Wildcats look to improve on last year's third place finish at Championships

Two things are already certain with this weekend's Pacific-10 Conference men's swimming championships set to kick off today in Long Beach, Calif. One: Stanford, looking for its 22nd consecutive Pac-10 championship, is the clear favorite to win again this weekend. Two: The members of Arizona's swim team couldn't care less.

"Our guys aren't worried about that," said head coach Frank Busch. "We are just interested in swimming our best and getting guys qualified for the (NCAA Championships)."

Even with the Cardinal predicted to come away victorious, this weekend's meet at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool will host some of the nation's best squads with five of the six teams competing currently ranked in the top 25 of the coaches poll. No. 1 Stanford is trailed by California, USC, Arizona State, and UA in the polls. UA jumped up three spots this week to No. 16 in the polls, while Washington is the lone un-ranked team at the event.

Also, seven individual winners from last year's NCAA championships will be in the pool this weekend, including Stanford's Randall Bal and Peter Marshall and USC's Erik Vendt.

"Some of the events this weekend will be like swimming at the NCAAs" said coach Busch. "It is going to be a very fast, very competitive meet."

Even with the host of tough competition, the Arizona squad looks to still be right in the mix, led by junior Juan Veloz, the top ranked swimmer in the country in the 200-yard butterfly.

Several other Wildcat swimmers will also make an impact, including freshmen Lyndon Ferns and Dave Rollins, junior transfer Luis Rojas and senior Jeff Dash.

Freshman Simon Burnett, who joined the team this spring and made an immediate impact on the young UA squad, has been hampered by a shoulder injury, keeping his status for the meet uncertain.

"I am not sure what is going to happen with Simon," said coach Busch. "He is battling a shoulder injury, and I just don't know how much he is going to be able to do for us."

After finishing in third place last year at the Pac-10 championships, where the Wildcats will end up this weekend is anybody's guess.

"This is a different meet for us," said Busch. "We are a young group, and it is really difficult for me to try and predict where we are going to finish."

Even with the odds against them in Long Beach, the Wildcats still have their sights set on qualifying as many swimmers as possible for the NCAA championships and securing a top 10 finish nationally.

"This is a young team with a special future and a lot of opportunities to perform well ahead of us," said coach Busch. "If we can take advantage of those opportunities we will do well and reach our goals."