Swimmers fly solo against nation's best

The meet is one of the fastest and most prestigious on the NCAA calendar and the season's first true comparison for Arizona to see how they rack up.

Both squads are swimming well, coming off wins over UNLV before Thanksgiving break, as the men and women won 145.5 - 112.5 and 141-117, respectively.

But that meet as the previous ones were sort of a warm up for what's ahead.

"The women are swimming very fast right now," UA head coach Frank Busch said. "I'm anxious to swim Texas."

The women are ranked No. 5, and will face No. 7 Nebraska, No. 12 Texas, No. 13 UCLA, No. 21 ASU, No. 22 Wisconsin, No. 24 Texas A&M, Rice and Houston this weekend.

The host school Texas, No. 3 in the nation, leads the men's field, along with No. 5 Tennessee, No. 8 Southern Methodist, No. 13 California, No. 16 Nebraska, No. 18 Harvard, Texas Christian, and Wisconsin. Arizona is No. 15 in the latest edition of the Speedo America College Coaches Association rankings.

However, team rankings are set aside. Instead, teams are concentrating on qualifying as many individuals as they can for the NCAA Championships in March.

"The more swimmers we have competing at the NCAA championships, the better are our chances of winning," Busch said. "This is a special group of people, who are making sacrifices to get where we want to go."

Ryk Neethling has the fastest time in the country this season in the 1,000 freestyle. Jay Schryver swam the sixth fastest time in the country in the 200 free, while Matt Allen swam the fifth fastest in the 100 backstroke.

On the women's side, senior Shannon Hosack, Trina Jackson and Lindsay Farella are favorites to qualify for several events.

After this weekend, the team is off until January 17th, when Northern Arizona comes to town.