Fresno State swimming and diving head coach Jeanne Fleck announced the 2016-17 Bulldog schedule. The schedule includes the return of the Fresno State Invite in early October, along with five home meets at the Aquatics Center.
Fresno State will open the season hosting the Fresno State Invitational on Oct. 7-8 before traveling to compete in the University of the Pacific Invitational on Oct. 21-22 and return home to host Nevada on Oct. 28.
"I'm really excited about our invitational. It's going to be a huge invite this year, last year we didn't get to have it," Fleck said. "We'll be seeing the best of the best from our conference in this invitational. All of the three top teams (Nevada, Boise State, San Diego State) from the Mountain West will be competing in this meet. It's going to be a challenge for us but it's an exciting challenge."
The Bulldogs will hit the road to compete in the USC Diving Invitational on Nov. 11-12 and the East Los Angeles Invitational on Nov. 17-19 before finishing their fall meets with a trip down to Bakersfield on Dec. 10.
"We have the East Los Angeles Invitational and the USC Diving invitational which really sets us up for the season," Fleck explained.
Fresno State starts the New Year at San Diego State for its first Mountain West opponent of the season on Jan. 13-14. While the swimmers are battling the Aztecs of San Diego State, the diving team will be at the UCLA Diving Invitational on Jan. 13-15.
"The San Diego State meet and the San Jose State meet are our two conferences meets of the season, so those are the meets we want to swim our fastest at," Fleck stated.
The Bulldogs head back home to the Valley to host three consecutive home meets. The first of the three home meets will be on Jan. 21 against CSU-East Bay. The second home meet will be on Jan. 28 against MW- foe San Jose State on Jan. 28. The home stand ends with UC Davis on Jan. 29 to conclude the regular season.
The 2017 Mountain West Championships will be held Feb. 15-18 in College Station, Texas. The NCAA Zone Diving Championships will take place in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Mar. 6-8 and the NCAA Championships are held Mar. 15-17 in Indianapolis, Ind.
"I'm looking forward to having some great dual meets and learning. We have a huge incoming class of 11, so we are very young but we also have great leadership," said Fleck. "We have eight seniors so that is a good balance for us. "
