Swimming: 2010-11 Schedule Announced
August 11, 2010 02:32 PM | General
August 11, 2010
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| Oliver Luck |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University Director of Athletics Oliver Luck has released the 2010-11 men’s and women’s swimming and diving schedules. The schedule is highlighted by three home meets at the WVU Natatorium and a winter training trip to Fullerton, Calif.
"Vic Riggs has once again put together a very competitive schedule for the 2010-11 season,” Luck says. "We are looking very forward to seeing the team build on their previous success at both the dual meet and championship levels.”
The schedule consists of 10 dual meets, including four against BIG EAST opponents. West Virginia will see two ranked teams and seven teams that received votes in last year’s final College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Top 25 poll. The men’s team will swim against four teams that scored at last year’s NCAA Championships, while the women will swim against five.
"I am looking forward to the upcoming dual meet season,” Riggs says. “Having the opportunity to compete against the best in the BIG EAST and some of the top programs from multiple conferences, it will provide the level of competition that we have come to expect for the teams. Racing against these programs during the year will drive the program towards the goal of racing at our best at the end of the season."
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2010-11 Regular Season Schedule |
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| 10/16 | Penn State | TBA | |
| 10/23 | at Marshall | 2 p.m. | |
| 11/5 | at Louisville | 5 p.m. | |
| 11/6 | at Cincinnati | 11 a.m. | |
| 11/13 | Rutgers (women only) | TBA | |
| 11/18-20 | UNC Nike Cup (Chapel Hill, N.C.) | ||
| 12/2-4 | U.S. Winter Nationals (Columbus, Ohio) | ||
| 12/31 | at UC Santa Barbara | 5 p.m. | |
| 1/4 | vs. Claremont (Fullerton, Calif.) | 5 p.m. | |
| 1/8 | at Pitt | noon | |
| 1/22 | Maryland | 1 p.m. | |
| 1/29 | Ohio (women only) | noon | |
WVU will open the season hosting Penn State on Saturday, Oct. 16. The Mountaineers and Nittany Lions have made the meet an annual experience with Penn State taking both the men’s and women’s meets last season. The Penn State men finished with a dual meet record of 5-5, while the women took 47th at NCAAs and finished the season with a 7-2 record.
The following week, WVU women’s team will head to Huntington, W.Va., for the annual meet against in-state rival Marshall. The Mountaineers will be looking to defeat the Thundering Herd for the fourth-consecutive season. Marshall, who went 5-8 last season, will be working under interim coach Russell Hunt.
The Mountaineers will continue on the road when they open up the BIG EAST season with meets at Louisville on Friday, Nov. 5 and at Cincinnati on Saturday, Nov. 6.
The Cardinals finished 21st on the men’s side at NCAAs, while the women finished 34th. Coach Arthur Albiero will be bringing in two nationally ranked recruiting classes after his men’s team took first and the women second at last year’s BIG EAST Championships. The Mountaineers will be looking to defeat Louisville for the first time since 2006-07.
Cincinnati and coach Monty Hopkins will be looking to defeat West Virginia for the first time since the Bearcats joined the BIG EAST in 2005. The Cincinnati men’s team is coming off a season in which it took 20th in the NCAA Championships led by Josh Schneider, who won the 50 free at the championships. The men finished sixth and the women seventh at the BIG EAST Championships and had dual-meet records of 2-6-1 and 4-6, respectively.
Rutgers and its first-year coach Phil Spiniello will come to town on Saturday, Nov. 13. A sickened West Virginia squad faced Rutgers for the first time since 2003-04 last year and fell to the Scarlet Knights, 125-158. Rutgers finished the season 4-1 and took fifth at the BIG EAST Championships.
Both teams will then take a break from the dual meet season and participate in the UNC Nike Cup in Chapel Hill, N.C., from Nov. 18-20. This will be the first time since the 1996-97 season that WVU has participated in the event and will be joined by Duke, East Carolina, James Madison, Navy, North Carolina, Old Dominion and Syracuse.
From Dec. 2-4, select members of the team will travel to Columbus, Ohio, for the U.S. Winter Nationals before going on a training trip to Fullerton, Calif., from Dec. 27-Jan. 6. On the trip, West Virginia will face UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Dec. 31, and Claremont on Tuesday, Jan. 4. The Gaucho men finished with a 5-2 record and the women finished at 6-2. The Stags men’s squad completed the season at 6-3 and won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships. The women took first as well and finished with a record of 7-3.
“With the addition of the UNC Nike Cup along with U.S. Winter Nationals, our teams will have the opportunity to compete against some of the best swimmers in the nation,” Riggs comments. “Having these two prelim, final meets in the fall will give our young team valuable experience they will need to compete at the BIG EAST and NCAA Championships.”
The BIG EAST slate will continue on Saturday, Jan. 8, when the team travels to Pitt. Both squads were able to defeat the Panthers last season in Morgantown and will look to continue the streak. Chuck Knoles will be back for his 21st year at Pitt and led the men’s and women’s teams to third- and fourth-place finishes at the BIG EAST Championships last season.
The teams will close out the regular season at home with Maryland on Saturday, Jan. 22, while the Ohio women will face the WVU women on Saturday, Jan. 29. The Terrapins are led by Sean Schimmel and the men finished 3-7, with the women going 11-2 in 2009-10. The Bobcats finished their 2009-10 season with a record of 10-2 and took third at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championships under Greg Werner.
The BIG EAST Championships will be held in Louisville, Ky., from Feb. 16-19, with the diving portion expected to be held the week before. The women’s NCAA Championships will be held from March 17-19 in Austin, Texas, followed by the men’s from March 24-26 in Minneapolis, Minn.
