University Park, Pa. — Penn State swimming & diving head coach John Hargis announced his teams’ 2011-12 slate of dual meets, invitationals and championships on Monday. The Nittany Lion men will see six teams visit McCoy Natatorium, while the women will host seven teams in a total of five dual meets.
Penn State kicks off its season with its annual Blue-White Intrasquad event on Oct. 7. That will be the forerunner of the first dual meet of the season, as West Virginia on Oct. 22 will visit Happy Valley for an 11 a.m. matchup on the men’s and women’s side. Nearly two weeks later, the Nittany Lions will head south and face an SEC foe in Auburn on Nov. 4 and Georgia Tech of the ACC on Nov. 5. Auburn won its 15th SEC title in men’s swimming and diving last season and placed sixth at the NCAA Championships. The women’s team also had a strong showing in the national radar, as they placed eighth.
The Nittany Lions will return home on the weekend of Nov. 18 and 19, as they will host a tri-meet with Indiana and Virginia. Action on the 18th is set to begin at 6 p.m. and will continue the next day, beginning at 11 a.m. Virginia won the ACC title on the men’s and women’s side last year. The women’s team for the Hoosiers were crowned Big Ten champs last year and placed 15th at the NCAA Championships.
The first weekend in December will be Penn State’s only meet of the month. The Nittany Lions will participate in the Ohio State Invitational on Dec. 2-4. Both squads will have a month off before competing against the University of North Carolina on Jan. 4 in Naples, Fla. Penn State will then spend the next two days in the Bulldog Diving Shootout at the University of Georgia.
After returning from the south, the Nittany Lions will make its first appearance of the year 2012 in McCoy Natatorium as the women host a tri-meet with Arkansas and Navy, while the men host Navy in a dual. All action is set to take place at 11 a.m. on Jan. 14. Two weeks later, the women’s team will stay home and host Villanova, while the men head to Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 27-28 to take on Ohio State, Michigan and Northwestern.
Both teams will close out the regular season on the first weekend of February. The men’s team will host Buffalo on Feb. 3 at 4 p.m. Both teams will then face the Lehigh Mountain Hawks on Feb. 4.
The Penn State women will compete in the Big Ten Championships at the University of Iowa from Feb. 15-18. The men will also travel to Iowa City for Big Tens, which are slated for Feb. 22-25. Both championships will be aired on the Big Ten Network.
The Nittany Lion women are set to compete in the Feb. 26 Last Chance Invitational meet at a site TBD, while the men will have their Last Chance Meet at a site also TBD from March 3-4. Both sets of NCAA Zone A Diving Qualifying takes place Mar. 9-10 in Buffalo, N.Y.
The two respective NCAA Championship meets see the women at Auburn from Mar. 15-17, while the men are at the University of Washington from Mar. 22-24.