Arizona

Taking stock 2025: How Arizona swimming and diving is looking under Ben Loorz

Published

5 months ago

June 26, 2025

Taking stock 2025: How Arizona swimming and diving is looking under Ben Loorz

The offseason is here, with all of Arizona’s sports done for 2024-25 season and the 2025-26 campaigns still a little ways away.

Which makes this a great time to step back and see how all of the Wildcats’ programs are doing and how they’ve handled the move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12

Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at each of the UA’s men’s and women’s athletic programs to see what shape they’re in and what prospects they have for the near future. We’ll break down each team and evaluate how it is performing under its current coaching staff, looking at the state of the program before he/she arrived and comparing it to now while also evaluating how that program fits into its new conference.

Next up: Ben Loorz’s swimming and diving team

How it looked before

Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois hired Loorz as swimming and diving head coach in May 2024 after a 7-year run by Augie Busch. Loorz took over a legacy program that had fallen off under Busch’s reign. Arizona was once a top 10 program in both men’s and women’s swimming and diving, but sunk towards the middle of the Pac-12 over the last decade plus.

Loorz arrived in Tucson from UNLV, where he guided the Rebels to a total of five conference championships in eight seasons. Given Arizona’s recent history, and Loorz’s lack of experience at the Power 5 level, it was expected that Loorz would need some time and support to get Arizona back to being nationally competitive.

Where things stand now

In Loorz’s first season, the Arizona men’s team achieved a national ranking, earned several All-American honorable mentions and finished runner-up at Big 12 Championships. The men placed 29th at NCAA Championships, a decent result that also left significant room for improvement.

The women’s team followed a similar trajectory in year one under Loorz, also producing multiple All-American honorable mentions, a runner-up finish at Big 12 Championships and a 29th place finish at NCAA Championships.

The top end talent on both the men’s and women’s teams kept Arizona competitive throughout the season, but the program’s lack of depth kept the Wildcats from securing more points at NCAAs. For Arizona to again compete in the upper echelon of the sport, it will need to send far more swimmers to NCAAs.

Big 12 vs. Pac-12

Arizona went down a notch in competition by moving to the Big 12 from the Pac-12, where schools like Stanford, Cal and USC take swimming and diving seriously. Arizona’s biggest competition in the Big 12 is, ASU, which has become a swimming powerhouse over the past decade. The Sun Devils swept the men’s and women’s Big 12 Championships this year and are heads and shoulders ahead of the rest of the conference.

Arizona’s runner-up finishes at conference championships were a positive step for the program, which had fallen towards the bottom of the Pac-12 under Busch. In the big picture, however, Arizona could have a harder time building relevancy competing in a conference that doesn’t value swimming and diving.

One big question

Will Arizona take the leap? There’s no getting around the fact that the Arizona swimming and diving teams are competing at a disadvantage compared to several years ago. Arizona was once one of the destinations for college swimmers but was usurped by rival ASU in the 2010s. Whereas the Sun Devils are regularly competing for national championships (at least on the men’s side), Arizona is looking to regain its place among the sport’s powers.

Loorz’s programs showed some real progress in his first year, with several swimmers and divers earning All-American honorable mentions. The expectations will be higher in Year 2 as Loorz has now had a full calendar year to bring in recruits and transfers, and develop returning swimmers. If the Arizona men’s and women’s teams can reach the top 25 at NCAAs, next season will be considered a step in the right direction.

Source link

Related Topics:and arizona ben desert diving Featured front page how is looking loorz Other Sports stock swarm swimming taking under wildcats

Click to comment

Arizona

Tracking snap counts and Pro Football Focus grades from Arizona’s win at ASU

Published

4 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

Tracking snap counts and Pro Football Focus grades from Arizona’s win at ASU

Arizona has brought the Territorial Cup back to Tucson, winning the rivalry game with ASU for the third time in four seasons. And it did so despite some of the worst grades of the season for the team as a whole and the offense specifically.

The UA’s team grade of 69.1 ranked third-lowest in 2025, ironically ahead of two of the other wins in the current 5-game streak. The offensive grade of 62.6 was also better than only the recent wins over Kansas (57.2) and Colorado (55.5).

