UA swimmers gun for the Pac-10 title

Led by two-time defending individual champion and Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year Ryk Neethling, the No. 6 Wildcats enter the Belmont Plaza Pool in hopes of avenging the 0-4 dual-meet conference record compiled this conference season.

"Despite what our record shows, I like our chances at the Pac-10 title," Neethling said. "We can take on any team in the conference."

Neethling said he is especially excited about being able to swim against Arizona State again. On Feb. 13, the Sun Devils downed the Wildcats on a disqualification call in the final race of the day. Neethling's relay team, who had just captured the meet title with a split second win over ASU's relay team, was disqualified when UA swimmers jumped into the water to celebrate.

"Of all the teams, I am definitely excited about seeing ASU again," Neethling said. "I want to put it in their faces and show them who really is the better team."

Besides Neethling, who was the 1998 winner in the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle, the Wildcats boast Jay Schryver and Oscar la Fleur.

Schryver is the nation's fastest 200 freestyler (4 minutes, 15.7 seconds) this season and is a five-time All-American.

Busch said he likes the chances of butterfly and freestyle swimmer la Fleur this weekend. "I think that Oscar is going to make a big impact this weekend. He has been very impressive the past couple of weeks in practice," Busch said.

Busch said winning the title would be a nice accolade, but wants his team to focus more on preparing and qualifying for the NCAA Championships in three weeks.

"We already have 11 guys qualified to the championships, so this weekend our main goal is to work toward the maximum of 18 swimmers," Busch said. "Throughout the entire season, everything is build-up to winning the national championship, of which this is just more preparation."

The biggest challenge for Arizona will come from No. 1 Stanford and No. 4 Southern Cal.