By Ian Parkman
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The Arizona men's swimming team finished third at last weekend's Pacific 10 Conference championships. The Wildcats' third-place finish was the highest ever for a UA team.
The Wildcat distance swimmers led the way at the meet. Arizona put three men in the finals of the 500-yard freestyle. In the race, Adam Grodzki finished second in 4 minutes and 21.76 seconds, followed by senior All-American Chad Carvin in third in 4:22.06. Freshman Wes Oliver placed sixth in 4:26.51.
UA finished with 510 points, placing behind defending champion Stanford (846) and USC (535).
Carvin finished fifth in the 400-yard individual medly and second in the 1,650-yard freestyle, an event he won last year. Carvin will attempt to make his NCAA qualifying times at the Olympic Trials March 6-13 in Indianapolis.
In the final of the 100-yard breaststoke, Jason Hodder took second in 56.28 and freshman Chris Bundy finished sixth in 56.68.
Senior Martin Pepper was in two finals, finishing eighth in the 100-yard backstroke and second in the 100-yard butterfly in 47.56. His time in the butterfly was good enough to qualify for the NCAA championships.