Coming off its seventh CCSA Championships in an eight-year span, the FGCU Swimming & Diving program and interim head coach Amanda Smith have announced the 2016-17 schedule that includes six home meets, the second annual FGCU Classic and a pair of high-profile invitational meets at the All Florida Invite and Georgia Tech Invite.
Led by Smith, the new-look Eagles will compete against eight 2016 NCAA Championship participants, including four that finished in the top-25. At the conclusion of the season, FGCU will not only hope to claim its third straight and eighth overall conference crown at the CCSA Championships in Athens, Ga., from Feb. 15-18, but also send student-athletes to the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ind., from Mar. 15-18 for the sixth straight season.
"We're excited to finalize the schedule as the season quickly approaches," Smith said. "Last year, we had exceptional success and beat some great programs, so we wanted to really challenge the girls with a competitive schedule this season. It will be great to compete primarily at home as we love seeing the community and Eagle fans in our stands. We're also particularly excited for the second annual FGCU Classic as well as traveling West to compete against USC and spend some time in LA."
The Green and Blue will dive into the pool for the first time this season at the All Florida Invite hosted by Nova Southeastern from Sept. 23-25. A season ago, FGCU finished fourth in the meet that included Florida, Florida State and Miami among other programs.
Two weeks later, fans will get their first look at the 2016-17 Eagles as they host the FGCU Classic from Oct. 7-8 at the FGCU Aquatics Center. In its second season of existence, the event will again feature a crop of top-tier opponents as LSU, Ohio State, Rutgers, South Carolina and Virginia Tech are scheduled to invade The Nest. All five programs competed in last year's NCAA Championships as Ohio State finished 14th, Virginia Tech finished 25th, LSU finished 27th, South Carolina finished 29th and Rutgers finished T-47th.
The Eagles will then look to continue its conference dominance that includes eight championships and a 32-1 overall record as the dual-meet season begins with a meet against CCSA-foe UNF Friday, Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. at the FGCU Aquatics Center.
The season will continue with a trip to Los Angeles for a tri-meet against a pair of Pac-12 opponents in Oregon State and USC, who finished sixth in the country a season ago, Friday, Oct. 21 at 9 p.m. Then, the Eagles return to the FGCU Aquatics Center for a two-day quad meet against FSU, Florida Southern and West Florida from Nov. 4-5. The meet will begin Friday at 5 p.m. and continue Saturday at 10 a.m.
The highly-competitive Georgia Tech Invite, where FGCU finished third and broke five school records in 2015, is scheduled to keep the season rolling from Nov. 17-19, before the Green and Blue divers will compete against Clemson Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. in Coral Springs, Fla. The fall portion of the schedule will then wrap up with a home meet against conference opponent UNC Asheville Sunday, Dec. 18 at 10 a.m.
After a three-week break from competition during Christmas and New Year's Eve, a busy January that includes four dual meets will conclude the regular season. CCSA runner-up Liberty will square off with the Eagles in a conference championship tune-up Saturday, Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. Then, in-state opponents Miami and FAU will travel to Fort Myers for a pair of meets Saturday, Jan. 21 at noon and Friday, Jan. 27 at 4 p.m., respectively, before the Eagles' regular-season finale at FIU the following day at noon.
Beginning with the aforementioned CCSA Championships in Athens, Ga., the Eagles' postseason schedule includes four potential meets. Those swimmers just shy of NCAA Championship qualification will have one more opportunity to punch their ticket at the Last Chance Meet in Athens, Ga., from Feb. 25-26, and those divers who surpassed the NCAA qualification standard during the regular season will compete at the Zone Diving NCAA Qualifications from Mar. 6-8 at a location to be determined. Finally, FGCU will hope to culminate a season of hard work at the NCAA Championships for the sixth consecutive season.
