Swimming and diving head to the Bay Area

The top teams in the Pacific 10 Conference collide this weekend in the Bay Area when the Arizona swimming and diving teams face off against Stanford and California.

Tonight the Wildcats will face No. 1 Stanford at the Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, Calif. and try to accomplish something that hasn't been done in almost three years - defeat the Cardinal at home.

The No. 9 UA men's team is looking to rebound after its first loss of the season to No. 21 Southern Methodist.

On the women's side, No. 3 UA and Stanford are the only two remaining undefeated teams in the conference.

The Cardinal, coming off a disappointing season, have re-emerged as a force in the Pac-10 after a second-place finish at the Texas Invitational last month.

Tomorrow, the Wildcats cross the Bay to take on California (No. 7 women, No. 6 men).

The teams have already met once this season, during the fall at the Texas Invitational, but tomorrow's meet marks the first time these two schools will face each other head-to-head.

The Cal men's fortunes rely heavily on the shoulders of sophomore Alex Kim and freshman Duje Draganja. Between the two, they lead the nation in three different events.

The women's meet brings together two of the top female swimmers in the country - Cal's Natalie Coughlin and UA senior Sarah Tolar.

Coughlin has followed her historic freshman season - during which she was named NCAA swimmer of the year - with times that have led the nation in five separate categories.

Tolar is the reigning NCAA champion in the 200-meter freestyle.

The two will meet head-to-head in several events, including the 200 freestyle, which is a potential precursor to this year's NCAA championships.

Gymcats and Bruins hit the mats

After contending with a Utah crowd of nearly 10,000 people last weekend, the UA gymnastics team will be glad to see some friendly faces in McKale tonight at 7:30 p.m.

The No. 6 Gymcats (5-1) will open their Pacific 10 Conference schedule tonight against No. 3 UCLA. Arizona has not defeated the Bruins since 1996.

"UCLA is a great team," UA head coach Bill Ryden told UA media relations. "We will be prepared for the challenge they present and I feel that we match up with them pretty well. Our team is not afraid of anyone. We have a tremendous amount of respect for the UCLA program, but we are still going to go out there and compete."

Despite losing to Utah last weekend, the Gymcats posted a season-high 196.100 points, the fifth-highest team score in school history.

UA jumped from No. 17 to No. 6 after its high score against the Utes.

Individually for the Gymcats, Randi Liljenquist is ranked No. 7 in the all-around. The senior is also ranked No. 16 on floor and vault, No. 22 on bars and No. 8 on beam.