Jan. 31, 2013

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford women's swimming and diving team will wrap up the home portion of the dual meet season this weekend at the Avery Aquatics Center. The second-ranked Cardinal will face No. 12 UCLA at 1 p.m. (PT) on Friday and returns to the water less than 24 hours later to battle No. 1 USC.

The Cardinal (5-1) moved up the rankings after picking up Pac-12 Conference road wins at No. 6 Arizona and No. 20 Arizona State last week. Stanford's only dual meet loss on the season came by a three-point margin against Texas in early November.

"The challenge of this weekend is that we once again have two meets to prepare for coming off of two competitions last weekend," Stanford head coach Greg Meehan said. "It's really important for the team to take care of themselves in terms of staying healthy, recovery, academics and staying on top of everything that goes into being a student-athlete at Stanford.

"Both USC and UCLA have had very good seasons and are very well coached. We're excited about the opportunity to continue our conference racing. It was great to get the wins last weekend, but in the big picture, it's more about being better this weekend than last weekend, and then being better in two weeks than we will be this weekend. We have to get better each week."

Stanford will honor its six-person senior class 15 minutes prior to Saturday's noon start against the Trojans.

"We've reminded our seniors that it's their last home meet, but not their last meet," Meehan said. "Our senior class still has a lot to accomplish here at Stanford. I truly appreciate what they've done for this program during my first season as head coach. They've made the transition so easy and smooth for everyone in how they've handled themselves and how they've gotten the team behind the philosophies of what we're trying to accomplish."