The No. 6 Arizona men's swim team began its quest yesterday to place in the top five in the Pacific 10 Championships at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, Calif.
The Wildcats are tied with California for second place with 66 points after the first day of competition.
The Arizona "A" relay team consisting of Gerhard Zanberg, juniors Dave Rollins, Lyndon Ferns and Simon Burnett placed third in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:26.08.
The team of sophomore Nate Rothman, senior Nate Stevens, and freshmen Darren Maxwell and Jonas Persson placed sixth in the event.
The relay team made up of sophomore Denton Taylor and freshmen Ryan Kiley, Bob Stinson and Andrew Howard finished ninth.
In the finals for the 800y freestyle relay competition, the team of Ferns, junior Tyler DeBerry, sophomore Adam Ritter and Burnett took second place in 6:24.40, an NCAA-qualifying mark.
Stanford ended the day in first place with 80 points. Southern California finished in fourth with 60 points, while Washington (56) and ASU (26) are fifth and sixth, respectively.
The action continues this morning at 11 with preliminary competition. Finals are scheduled for 6 p.m.