HONOLULU— After a month layoff between competitions, the University of Hawai'i swimming and diving team will head to California to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships from Feb. 20-23.
 
On the women's side UH will aim to build off the past two seasons where the Rainbow Wahine claimed back-to-back conference championships. While the men will be working to make history as they'll try to claim the program's first-ever MPSF championship.
 
"We've done a lot of race simulations lately, along with them using championship style suits to prepare themselves over these last few weeks," said head coach Dan Schemmel. "Our training regimen has been altered since the start of the season as we're working more on race pace and fast swimming rather than intensity and volume."
 
The swimming and diving 'Bows have put together another top-notch season with stops at CSU Bakersfield, Texas A&M, as well as home meets against Wisconsin and Minnesota for the swimmers, along with the University of Texas and UCLA for the divers, UH has prepared all season for the most important week of the year.
 
"The group as a whole this season has been confident and happy," said Schemmel. "It has a different feel than our previous couple of seasons where there have been some unsure tendencies at times. But right now it feels like confidence has taken over, and to me, that is a good thing."
 
It will be combined effort on both sides as swimming and diving competitions will be scored to crown an overall champion. Junior long distance swimmer Phoebe Hines will have much of the focus on the women's side as she'll help lead the No. 30 ranked squad. Hines is currently ranked No. 1 nationally in the 1650 free with a time of 15:41.35, as she's separated by a one-tenth of a second between the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. She also ranks in the top-10 of the 500 free at No. 7. She'll compete in both events as well as the 200 Free at the championships, with the possibility of being a part of a relay squad.
 
From the diving side, the emergence of junior Jami Stone and sophomore Victoria Moretti has added stability to an already established reputation of the UH diving team as a team to beat. Throughout the 2018-19 campaign no one diver has claimed the top spot, but rather the entire roster has shown growth and the ability to rise up the standings.
 
On the men's team, senior Johan Sandell sits atop the MPSF rankings as he looks to add one last mark on the conference with another appearance in the diving championships.
 
Senior Metin Aydin will bring his brand of enthusiasm and competitiveness to the swimmers with the hopes of championship glory. Joining Aydin will be the return of junior Olli Kokko as he'll add more depth and a winning resume to the squad.
 
"It's going to take a combined effort all week," said Schemmel. "Everyone from our underclassmen to our established seniors will play a part. I'm excited to see who steps up on both sides and I can't wait to see how divers do in their competitions, this is when the fun happens."
 
Updates will be provided throughout the week on hawaiiathletics.com as well as the official swimming and diving twitter account @HawaiiSwimDive.