The newly top-ranked Arizona men’s swim and dive team got off to a slow start at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, ending the first day in fourth place.

In the only two events of the first day, the Wildcats finished third place in the 200-yard medley relay while taking fourth in the 800y freestyle relay.

“”It was a pretty rough night for us,”” said senior Jean Basson. “”We take a lot of pride in relays, and we all gave it everything we had right now, so it’s disappointing not to get a better result.””

Scores and times were not available online due to technical problems, according to Pac-10.org.

While the Wildcats struggled in the two early races, they came into the Pac-10 meet with a different purpose than the majority of the other teams.

Many of the schools racing in Long Beach, Calif., are aiming to either win the Pac-10 Championships or for individual qualifications for nationals. Meanwhile, Arizona has already earned the majority of their cuts for NCAAs and will instead use the Pac-10s to add a few more men into the fold of preparing for the team’s ultimate goal — winning the second NCAA Championship in three years.

“”We are up against teams who are way more ready to go than we are right now, but we have to realize that’s OK because we want to be on top at nationals, not necessarily the Pac-10s,”” Basson said.

Despite the slow start on Wednesday, Arizona is in prime position to make a move Thursday with many of top swimmers racing in their best events. Basson will be in the 500y freestyle where he is the defending national champion, and fellow seniors Jack Brown and Jordan Smith will also be swimming in events that they have dominated this season.

“”We just need to make sure we’re ready to race from the first event to the last event,”” Smith said. “”We can’t afford to take the first events to warm up.””

— Derek Lawrence