GRAND FORKS, N.D. - University of North Dakota head men's swimming and diving coach Steve Parsons has announced the schedule for the 2012-13 season.
"I still hold the belief that if we prepare our men to swim fast teams throughout the dual meet season then they will be ready for anything they see at the conference meet," Parsons said. "It will definitely be a challenging schedule for our men's team and I expect our men to rise up to the level of our competition each weekend."
UND will host three meets this season at the Hyslop pool and they come in the first three weeks of the season. The annual Green/White intra-squad meet kicks things off on Oct. 5. A week later, UND duals with former North Central Conference foe St. Cloud State for a two-day meet.
North Dakota then welcomes rival South Dakota on Oct. 20 for senior day in the first of two meets with the Coyotes. USD will also be the opponent in the regular season finale in Vermillion, S.D. on Jan. 26.
November sees UND travel to Kansas to take on TCU on Nov. 2-3 followed by the three-day TYR Invite hosted by Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
"We are going up against TCU for the first time I know of and that will be our first major challenge of the season," Parsons noted. "Having some conference opponents on the schedule in January should fuel some rivalries prior to the actual conference meet in February."
Following the semester break, UND will make its way to Colorado Springs, Colo. and the Air Force Academy. There, UND will face the AFA, Seattle and Wyoming.
UND begins its second season affiliated with the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The conference's championships begin Feb. 20th in Long Beach, Calif. 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 joins the conference this season.
"This really is an exciting year and with it being first season eligible to compete at the Division I NCAA Zone Diving Meet and the Division I NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, we are excited to see some of our athletes competing at the next level," Parsons said.
The NCAA Zone Diving meet gets underway on Mar. 14 and runs through the 16th. The NCAA Swimming Championships are slated for Mar. 28-30 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.
