135.5-107.5 victory over the Cardinal - Amanda Beard recorded the fastest time in the nation in the 200 breast stroke with a time of 2:11.02.
UA swimmers said that the team is still far from reaching its capabilities.
"We're putting the final touches on our racing and still practicing coming together," junior Jessamyn Miller said. "As a team, that's our most important asset because its our mentality that what will help us win and take us where we want to go."
Arizona's men face off against the No. 1 Longhorns and Texas A&M in one of the most demanding meets of the season.
"There are two types of difficulty," sophomore Jeff Dash said. "Physically, it's going to be very hard for us - we're going to do a lot of swimming.
"And (in) competition, Texas is the No. 1 team in the country. They are always up for fast swimming and ready to swim against us."
Though the Wildcats would like to make up for the devastating 206-147 loss it suffered in its 1999-00 season, traveling to the Lone Star state will give UA an opportunity to jump off the starting blocks and get in some good races.
"It's just a matter of getting us ready to swim in major meet competitions," Dash said. "We are going to go into this meet with expectations to swim fast and hopefully make a run at them. Anything can happen."
The Arizona diving team has quietly buoyed the teams.
"We're so proud of our divers," Miller said. "Our program has excelled and we realize their talent and acknowledge them as members of the team. It's nice to know that we have the divers that can provide those points."
