The Arizona swim teams will head to Austin, Texas Thursday for the Texas Invitational, where the undefeated men’s and women’s relay squads will compete for qualifications for the NCAA Championships held in March.

“I’m looking forward to being part of a team that’s going to go out and compete for a national title,” said sophomore Giles Smith. “We want to make a big national statement that Arizona is going to be in it to win it.”

The level of competition at the Texas meet will be unlike any other they’ve faced thus far this season, as Texas is listed above the Wildcats in the latest NCAA rankings.

“This is our biggest meet of the semester, and this is where we qualify for NCAAs, so we need to swim fast,” said senior Alyssa Anderson. “This meet is always fun because there’s a lot of surprises, and that’s what’s so fun about this sport, just seeing people improve and drop significant amounts in their times.”

Arizona’s men’s team is No. 3 with the Longhorns No. 2, and the women are No. 8 compared to Texas’ No. 3 spot. Despite that, Smith says the team is ready.

“We’ve been resting for about three, four weeks, and we’re starting to feel pretty fast,” Smith said. “All our times in practice have been pretty quick, and faster than the day before. We’ll be ready to go.”

With the stakes high, Arizona isn’t going to stop sweating the small stuff.

“I think as a team, one area we got better was our focus on details and little things,” Smith said. “The coaches have done a great job working with each person and moving the little things like closing out races, and polishing starts and turns. I think it’s going to lead to a really big showing this weekend.”