Fans and supporters will have more opportunities to see the Sun Devils at home this season as Arizona State men’s and women’s swimming and diving announces the 2017-18 competition schedule.
“We are very excited to add powerhouse programs Texas and Indiana to our schedule and hope to make these yearly events,” said Head Swimming Coach Bob Bowman. “As our program develops, we want to face top-level competition in our non-conference schedule. The addition of Florida State and Harvard are also tremendous opportunities to expand our competitive range, and we look forward to welcoming them all to Tempe. The Pac-12 dual meet schedule is the toughest of any conference, and our team looks forward to the challenge of the conference dual schedule.”
Significant additions to the schedule include Texas and Indiana for the Sun Devils in 2017-18. The Texas (No. 2) and Indiana (No. 4) men were in the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) top five to end the season, while the respective women’s programs were tied for second and No. 15 in the final poll.
The Sun Devils’ season schedule includes national champions on each side – Texas (men), and Stanford (women) as well as three of the top five overall finishers.
During the dual season, the men’s and women’s teams will also each face seven opponents ranked in the top-25 to finish the season, including the top-ranked team for each. The Sun Devil men will compete against No. 1 Cal, No. 2 Texas, No. 4 Indiana, No. 5 (tied) Stanford, No. 13 USC, No. 15 (tied) Arizona), and No. 21 Florida State while the women take on No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 (tied) Texas and Cal, No. 5 USC, No. 15 Indiana, No. 17 Arizona, and No. 21 UCLA.
“Coach Bowman has put together a great and very competitive schedule and it’s exciting to see some top tier schools that are not only good in swimming but in diving as well,” said Head Diving Coach Mark Bradshaw. “We have schools like Texas, Florida State, Harvard, all schools that we don’t traditionally compete against in our non-conference slate, plus our conference schedule, which is always a challenge.
I think you’ll see a lot more of these top-level programs on our schedule as our programs continue to advance and improve. We’re taking a year off from the Texas Diving Invitational to go to NAU’s diving invitational and to support our fellow in-state school. Our Zone meet is also at the same facility, so that’ll give us another opportunity to compete there, which we’re looking forward to.”
As the first and second Most Improved teams in the nation, respectively, last season, the Sun Devil men’s and women’s programs made significant improvements throughout last regular season as well as the postseason. The men jumped 30 spots at NCAA’s while the women tripled their number of postseason participants.
Academically, the ASU women had the eighth highest team GPA in the nation during spring 2017 (highest in Pac-12) while the men finished second in the conference in both team GPA and individual Scholar All-Americans.
The program looks to continue this upward improvement in all aspects in 2017-18.
Until the official release from the Pac-12 conference this fall, times and dates are subject to change.
2017-18 ASU Swimming & Diving Schedule
Friday 10/6/17 – 3 p.m. – Intrasquad – Tempe, AZ
Friday, 10/27/17 – 4 p.m. – Utah* – Tempe, AZ
Saturday, 10/28/17 – 11 a.m. – Florida State – Tempe, AZ
Friday, 11/3/17 – 2 p.m. – USC* – Tempe, AZ
Saturday, 11/4/17 – 11 a.m. – UCLA* – Tempe, AZ (WSWIM/DIVE)
Thursday-Saturday, 11/16-18/17 – Art Adamson Invitational – College Station, TX (WSWIM)
Thursday-Saturday, 11/16-18/17 – NAU Lumberjack Invitational – Flagstaff, AZ (DIVE)
Thursday-Saturday, 11/30-12/2/17 – Texas Invitational – Austin, TX (MSWIM)
Wednesday, 12/20/17 – 2 p.m. – Indiana – Tempe, AZ
Saturday, 1/6/18 – 12 noon – Harvard – Tempe, AZ (MSWIM/DIVE)
Saturday, 1/13/18 – 12 p.m. – Washington State* – Pullman, WA (WSWIM/DIVE)
Friday, 1/19/18 – 3 p.m. – Cal* – Berkeley, CA
Saturday, 1/20/18 – 1 p.m. – Stanford* – Palo Alto, CA
Friday, 1/26/18 – 2 p.m. – Texas – Tempe, AZ
Saturday, 2/3/18 – 1 p.m. – Arizona* – Tempe, AZ
Wednesday, 2/21-24/18 – Pac-12 Championship – Federal Way, WA (WSWIM, M/W Dive)
Wednesday, 2/28-3/3/18 – Pac-12 Championship – Federal Way, WA (MSWIM)
Monday-Wednesday, 3/5-7/18 – NCAA Zone E Diving Championships – Flagstaff, AZ (DIVE)
Wednesday, 3/14-17/18 – NCAA Championships – Columbus, OH (WSWIM/DIVE)
Wednesday, 3/21-24/18 – NCAA Championships – Minneapolis, MN (MSWIM/DIVE)
(Both men’s and women’s swim/dive compete each date unless otherwise noted)
*Pac-12 competitions
(All times listed in Arizona time)
Press Release courtesy of Arizona State Athletics.
