In its biggest meet of the season, the Texas Invitational, Arizona qualified 11 swimmers for the NCAA Championships.

“We wanted to get as many NCAA trips as possible,” said senior and two-time national champion Cory Chitwood. “Then we don’t have to rest many guys later in the season. We have a lot of guys that made cuts, stepped up on relays here. We’re going to have a full team that’s rested purely for NCAAs.”

In total, the Wildcats qualified 11 individuals for 17 events and five relay teams for the NCAA Championships in March. One of the 11 that qualified was women’s captain Alyssa Anderson, who says that this meet will give them a boost heading into the semester break.

“This meet gives us lots of momentum,” Anderson said. “It’s great motivation to light a fire under people. We got a chance to see where we are this weekend, and that gives us a lot of confidence for NCAAs.”

Despite all the success Arizona had this weekend, there’s still room to improve. The Wildcats won’t have another meet until Jan. 6, but head coach Eric Hansen refuses to let them slip while they wait.

“I want everyone to do well in finals and finish well academically,” Hansen said. “We just need to go back to work, training hard over Christmas break and come back to make a big push in January and the beginning of February for championships in March.”

Having a month off from racing would scare some teams, but not Arizona. Chitwood and his teammates are excited to get back in the water.

“We need to get back in the pool and put in a solid month’s work,” Chitwood said. “Once we start racing faster teams in dual meets again, our true colors will show. Tougher meets will be good for us, racing tired in Pac-12 championships will be good for us. We’re exactly where we need to be.”