GRAND FORKS, N.D. - University of North Dakota head men's swimming and diving coach Steve Parsons has announced the schedule for the 2011-12 season.
UND will begin the season on Sept. 30 with the annual Green/White intra-squad meet at the Hyslop pool. Two weeks later, the season will get its official start as the Fighting Sioux travel to South Dakota for a 1 p.m. meet against the Coyotes and St. Cloud State in Vermillion, S.D.
The Sioux will make a return trip to South Dakota on Oct. 28 when they face the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State and the Leathernecks of Western Illinois in Brookings.
"This season our men will face some of the best teams in the country," Parsons said. "We have some familiar faces and some new faces. The rivalries with South Dakota and South Dakota State continue. Western Illinois is a new opponent for us this season, so we are looking forward to competing with them."
UND's lone meet in November will take the team to Evanston, Ill., for a quadrangular against host Northwestern, Illinois-Chicago, and Wyoming and in December, UND will travel to the campus of Missouri for the 2011 Tiger Invite.
"The Tiger Invite will serve as our mid-season rest meet this year and we will be looking to post some fast times," Parsons said. "In my opinion, it is one of the most challenging mid-season meets around."
The Fighting Sioux will open the 2012 portion of the season and close their long road stretch in Ft. Myers, Fla., as they face Georgia Tech.
"Georgia Tech just brought in one of the best recruiting classes in the country, so they will be a challenge come January," Parsons said. "It will be fun having an ACC school on the schedule this season."
The Sioux will then return home to host South Dakota State (Jan. 27) and South Dakota (Jan. 28) for the first and only home meets of the season.
To close out the year, UND's new Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) affiliation will split the team in two as the swimmers travel to Long Beach, Calif., and the divers to Colorado Springs, Colo. Both the MPSF swimming and diving championships will take place Feb. 15-18.
"This is our first season in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and we are looking forward to the championship meet in February," Parsons said. "There are a number of teams in the MPSF that we have not faced before, so racing and diving against them will be a good challenge. Our guys are definitely looking to have a major impact at the MPSF Championships."
Other MPSF institutions that compete in men's swimming and diving include Air Force, Brigham Young, Cal State Bakersfield, Pacific, Seattle, Hawai'i, UNLV, and Wyoming. Additionally, the University of Denver will join the conference in 2012-13.
- Go Sioux -
