The No. 4 Arizona women’s and No. 5 men’s swimming and diving teams will have to compete without two of their All-Americans when they travel to Los Angeles to race against the No. 7 USC men and No. 7 women today at 2 p.m. and the No. 12 UCLA women’s team tomorrow at noon.

Senior captains Whitney Myers and Adam Ritter, who are both in the final cut for the Homecoming court, will stay behind to represent the athletics department this weekend.

“”This is really kind of a touchy subject when you think about it,”” said UA head coach Frank Busch. “”In some ways, it’s good because the team will have to figure out how to do well without them, but being seniors, it’s kind of like what next year will be like.””

Coming off of an encouraging win over Wisconsin and the UC-Santa Barbara men’s team, the squads are ready to test their abilities without the seniors.

“”It could be a blessing in disguise,”” said senior Denton Taylor, who is a co-captain and one of the only two seniors on the men’s side, “”but it’s a pretty big disguise ’cause Adam and Whitney are definitely going to be missed out there.””

Junior Lacey Nymeyer, a co-captain on the women’s team, said the pair’s absence could be a chance for others to step up.

“”I think no person can make a team, and this is a good opportunity for us as a team to …be able to rise to the occasion,”” she said.

Without Ritter and Myers, the teams will race this weekend against two of the toughest teams in the conference, which has five men’s and women’s teams in the top 25 nationally.

“”This competition will be a lot different than what we just faced with Wisconsin,”” Busch said. “”This will be a little more intense.””

With expectations high, as in the last seven years, the teams have held their own against the Los Angeles schools. The UA men (2-0) are 5-3 against USC (1-0), and the women (1-0) are 6-2 versus the Women of Troy (2-0, 1-0 Pacific 10 Conference), while the women also have a 6-1 record against UCLA (3-0, 1-0).

“”(The women) won the (Pac-10 Championships) last year,”” Nymeyer said. “”We kind of feel like we have something to prove again and to dominate again.””

Busch said he is anxious to see how the team performs as a whole against a more competitive lineup on opponent soil.

“”It’s a different place, but it’s a swimming pool,”” he said. “”It’s the same kind of pool we swim in every day.””