Defensively it was a different story. Arizona graded at 76.1, which was 6th-best, and its 90.3 run defense grade was the best of 2025.

For the season, Arizona’s overall grade of 87.5 ranks 39^th in FBS. The defense is tied for 21^st at 91.5. Compare those to a season ago when the Wildcats ranked 98^th nationally and their defense was 118^th out of 134 FBS schools.

Below are the snap counts and individual grades of all players who appeared on offense or defense at ASU:

Top overall grades (min. 20 snaps): S Dalton Johnson (83.3), S Genesis Smith (71.7), QB Noah Fifita (71.2), RT Matthew Lado (71.2), LB Riley Wilson (69.0)

Top pass blocking: RG Alexander Doost (85.5), LG Chubba Maae (81.6), RB Ismail Mahdi (76.2)

Top run blocking: RT Matthew Lado (66.2), WR Kris Hutson (62.7), WR Tre Spivey (61.9)

Top pass rushing: LB Chase Kennedy (62.7), CB Treydan Stukes (60.0), CB Michael Dansby (59.7)

Top run defense: Johnson (92.7), CB Ayden Garnes (77.0), Wilson (75.2)

Top tackling: Smith (82.9), Garnes (81.1), LB Taye Brown (79.1)

Top coverage: Dansby (71.4), Johnson (71.3), Smith (68.7)

Source link

Arizona

Wrong-way driver caught on cam, ASU battles Arizona for Territorial Cup | Nightly Roundup

Published

22 hours ago

November 28, 2025

Press Room

Wrong-way driver caught on cam, ASU battles Arizona for Territorial Cup | Nightly Roundup

article

PHOENIX – From the terrifying moment caught on camera of a wrong-way driver on I-10, to the duel in the desert as ASU takes on Arizona for the rivalry game, here’s a look at your top stories on FOX10Phoenix.com for Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.

1. Wrong-way driver caught on camera

What we know:

During the late night hours of Thanksgiving, a white pickup truck was seen heading the wrong way on Interstate 10’s HOV lane near Baseline Road.

2. Man found lying near roadway prompts hit-and-run investigation

3. Suspect in custody after shooting at South Phoenix apartment

4. Officers use less-lethal means to detain road rage suspect

5. ASU vs. U of A: Fans gear up for rivalry game

A peak at your weather this weekend

Get the Full Forecast

Nightly RoundupPhoenixNews

Source link

Arizona

Arizona pair celebrates decade of friendship that started with wrong text

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

Press Room

Arizona pair celebrates decade of friendship that started with wrong text

MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — What began as a mistaken text message has blossomed into a 10-year Thanksgiving tradition that continues to capture hearts worldwide.

Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench are celebrating their tenth consecutive Thanksgiving together, a friendship that started in 2016 when Dench accidentally texted the then-17-year-old Hinton, thinking she was inviting her grandson to dinner.

“There are no accidents. It was meant to be,” Dench said.

The mix-up occurred when Dench sent a Thanksgiving dinner invitation to the wrong phone number. When Hinton responded asking who was texting, Dench replied it was grandma.

“I get this text back saying who is this and I said its grandma and the next message was well send me a picture,” Dench said.

Friendship grows through life’s challenges

What could have been a forgettable mistake transformed into an annual reunion. The pair have supported each other through significant life events, including the death of Dench’s husband in 2020 and her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment last year.

“We just all clicked. It was amazing. We spent hours talking. There was no generation gap. It was just fun and joyful and exciting,” Dench said.

“I love it to spend thanksgiving with so many different types of people,” Hinton said.

The friendship has provided mutual support during difficult times.

“I was able to talk with Jamal and he’s always given me encouragement and I’ve been very blessed,” Dench said.

“It feels like a best friend. She feels like someone you can talk to about anything. So when you go through anything I call her all the time. She answers her phone,” Hinton said.

Both consider each other family now.

“Jamal will always be in my inner circle of family,” Dench said.

“Family she’s family no matter what,” Hinton said.

This year’s celebration was sponsored by Green Giant.

Last year, the pair met virtually while Dench was battling cancer, making this year’s in-person reunion particularly meaningful.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Source link