Swimmers traveling for prestigious Texas Invite

Dan Kempner Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior Trina Jackson, who competes in the distance freestyle and butterfly events, drives her way to a two minute, 0.64 second win in the 200-yard fly at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center in a non-conference meet with Auburn on Nov. 21. The men's and women's swimming teams travel to Austin, Texas, for the Texas Invitational, which runs today through Sunday.

Busch said his No. 1 goal is to have his swimmers make the times necessary to qualify for the NCAA Championships in March.

"I do not care much about how our teams place, I just want to see as many of the kids qualify as possible," he said.

The Wildcats are coming off a two week break, after splitting a dual meet with Auburn. Going into Austin, the Arizona men's team will bring a 1-2 record, while the women are 3-1.

"We have just been resting our kids since Auburn. They should be ready to set some really good times in Texas," Busch said. "I will be surprised if the team as a whole does not swim well."

Joining the Wildcats on the men's side are No. 2 Texas, No. 6 Georgia, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 California and No. 10 Arizona State. Among the competitors the women will see are No. 2 Georgia, No. 6 California and No. 10 Texas.

"The programs we will be facing are made up of some very strong swimmers. It should be a great meet, where we can see some awesome competition," Busch said.

The swimmers have been preparing for the elite competition.

"The high-caliber swimmers that we will face in Texas should help our team swim faster," UA freshman Sarah Tolar said. "We are just going to go out there and try to make our auto-cuts for NCAAs."

The UA men are led by sophomore Jay Schryver who won the 100-yard freestyle (44.41) and the 200 free (1:35.99) and sophomore Ben Anderson, who took home the title for the 200 butterfly (1:46.97) at the Texas Invitational last year.

The Wildcat women are led by juniors Trina Jackson and Denali Knapp and freshman Tolar. Jackson holds the top times for the Arizona women in the 500 free and 1,000 free while Knapp has the top spot in the 50 free, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke. Tolar swam for the top women's time in the 200 free.

"In the past we have done exceptionally well in this invitational, (so) look for us to repeat those performances," Busch said.

After the Texas Invitational, the teams do not have another meet until facing off against inter-state rival Northern Arizona on Jan. 16 in Tucson.

Keith Carmona can be reached via e-mail at Keith.Carmona@wildcat.arizona.edu.