Let's be honest: a two-day swim meet in Arizona in late July sounds miserable. But that is exactly what the swim team is doing, hitting the road for a two-day set, presumably to get some work in before the real season starts. Good for them. Bad for anyone who has to drive that van.
This is the kind of trip that does not make a highlight reel, but it is the kind of trip that separates October from November. The Cougs are not going to Tempe for a vacation. They are going because pool time is pool time, and the calendar does not care about your AC. This is the same logic that put the August Apple Cup: Pullman Gets the Rivalry in Prime Palouse Heat on the schedule, if you have to play in the heat, you might as well own it. The swim team is doing the same thing, just in water instead of on turf.
Our take: this is exactly the kind of unglamorous work that defines a program. Nobody is filming this for a hype video. No one is Tweeting about the team van stopping for gas in Gila Bend. But the swimmers who come back from this trip will be a little sharper, a little more comfortable in a strange pool, and a little more ready for the Pac-12 schedule that waits for them. The Volleyball hits the road for Boise then hosts Fresno State in the same week earlier this year, and that kind of back-to-back travel is brutal. Swim team is doing the same thing, just with goggles and a kickboard.
The specific thing to watch: how does the team look when they get back? A two-day set in July is not about winning a trophy. It is about building the base that wins in February. If the Cougs come back and look sharp in their first fall meet, that is the proof. If they come back flat, it was a wasted trip. We are betting on the former. The only real consequence of this trip is whether it makes them faster when it counts. That is the only measure that matters.
Go Cougs.