With less than two weeks before the beginning of the Pacific 10 Swimming and Diving Championships, Arizona prepares for its final duel of the regular season against rival Arizona State.
The Sun Devils will host the seventh-ranked Arizona women's swimming and diving team and the eighth-ranked Arizona men's team. The ASU men are No. 15 in the polls despite a 3-4 overall record. The women are ranked No. 21 with a 2-7 record.
Both Sun Devil squads are coming off losses to California, whose men are ranked fourth and women are ranked eighth. The Wildcat women are coming off an upset over fifth-ranked Texas and the guys are coming off a tough loss against the second-ranked Longhorn men.
The UA men will try to take down ASU without star swimmer, sophomore Simon Burnett, who broke his hand after falling in a bike accident this week.
"It'll be a tough meet for our guys," said swimming head coach Frank Busch. "Everybody on the team will have to step it up."
Busch said he believes the women have more talent than their opponents, but can't rely on an easy win tomorrow.
"I think our women are a better team, but ASU always swims well against us, especially at their place," Busch said. "(ASU is) a rival, so it'll be a good meet on both sides. It's something the kids like to win. We don't define our season by wins and losses against ASU, but we want to win this meet."
Despite the rivalry, Busch said his team likes to go after more important fish in the pool.
"We like to square up against Stanford and USC a little more, so I'd say, for our kids, they look at those as a little bigger rivalry than ASU," he said.
With the Pac-10 Conference championships soon approaching, Busch is approaching Saturday's meet with the Sun Devils as another important meet, as well as a chance to get people ready for the championships.
"We've got people who are trying to rest and get ready for conference. Since we had a week off this past week, it'll be good to get back to racing," Busch said.
As for the diving teams, freshman sensation Mary Yarrison will try to continue her success in Tempe, as will senior Josh Anderson.
The Wildcats will have to overcome the talents of ASU diver Joona Puhakka to come out of Tempe with a victory.
"I'd say on the men's side, they're stronger than us right now," said diving head coach Michele Mitchell-Rocha. "They have one guy who is a sophomore (Puhakka), who is an Olympian and a NCAA champion from last year. He's a super talent, but I think our guys will give him a good run for his money."
Mitchell-Rocha also touched on the rivalry factor.
"Anytime it's ASU, it's a big rivalry. It'll be a good dogfight," she said. "Anytime you go against ASU, there's a heightened awareness of wanting to do well. It's going to be our kids getting out of the vans, getting their heads on straight and doing their jobs for us to be successful."
The Sun Devil men hold a 3-2 advantage over the Wildcats in their last five meetings, while the ASU women are winless against Arizona in that period. At last year's meet in Tucson, the Sun Devil men were edged 150-149, as each team won eight of 16 events.