The first set of CollegeSwimming.com’s 2008-09 rankings are out and defending national champion UA women’s swimming and diving team was pegged as the top team in the nation. The defending champion men’s squad will begin the season ranked No. 3 in the country.

The women return 12 All-Americans and 24 letter winners. The team received 240 total points in the poll, along with all eight first-place votes.

“”It doesn’t surprise me that our women are ranked No. 1,”” UA head coach Frank Busch said in a news release. “”It’s a great honor and we are looking forward to beginning the season.””

The Arizona women will face at least three top-10 teams this season in No. 3 Stanford, No. 5 California and No. 7 Texas.

The men’s team received 227 total votes and one first-place vote. Texas and Stanford were ranked above the Wildcats and Arizona will compete against both schools in a dual meet this season.

“”We graduated some tremendous talent last season,”” Busch said. “”The talent of this year’s men’s team will be in our sophomore and junior classes and it’s nice to be thought of highly in terms of rankings.””

Both teams will attempt to defend their respective national titles as they open their season on Friday, Oct. 31, against Wisconsin at 2 p.m. at the newly remodeled Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.