While my colleague Barrett is trying to convince you all that Tucson can become a football, wanted to let you all know there are still a number of sports here. While they may lack publicity, one thing they aren’t short of is success. It’s time to shed some light on the Cats’ lesser known athletes with our first ever edition of Obscure Sports Weekly.

With the basketball team off until Sunday its time to dive, pun intended, right into some of the many other Wildcat sporting events set to take place this weekend.

The No. 2 Arizona women’s and the No. 5 men’s swimming and diving teams are set to host Northern California rivals Stanford and California this weekend at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. The Wildcats will take on the top-ranked Stanford women and the No. 2 men on Friday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. (MST), while the women will challenge No. 4 Cal on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. Here’s a quick glance at our competition:

The women’s squad will face two nationally ranked teams, including the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal that currently holds a record of 5-0 (1-0 Pac-10). Stanford will be returning to the water for their first competition since December 2, 2006, when they finished second at the Texas Invitational with 756 points.

The Stanford men are currently ranked second in the nation with a 1-0 overall record (0-0 Pac-10). The Cardinal last competed at the Texas Invitational as well, finishing third overall with 543 points. On Nov. 19, the Stanford men captured the 2006 Speedo Cup for the fourth year in a row, beating 15 teams with a total of 1,803.5 points

This won’t be the first time the Cats have run into Stanford as Arizona also competed in the 2006 Texas Invitational. The Arizona men’s and women’s swim team both finished first for the second consecutive year. The women won with 859 team points and the men posted 787 points, while breaking eight school records over the course of three days. History has a way of repeating itself so I expect the Cats to leave the Cardinals in our wake.

Arizona will also be battling more than just Pac-10 foes as the weather forecast is supposed to be ugly for the second consecutive weekend.

"It definitely makes it more of a challenge just to even try to stay warm and keep your muscles loose and fresh," said senior captain Whitney Myers. "It's nice to remember that the opponent is also having to deal with the same challenges, and we're kind of doing it together and both battling it."

The poor weather conditions at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center didn’t slow the Cats down last weekend. The men’s team upset No. 4 California, 124-118 for the first time in 14 years, while also downing No.12 Michigan, 122-121. This will be a big test for the men’s team as the Cardinals have won the Pac-10 Championship every year since 1982.

Timing is everything and the Cats could be squaring off against Stanford at just the right time. Junior Albert Subirates had this to say:

"I think that last week and beating Cal for the first time in 14 years is a pretty big accomplishment for us. We will probably be better this weekend than we were last weekend."

After accomplishing feats that hadn’t been done in 14 years it’s scary to think this team could only be getting better. This will be a tough match-up and the importance of this weekend definitely wasn’t lost on UA head coach Frank Busch.

"These are two of the best teams not only this year but historically in NCAA history." “Both teams (Arizona men’s and women) are still feeling the burn from their annual "Christmas training," during which they had 22 practices in 14 days." Busch said

I know I’ll be holding my breath hoping we pull it out, but you should know the swim teams aren’t the only nationally ranked squads with competition this weekend. The No. 16 Arizona gymnastics team heads to East Lansing tonight to open the season against No. 22 Michigan State. The Cats finished last season ranked No. 13 and just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships and head coach Bill Ryden has high expectations of this year’s squad.

"We're a much stronger team gymnastics-wise than we were last year, and we'll be much stronger in March and April than we are now. I just think we're going to be a very good team, and we're going to be a surprise to a lot of people," Ryden said.

He’s not the only one as the whole team is brimming with confidence senior leader Aubrey Kelly had this to say:

"I guarantee you other teams will be intimidated when they see us," Kelly said. "Of the teams in the nation, I'd say we're among the top five in terms of difficulty. I'm very optimistic."

Here’s a look at how we match up with MSU head to head.

Vault Bars Beam Floor Total Michigan State 48.595 48.369 47.958 48.217 193.303 Arizona 48.812 48.862 48.49 48.896 195.058

I know our readers might not be too familiar with gymnastics so here’s a brief understanding of how the rankings are determined. Unlike other collegiate athletic rankings, collegiate gymnastic rankings are not based on wins and losses or votes. Gymnastic teams are ranked by their meet scores alone. From Jan. 15-Feb. 12, teams will be ranked by their total season average. Starting Feb. 19, teams and gymnasts will be ranked by a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS). An RQS is based on a team's top six regular-season scores, with three scores coming from away meets. To obtain the RQS, the team's or gymnast’s highest score is dropped and the remaining five scores are averaged.

This weekend is filled with exciting Wildcat sporting events so if you get the chance please come out and support the team. If nothing else they’re sure easy on the eyes. Check back next week for a recap of our results and until then… Fight Wildcats Fight Fight Fight

Soren