Wildcats Begin New Year with Double-Dual Meet

This Week in the Pool ?- The No. 2 Arizona women’s and the No. 5 men’s swimming and diving teams will return to the water on Friday, Jan. 5 for the first time in 34 days to host a pair of double-dual meet competitions. The women will take on Oregon State and Northern Arizona at 10 a.m. (MST), while the men will face No. 4 California and No. 12 Michigan at 2 p.m..

Arizona in the Rankings ?- The Wildcat women currently post a 3-0 (2-0 Pac-10) record, giving them the No. 2 position in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America poll, while the men are currently ranked fifth with an overall record of 2-1 (0-1 Pac-10).

A Look at the Opponents?- The men’s squad will face two nationally ranked teams, including the fourth-ranked Golden Bears, who currently post a record of 3-1 (0-0 Pac-10). Cal also returns to the water for the first time since their last competition which took place at the Husky Invitational on Dec. 4, 2006 where they won all five relay events.

The Michigan men are ranked No. 12 and post an overall record of 3-2 (1-0 Big Ten). The Wolverines most recent competition was at the EMU Invitational in Ypsilanti, Mich., on Dec. 2, where only six athletes participated in 10 of 20 events, while still pulling out a seventh place finish with 200 points.

On the women’s side, the OSU Beavers are returning from winter break after winning the Husky Invitational on Dec. 4 with an overall record of 4-5 (0-3 Pac-10). The NAU women are currently 5-2 and are returning to the pool after an 18-day break. The Lumberjacks recently won 10 of 14 events to defeat Loyola Marymount 155-107 on Dec. 18.

What Happened Last Year ?- On Jan. 6, 2006, the Wildcats returned for the second half of the season to host Washington, OSU and NAU. Both teams began the New Year ranked fifth and both squads posted perfect records.

The men (3-0, 2-0 Pac-10) downed Washington 145-116, while the women defeated No. 23 Washington 168-87, OSU 172-83 and NAU 201-93, boosting their record to 5-0 (4-0 Pac-10).

Arizona’s Last time in the Water ?- Arizona completed the final day of competition at the 2006 Texas Invitational on Dec. 2, with both teams finishing in first-place for the second consecutive year as the women won with 859 team points and the men posted 787 points. The Wildcats broke a total of eight school records over the course of three days and tallied 41automatic
qualifying times for the 2007 NCAA Championships.

Arizona’s Next Action - The swimming and diving teams will continue dual-meet action on January 19-20 when they travel to Austin, Texas, to take on the Texas Longhorns and the SMU Mustangs at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Competition will begin at 7 p.m. (CST) on Friday and at 12 p.m. Saturday.

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