For 14 women on the Arizona swim team, an entire season of training comes down to three days in Texas.

Tomorrow in Austin, Texas, the 2002 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships get underway. From tomorrow's opening 200-yard freestyle relay to Saturday evening's platform diving finals, swimmers from 25 schools across the country will be competing in what, for many, will be the biggest stage of their lives.

The Wildcats enter the meet tied for third in the field of 25 after compiling over the course of the season a litany of impressive dual-meet victories over Top Ten schools Texas, Southern California, UCLA and Arizona State. The only defeats suffered by this Wildcat squad this year came at the hands of two of the other top three seeds, Stanford and California.

The Arizona women's team has placed in the top five at the NCAA Championships each of the last four years - including two runner-up finishes in 1998 and 2000 - but has yet to win a national title in the history of the school. However, with a veteran squad returning six All-Americans from last season, this year's team thinks it may have what it takes to make the final leap.

"This is one of the best teams we've ever had," said senior freestyler Jenny Vanker. "The team has a lot of experience because there are so many seniors on this team. That's a huge bonus for us."

The fortunes of this year's Wildcat team will first rest upon the shoulders of three women: junior Beth Botsford, freshman Emily Mason and senior Sarah Tolar, each of whom hold one of the top three times in the nation in at least one of their events entering the meet.

Mason, a freshman from Scottsdale, has had perhaps the most impressive season of any of three Wildcat freshmen who made the NCAAs, capturing the 500-yard freestyle title at last month's Pacific 10 Conference Championships and setting the nation's top time in the process.

"The girls on the team have all been really great," said Mason of her first season. "They're all really open to newcomers on the team, and the coaches have had a lot of faith in me all year."

Mason will be swimming three different events at her first NCAA championships, but her main focus will be counteracting the pressure of the event.

"My toughest challenge going into the meet is just dealing with myself," said Mason. "I just need to keep myself calm and try not to psyche myself out."

"I just want to swim the best I can and help my team win," Mason added.

Botsford and Tolar were both All-Americans in 2001, in the backstroke and freestyle, respectively. With a combined five NCAA appearances between them, these two swimmers are well aware of the importance of their roles.

"The freshmen on the team all have experience in international meets and other big competitions. They know how to swim under pressure," said Tolar, the reigning NCAA champion in the 200-yard freestyle. "But most of them have never swam on a team. They're part of a team now, and (the upperclassmen) need to get them excited to swim for the team and not thinking every race is do-or-die."

"We need to remember how much we enjoy being around each other - that's the reason we've been so strong all year," added Tolar.

This team theme was echoed by Mason.

"We need to be together as a team," said Mason. "We need to go in there with the right attitude, thinking we can win this, and work together."

As always, the competition at the event will be fierce, most notably in No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 Auburn, both of which are coming off an undefeated season and conference championship.

Nevertheless, the Wildcat swimmers are confident they will match up well against the competition.

"You can't really count anyone out. Stanford will be real good. Auburn will be really good. Georgia's won the last three years," Vanker said. "But I'm really confident. We've been working really hard this year, and we've had a great season."

"And it's my last meet ever," Vanker said. "So I'm really psyched."