Virginia swimming and diving head coach Augie Busch announced the Cavaliers’ 2016-17 schedule Tuesday (Sept. 13). The schedule includes three home meets at the Aquatic and Fitness Center.
“We are excited about this schedule,” Busch said. “It is well-balanced between the semesters with the perfect amount of racing in January to best set us up for the championship season. It is great to have ACC teams Duke and Pitt back on the schedule as well. We will be challenged every meet which is exactly what we want."
The Cavaliers will open the schedule at home against Pitt on Oct. 21 and Penn State and Michigan Nov. 4-5. It is the third-consecutive season UVA has had a tri-meet with Nittany Lions and the Wolverines, whose men’s and women’s teams finished in the top 15 at the 2016 NCAA Championships,
Virginia will close the fall portion of the schedule at the Georgia Fall Invitational Dec. 2-4 in Athens, Ga. Last year, the Cavaliers broke six school records at the meet and the women took first-place honors.
The UVA divers begin competition at the Tennessee Diving Invitational Jan. 3-5 in Knoxville, Tenn., before the entire Cavalier squad hosts Virginia Tech Jan. 13-14 in its last home meet of the season.
The Cavaliers go on the road to close out the dual meet season, facing ACC foes Duke (Jan. 20), North Carolina (Jan. 21) and NC State (Jan. 28).
The ACC Championships will be held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center for the second-consecutive year, with women’s swimming and diving and men’s diving being held Feb. 15-18 and men’s swimming being contested Feb. 22-25. In 2016, the Cavalier women won their ninth-consecutive ACC title, while the men finished sixth. UVA will also send a contingent of student-athletes to the ECAC Championships Feb. 24-26.
The Virginia diving corps will compete for NCAA Championship spots at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships March 6-8 in Christiansburg, Va. Last season, the Cavaliers had a program-best three divers qualify for the national meet, including 2016 graduate Becca Corbett, junior Corey Johnson and sophomore Kylie Towbin.
The NCAA Championships will both be held in Indianapolis, with the women’s meet March 15-18 and the men’s meet March 22-25. The UVA women finished fifth for the second-straight year in 2016 and Olympic gold medalist Leah Smith captured NCAA titles in the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle. The Cavalier men placed 28th.
