BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have released their schedules for the upcoming 2009-10 season, head coach Adam Schmitt announced Thursday.
Next year’s schedules will feature another tough slate of meets as each squad will compete against several of the top programs in the country before gearing up for the postseason in February and March. In addition, LSU fans will have the opportunity to come out and watch the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action at the LSU Natatorium on six occasions during the year.
The Lady Tigers, who secured 16th-place at the 2009 NCAA Championships, will face five teams during the dual season that placed in the top-20 at last year’s national competition, including home meets against Southeastern Conference juggernauts Auburn and Tennessee and perennial women’s powerhouse Texas A&M as well as a road meet at Florida.
The men’s squad, which finished the regular season ranked in the top-25 of the College Swim Coaches Association of America poll for the third-straight year, will take on six teams that posted top-25 finishes at NCAA’s. The Tigers will battle the reigning national champions from Auburn as well as Tennessee and Texas A&M in Baton Rouge and will travel to Florida, Florida State and Alabama.
“I am very excited about our schedule for next season,” Schmitt said. “We have a couple of quality top-10 SEC matchups early in the fall, and overall, its a strong schedule with many top-20 teams. I hope a lot of Tiger fans can come out and support us at our home meets next season. They will be exciting to watch.”
After beginning the season with the programs annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad meet on Sept. 25 in the LSU Natatorium, both teams will welcome Tennessee to town on Oct. 17 and Auburn on Oct. 23 for a couple of dual competitions. The Lady Tigers will also challenge Tulane at home on Oct. 30 before the Tigers and Green Wave hit the gridiron the following evening.
The squads will make their first road trip in the beginning of November for a pair of back-to-back dual contests in Alabama and Florida. The Tigers and Crimson Tide will take to the pool on Nov. 6 for their traditional dual meet the day before the LSU-Alabama football game and will then make the trek to Tallahassee, Fla., to compete against the Seminoles the following afternoon.
After a road dual meet at the University of New Orleans on Nov. 13, LSU will travel to their first major competition of the season, the Houston Invitational on Nov. 20-22.
The LSU divers will take part in their first diving invitational at Alabama, beginning Dec. 17, and will kick off the new year with another diving invite in Athens, Ga., on Jan. 3-5. Meanwhile, the LSU swimmers will continue their training in Florida with the South Florida Invitational (Jan. 5) and dual meets at Florida Atlantic (Jan. 8) and Florida (Jan. 10).
The squads return to Baton Rouge for their final combined competition of the season, a dual meet versus Texas A&M on Jan. 23. The Lady Tigers then hit the road for dual meets against Houston and Rice on Jan. 29-30, while the men’s team wraps up the regular season against UNO on Jan. 30.
LSU begins postseason competition on Feb. 17 with the 2010 SEC Championships in Athens, Ga. Following SECs, the swimmers will have one more opportunity to lock up a bid to the national meet with a Last Chance Meet at the end of February, and the divers will travel to one of five zone diving regional competitions in mid-March looking to qualifying for NCAA’s.
The women’s NCAA Championships will be held on March 18-20 at Purdue, while the men’s national meet will take place on March 25-27 at Ohio State.