Wildcat women swim and dive team tops Bruins

Paced by three individual titles for senior All-American Beth Botsford and sophomore Emily Mason, the Arizona women's swimming and diving teams defeated Pac-10 foe UCLA 160-140.

The Wildcats won the opening six events of the competition en route to Saturday's victory. The win raises the women's record to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-10.

Botsford continued her dominance of the backstroke events as she garnered wins in both the 100y and 200y. Botsford also was victorious in the 100y fly.

Sophomore Emily Mason excelled as well. Mason's versatility was evidenced in her victories in the 1000y free, 200y fly and 400y IM.

Junior Jessica Wagner, sophomore Jessica Hayes and freshman Katie Willis also claimed victories in today's competition. All in all, the Wildcats claimed ten individual titles.

In the men's exhibition with USC the day belonged to junior All-American Eric la Fleur who won the 100y free. Since the last meet, la Fleur has improved his time in this event by nearly two seconds.

Sophomore distance swimmer Chad Ainsworth posted his most impressive performance of the year with a second place finish in the 2000y free. Ainsworth fell only .28 seconds short of victory in the event, which is only swam at distance meets.

Freshman Dave Rollins hinted at his brooding potential when he finished the 50y back second in a time of 24.10, especially quick for this time of year.

Both teams return to the water for their annual sojourn to Texas Invitational in Austin, a tournament that runs from Dec. 6 to Dec. 8.