The Arizona swim and dive team hosts Northwestern and Washington in a tri-meet starting today at 2 p.m. and continuing Saturday at 11 a.m. at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center in hopes of remaining unbeaten in the new year.
However, the No. 4 Wildcats' 1-0 mark in 2005 could be in trouble with two highly unknown teams coming to Tucson.
"We don't normally get a chance to swim these teams," said head coach Frank Busch. "I think it will be a good meet. Everyone is just really excited to swim against some different teams that we do not get a chance to race normally."
The Huskies, who have just three losses between their men's and women's team in 17 meets, face off against Arizona for just the fourth time in Busch's 16-year tenure in Tucson. Washington's men's team enters the meet off a loss to Brigham Young last weekend while the women beat UC San Diego.
It will also be the first time in the programs' history Arizona and Northwestern have met, and the NU men bring in a No. 15 ranking, while the women's team is coming off an upset of No. 23 Tennessee.
Busch said he hopes his teams are up to the challenge after some rigorous training in the final two weeks of winter break.
Since Dec. 28 until the start of classes this week, the Wildcats have trained 22 times in just 13 days, and Busch said his team will be happy to be back in a different routine with school and meets.
"The kids seem a little flat, but they are all anxious to race," he said.
Although the men's team is the only one with the national ranking at this point, the women aren't without confidence, sporting a 4-0 record from the fall.
"I'm not surprised that we have done so well," said senior Emily Mason. "I just hope that it will continue. We have some tough meets ahead of us."
This will be the last meet before a rough four-game stretch for Arizona, including meets with top-10 squads Stanford and California in late January before the Pacific 10 Conference Championships.