The UA women's swimming team experienced perfection this season, blowing through the dual-meet portion of the year undefeated for the first time ever with a 7-0 record.

After placing fourth at the Pacific 10 Conference championships, the women went on to finish sixth at the NCAA championships. The meet was highlighted by a first-place finish from Shannon Hosack, Liesl Kolbisen, Casey Legler and Ashley Tappin in the 200-meter freestyle relay. The foursome's time of 1 minute, 31.09 seconds broke the school record of 1:31.30.

With the departure of only one senior, the addition of a good recruiting class and the return of a healthy Tappin, Busch has an optimistic outlook on next year's season.

"Tappin just had her shoulder scoped (arthroscopic surgery) and will start back training in July," Busch said. "Hopefully, this will allow her to experience the same level of competition she did two years ago."

The Wildcats had six women named to the All-American team, including Laurie Kline, who won the 500-meter freestyle in a time of 4:47.37.

As for the men, the loss of All-American Chad Carvin dealt the Wildcats a blow. A virtual lock to make the Olympic team, Carvin was forced to stop training in December when it was discovered that he had viral cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that restricted his blood flow.

"All the kids felt bad for him," Busch said of Carvin. "I think the situation helped some of the other people focus a little better."

The Wildcats were able to finish the dual meet season with a 3-6 record, but came back strong at the Pac-10s with a second-place finish, the highest ever finish for the team.

Arizona got plenty of help from diver Brian Spears, who swept all three events at Pac-10s was named Pac-10 diver of the year.

Twelve-year diving coach Cynthia Potter, who retired at the end of the year, was named Pac-10 coach of the year.

The Wildcats finished 14th at the NCAAs, and the highest point came when Martin Pepper won the 100-meter butterfly in a time of 46.74 seconds.

The win propelled Pepper into the record books, where he joined his older brother Seth, becoming the first pair of brothers ever to win the same event at the NCAA championships.

The men's team saw seven swimmers named All-American, including Chris Brophy, Brian Matthews, Justin Roth and Abe Wick.