Swimming highlights a busy weekend for University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Athletics as the Canada West Swimming Championships come to Lethbridge.

For the first time in five seasons the Pronghorns swim team will welcome the Canada West conference to Lethbridge and the Max Bell Regional Aquatic Centre for the Canada West Championships.

The Horns' contingent of 17 Canada West qualifiers is five fewer than last season's qualifying group, but with seven freshmen and only two, fifth-year seniors, the team is a young group of swimmers looking to gain valuable experience for the future.

Highest ranked entering this weekend's competition is breaststroke specialist Jeffrey Nicol. Nicol has had a strong start to the season, setting a new school record in the 200-metre breaststroke. Last year as a freshman, Nicol finished sixth in the 200m breaststroke at the conference meet and will surely improve on that if he swims anywhere near his school record of two minutes, 17.83 seconds.

On the women's side, senior Kristy Gabruck has also had a strong start to the university season, setting a new school record in the 50-metre breaststroke earlier this season. She looks to close out her university career on a strong note.

The meet kicks off with a Friday session starting at 5 p.m. and two sessions on both Saturday and Sunday. Heats begin at 10 a.m. and 9 a.m., Saturday and Sunday respectively, with finals starting at 5 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Pronghorns men's and women's basketball teams play weekend home games against University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and Victoria Vikes. The men's hockey team travels to UBC to continue its playoff push and the women's hockey team hosts UBC for games Friday and Saturday nights at Nicholas Sheran Arena. Visit the Pronghorns website for a full weekend preview and sign up for Horns Weekly, the Pronghorn Athletics newsletter.