After a slow first day that left the Arizona women's swimming and diving teams in sixth place, the Wildcats finished strong, moving it up to fourth at the Pac-10 women's swimming and diving championships.

As could be expected, the bigger squads were able to place more in the top 24 times, and Arizona's lack of depth ended up killing its chances of contending for the championship.

"Our girls did a great job; they performed really well," said head coach Frank Busch. "I'm not a big fan of the 24 places; it rewards numbers, and all that means is that it might make winning a Pac-10 title in the future a little more difficult."

The numbers advantage was obvious as UCLA took home the championship despite not having a single individual victory. Stanford finished second, followed by USC and UA.

Despite the disadvantage, Wildcat swimmers placed third or higher in a number of events. Beth Botsford led Arizona and picked up the only individual victories for Arizona during the meet in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke competitions.

"Beth is definitely the leader on the women's side in both her actions and her words," said Busch. "I am excited for her and she should have a great (meet at the) NCAAs."

Sophomore Emily Mason, battling a shoulder injury, was pulled out of the relay events, and as the defending Pac-10 champion in the 500-yard freestyle, she was unable to repeat her record-setting performance of a year ago, ending up with a second place finish.

The Arizona relay teams, which had struggled all year long during the dual meets, had strong performances as they finished third in the 200-yard medley relay and second in the 800yard free relay. A disqualification in the 400-yard medley relay cost Arizona numerous points, ultimately being the difference between a third and fourth place finish.

Both men and women contributed strong performances for the Arizona dive team this weekend as well. Junior Josh Anderson finished second in the platform diving final and was joined in the top five by senior Scott Koenig who placed fourth. Junior Claire Febvay placed sixth in both the one and three-meter diving events, also adding a fifth-place finish in the platform competition.

The Arizona women are off until the NCAA championships, but Busch says the team is in good shape for the meet.

"We are in a position to fight for a top ten finish at the NCAAs," said Busch. "We are a young team and I am excited about our chances."