The University of Denver women’s swimming and diving teams look for a strong showing this weekend as they compete against five other teams at the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Arkansas.

At the end of the 01-02 season, the Pioneers finished third behind Western Kentucky and New Mexico State. This season the team will look to at least maintain their position, but they could possibly move up to the front of the pack, according to Head Coach Jim Bain.

The women are coming off a very strong performance against rivals Colorado College and Metro State, beating CC 146-95 and Metro 169-47.

This last home meet was an excellent way to end the season before resting and preparing for the conference championships.

In addition to WKU and NMSU, the women will compete against North Texas, the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, and Louisiana-Monroe.

Recently released predictions regarding the tournament picked the Pioneers to finish third again, but a lot can happen at the championships.

“We expect to have a good meet with an extremely young team,” said Bain. “The women have been swimming really well in the last few meets and we’re expecting some school records and many lifetime bests. Maybe we’ll even have an NCAA championships qualifier like last year.”

The Pioneers leave for the championships today and will compete Thursday through Saturday in Little Rock, Arkansas.

This will be the last meet for Bain, who will retire after this season.

Two weeks from now the men will compete at the National Independent Conference Championships against some of the top teams in the nation in Oakland, Michigan.

Both teams hope that their coach can guide them to one last strong showing in the playoffs.