Hawai'i hopes the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, which starts tomorrow in Minneapolis, will be nothing but Swede dreams.

The Rainbows' hopes lie solely with their junior divers from Sweden, Magnus Frick of Ingaro and Mats Wiktorsson of Jonkoping. Those hopes are high.

Frick accumulated 400.10 points in the 1-meter at the Conference-USA Invitational, which is the highest score in the country this year. He owns the school's 1- and 3-meter records.

He captured both events at the zonals earlier this month. His score in the 1-meter was more than 30 points higher than any other score at the five zonals.

Wiktorsson broke his own UH platform record at the CUSA meet. He was fourth in the nation last year, earning All-America honors with the best finish in UH men's history. He will also compete in the 1- and 3-meters after qualifying in the top eight at zonals. Wiktorsson earned All-America honorable mention in both events last year.

"He's better in a lot of ways this year," UH diving coach Mike Brown says of Wiktorsson. "Magnus could win one or two events. He's really good — strong, he's got difficulty (in his six dives), he's a pretty diver and he's very athletic. ... They are both pretty damn good."

Brown should know. He came to UH six years ago with wife Anita Rossing and daughter Rika, now a senior at Waldorf School. They had lived in Canada the previous six years after 18 intense seasons coaching at swimming and diving power Texas, and with national programs. He coached four divers from different countries at the 1988 Olympics.

"It was time to take a break," Brown said, "and I needed it."

A few years after Brown accepted an offer to dive back into coaching from former UH swim coach Sam Freas, QiongJie Huang won an NCAA diving title. Her 2005 championship was Hawai'i's first individual title in 22 years, and Brown's sixth in 24 years.

Last year, Rui Wang was second in the platform at the NCAAs and Huang third in the 1-meter. Last week, senior Megan Farrow took fourth in the NCAA 3-meters. She and freshman Emma Friesen lifted Hawai'i to 27th place.

Friesen's father was an Olympic diver. Her mother won a diving championship when she attended SMU, where she was a teammate of Brown's. Success breeds success in many ways.

Brown calls Friesen "a very special diver." The Swedes, who have been coached most of the year by Rossing, belong in the same breath.

Brown describes Wiktorsson, a seven-time Swedish national champion, as the more graceful of the two, with beautiful "lines into the water." Frick, who was fifth in the 1-meter at last year's European Championships and Top 10 at the 2005 World Championships, is more acrobatic and stronger, and performs more difficult dives.

What they have in common is quite basic: "Both have the whole package," Brown said.

The UH men were 30th last year with all their points coming from Wiktorsson. Frick, a business major who enjoys beach volleyball and surfing, sat out last spring after coming over from Sweden.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.