Missouri Releases 2015-16 Schedule; No Mizzou Invitational This Season

The University of Missouri has released its 2015-16 schedule, which looks significantly different than we’ve seen before. They won’t match up with SEC rivals Auburn, Arkansas, and South Carolina this year, but will see some new SEC opponents. One of the biggest changes is the removal of the November Mizzou Invitational from their schedule this season.

The Tigers will, however, begin the season in an identical fashion to last year with the 10th annual Show-Me Showdown on Oct. 2. They’ll be joined by 9 other teams from the state of Missouri, including Drury and Missouri State.

Missouri will jump right into SEC competition in dual meets on Oct. 15, opening its season against the Tennessee Volunteers. This is a different match up than we’ve seen them open with before, as the two teams did not race in a dual meet at any point in the 2014-15 season. Tenessee was 4th and on the women’s and men’s sides at SECs last year, giving Mizzou a tough competition right out of the gate.

A day after the team races Tennessee, the women will compete in Dallas at the 2015 SMU Invitational on Oct. 16-17.

They’ll be rejoined by the men on Nov. 6-7 for a quad meet at home against Kentucky, Northwestern and Southern Illinois. Kentucky will be a good challenge for the Missouri women, as the Wildcats finished one place ahead of the Tigers at SECs by just 20 points. In this quad meet, however, Missouri was able to top Kentucky last season.

The men and women will then travel to Knoxville, Tennessee on Nov. 19-21 for the Tennessee Invitational. They’ll use the invite as a mid-season taper and attempt to qualify swimmers for the NCAA Championships early. This is a change, as the team used the Mizzou Invitational at their home pool as a mid-season focus last year.

The team will train through the rest of November and the month of December, returning to competition on the road Jan. 14th against SEC rival LSU. LSU had the 5th place women’s team at last year’s SECs, so the Tiger women will continue a tough slate of dual meets in the regular season.

The Tigers will hit the road again for meets against Drury on Jan. 22 and Missouri State on Jan. 23. That will close out the dual meet season for the men. The women will have one more SEC competition against Vanderbilt at home on Jan. 28.

The Tiger Invitational will take place at Missouri on Jan. 29-30. That’ll give them one last chance to tune up their races as they prepare for the conference meet.

To begin the postseason, Missouri will host the SEC Swimming & Diving Championships for the first time ever on Feb. 16-20. The women placed 8th last year, tying their highest ever finish at SECs, while the men were 6th. They’ll look to improve on that this season with the home pool advantage.

The women who fall short of qualifying for NCAAs at the SEC meet will compete at the Purdue last chance meet in West Lafayette, Indiana on Feb. 27. The American Short Course Championships in Austin, Texas on Mar. 3-5 will serve as a last chance qualifier for the men.

The qualified Tiger men and women will travel to the Division I NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Georgia for the final showdown. The women will compete on Mar. 17-19. A week later, the men will race on the big stage Mar. 24-16.

MEN’S SCHEDULE:

WOMEN’S SCHEDULE: