NCAA Weekly Preview #11: What College Meets to Watch to This Week

There are oftentimes too many meets to focus on in one week of the NCAA season. With all of the racing going on across the country this week, zone in on a few big ones that should produce fast swimming, great races, and more intrigue.

The weekly preview is meant to highlight big meets of the week, including any key races to watch, people coming back from injury or time off, or anything else you need to know. Let us know in the comments about other meets we didn’t talk about here, and why we should pay attention to them!

Note that these are just several meets that piqued our interest, and this is not a comprehensive preview for every single meet happening this week.

CAL V. USC

• Date – 2/1
• Hosts – Cal

Why you should pay attention: Last weekend was Isabel Ivey‘s Cal debut, and she looked very solid. We’ll see what she can do against the Trojans, who actually have the edge in more events than you might think: both breaststrokes, both butterflies, and almost anything Louise Hansson swims.

STANFORD V. USC

• Date – 2/2
• Hosts – Stanford

Why you should pay attention: It’s always fun to see the #1 team compete. If Hansson swims the 200 fly, we could get a very fun match-up between her, reigning NCAA champ Ella Eastin, and 2018 NCAA A-finalists Maddie Wright of USC and Katie Drabot of Stanford.

ARIZONA V. TEXAS V. NC STATE

• Date – 2/1-2/2
• Hosts – Texas

Why you should pay attention: Texas hosts Pac-12’s Arizona and ACC’s NC State for a three-team tilt. NC State has been hot lately, and Texas is coming off of some long course racing from two weekends ago. Arizona’s distance swimmers should make for some fun endurance tests when mixing in Texas’s and NC State’s milers.

LOUISVILLE V. INDIANA

• Date – 2/1
• Hosts – Indiana

Why you should pay attention: Louisville just faced defeat by the hands of in-state rivals Kentucky, and things will only be tougher with this Indiana squad. The Cardinal women could have a dub coming their way if they’re swimming sharp, especially considering the sprint situation with the Hoosiers, which is not looking great.

HYP MEET

• Date – 2/1-2/2
• Hosts – Harvard

Why you should pay attention: The most heated of Ivy League swimming rivalries will triangulate (? just trying to be pedantic but I don’t think that word works here) in Boston between Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Most people suit up for this meet, and Harvard’s men dominated it last year, while their women fell in close losses to Yale and Princeton. Princeton’s women and men fell to Yale last year, too. This meet will be on ESPN+, too.

FLORIDA V. TENNESSEE

• Date – 2/2
• Hosts – Tennessee

Why you should pay attention: Another big SEC match-up. The Tennessee women are on fire right now, and we’ll get to see more racing from the Vols mid-season breaststroke addition, Michael Houlie.