Colorado State Announces Their 2016-17 Swimming and Diving Schedule

 FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Head Coach Christopher Woodard and the Colorado State swimming & diving program announced its 2016-17 schedule on Tuesday. The competitive slate includes four home dual meets, including local rivals Northern Colorado and Wyoming.

The season begins with a home meet against Nebraska-Omaha on Friday, Oct. 14. The Rams are 1-0 all-time against the Mavericks, topping them 221.5-61.5 in 2014. The meet against Nebraska-Omaha is the first of four home meets for the Rams.

“We always want to be home,” Woodard said. “It’s less travel, less worry. You’ve got your fans, so it’s always more comfortable. Our pool can be tough for competitors to swim in, but we are in it every day. So in that sense it gives us a slight competitive advantage, but we still have to put in the work.”

CSU hosts Idaho on Oct. 28. The two sides have only faced off once, with the Rams prevailing during the 2014-15 season. The Rams also host nearby programs Wyoming (Jan. 21) and Northern Colorado (Feb. 1).

“It’s always tough to go up to Wyoming and swim against them, so it’s nice to have them at our place this year,” Woodard said. “We want to make it as respectfully hostile as possible. We prefer to swim against rivals in our pool with our energy.”

The Rams will only compete away from Fort Collins once in the fall, meeting various top programs in Houston for the Phil Hansel Invite, Nov. 18-20.

After the winter break, CSU will head east to take on both Miami (FL) and Florida in Miami on Jan. 7.

“Every January we want to travel and see something new, so there’s the experience portion of it,” Woodard said about starting January with a tough meet. “But wherever we go, we are going to look for a top-flight meet. It gives a chance to swim against an ACC team and obviously one of the best teams in the nation in Florida. I think some of our girls took a deep, deep breath when they saw it on the schedule, but my anticipation is that we will be ready to perform. It’s a great opportunity to be able to swim and dive against some of the best, and we will elevate our performance.”

The regular season will close with the Mountain West Championships taking place Feb. 15-18 in College Station, Texas.

Woodard believes his team is progressing nicely and that they will be prepared for the 2016-17 campaign to begin in October.

“We have some athletes here training with us and some are back with their club teams training, and we keep up with all of them,” Woodard said. “It’s tough to know where you’re at until you see a person step on campus, but with what most of them are doing right now, I feel comfortable saying we will be ready for the start of the season. We are excited to open the season at home.”