By Nathan Benson
The BYU men?s swimming and diving team will conclude non-conference action by surfing into Honolulu for a top-25 tilt against the University of Hawaii Saturday morning.
The Cougars, who climbed two places in the latest poll to No. 20 after defeating Washington, will look to maintain their unblemished record in one of their most challenging match-ups of the year.
?Hawaii is tough to beat at home,? BYU head swimming coach Tim Powers said.
The No. 22 Rainbow Warriors have not lost in home meets this season and convincingly won their only dual meet against Pacific in November.
The Hawaii roster looks more like a world all-star cast than a normal collegiate team with swimmers from Australia, Poland, South Africa and Spain. The foreign talent has resulted in some impressive times this year.
Thomas Winkler, who swam on the German Junior National team, owns top-10 times in the nation this season in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. Those are only two of many fast Hawaii finishes to catch BYU?s attention.
?Overall on paper, their team looks stronger than ours,? senior breastroker Adam Ware said.
Ware, however, is confident that BYU?s leading swimmers will be able to match up well with Hawaii?s top threats.
Mark Chay, Jeffery Su, Kenny Carpenter and Ware all have individual victories in multiple events this season and will look to lead the relay teams as well.
BYU will make the trip to the islands for the first time since the 2001-2002 season when they participated in a non-scored meet with the Rainbow Warriors.
The team arrived in Honolulu on Wednesday and will spend some of Thursday and Friday sightseeing and relaxing at the beach. Ware said the extra time will help the team adjust to the three-hour time difference and will help them be ready for the challenge.
?Of all the meets we have this year, this will probably be the toughest one,? Ware said.
