Pac-12 Weekly Preview: No. 10 Arizona Looking to Build

Arizona's Taylor Garcia. Photo Courtesy: Arizona Athletics

By Dan D’Addona.

After a restful winter break for most college teams, the competition in the pool heats up again this week in the Pac-12. Here is a look at what is happening this week:

Arizona hosts invite

The Arizona women will look to build on a strong finish to 2016 at the Texas Invitational with a strong opening to 2017 with a home invitational on Jan. 6. The Wildcats will host Oregon State, Northern Arizona and New Mexico State. The Wildcats are coming off of a meet where they earned 11 NCAA qualifying times on the final night alone, and saw a school record fall in the 200-yard medley relay on a time trial. Taylor Garcia, Kennedy Lohman, Annie Ochitwa and Katrina Konopka broke the school record for the women and earned an ‘A’ cut with a time of 1:34.63. Arizona swam well enough to jump from No. 24 to No. 10 in the latest coaches poll. The following day, Oregon State will complete its road trip with a dual against Arizona State.

Harvard at Utah

On Jan. 3, the Utah men host Harvard in a non-conference dual meet. This will be a strong start to the new year for both teams. Harvard will get the experience of a big road trip, while the Utes will get some pretty good competition before they head back into conference meets. Harvard is ranked No. 23 and swimming strong this season. This meet will be big for them. On Jan. 7, the Utah women will host No. 26 Denver in a strong opener.

UCLA hosts Kansas, Boise State

No. 22 UCLA will return to the pool for a tri-meet, hosing Kansas and Boise State. The Bruins have been pretty consistent this year and this meet could be the first step in a number of steps they hope to take before the Pac-12 Championships.

Pacific at Stanford

The No. 4 Stanford men will open the new year by hosting the University of the Pacific on Jan. 6. The Cardinal will use this as a tune-up meet after such a long time off for break, while Pacific can use this as an opportunity to challenge itself with some great races.

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