The Pacific 10 Conference is one of the most competitive conferences in women’s swimming and the first day of the Pac-10 Conference Championships showed why.

In the only two events of the day at the Belmont Olympic Plaza in Long Beach, Calif., the winning team posted meet records. The Arizona 200-yard medley relay ‘A’ team of juniors Annie Chandler, Lara Jackson and Anna Turner and sophomore Hailey DeGolia posted a time of 1:36.57 – one full second faster than second place Stanford.

“”It was a little bit of surprise that we swam as fast as we did,”” said Arizona head swimming coach Frank Busch. “”It was a nice way to start the meet off. I feel pretty good about what we’re doing and how we’re dong it right now.””

Although Arizona couldn’t sweep the two events, it did place fourth (7:07.01) in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The California ‘A’ team won the event with a time of 7:04.13.

Thanks to the two strong showings, the Wildcats find themselves in second place with 116 points – just two points
behind meet leading California and only two points ahead of third place Stanford.

“”We’re in a good place right now,”” Busch said. “”This meet is so far from being over. Now the big stuff starts with three full days of competition. We’re in a battle royale right now and the scoring will be tight the whole meet.””