Six NCAA Dual Meets To Watch Before The Midseason Invites

The 2024-25 NCAA season has begun in earnest. The pinnacle of the season is the NCAA Championships, but there’s plenty of fun to be had before March. In that spirit, we’ve compiled a list of six pre-midseason invite dual meets that you should mark on your calendar.

We’ve tried to collect as much of the information that’s currently available about each meet, including available streaming information. If there isn’t any guide on how to watch yet, that means we don’t have it yet, but we’ll keep this page updated as that information becomes available.

Obviously, this is just a snapshot of all the meets taking place before the invites, so feel free to let us know in the comments if there’s a meet we haven’t mentioned that you’re looking forward to.

October 5: Battle At The Burr III – Georgetown vs. Howard

• Where: Burr Gym Pool — Washington, DC
• When: 1 pm ET
• Who: Women’s and Men’s Teams

The Battle At The Burr, the meet that reinvigorated college dual meets, is back for its third edition. On October 5, cross-town rivals Howard University and Georgetown University face off again, and the preparations that are underway signal this could be the biggest Battle yet.

Tickets for the pool seating area are completely sold out, though tickets to the watch party—where there will be a DJ and the meet showing on a Jumbotron—are still available.

Georgetown has swept the meet for the past two editions, though in 2022 the men were separated by just two points. Both Georgetown and Howard have climbed to the top of their conferences, and this inter-conference dual promises a spectacular show in and out of the water.

The meet is tagged “NEC Front Row” on Howard’s schedule.

October 18: Florida vs. Virginia 

• Where: Aquatic and Rec Center — Charlottesville, VA
• When: 10 am ET — diving, 1 pm ET — swimming
• Who: Women’s and Men’s Teams

There’s a lot going on during this clash between two of the top Division I programs. It has the Virginia women’s NCAA title banner-raising ceremony and 50th year celebration. Perhaps more importantly, Todd DeSorbo revealed on a recent SwimSwam Podcast that it’s going to be in SCM and that he’d like to suit up for it.

SCM adds a level of excitement to an already intriguing meet because it could be a preview of what’s in store for SC Worlds if any of the two teams’ stars plan to race at that meet in December.

Last year, the Virginia women and Florida men won this head-to-head. On paper, it seems like we’re headed for the same results but the main draw of this meet is the promise of fast times in an untraditional format that has implications for international swimming.

There is no available information on where to stream the meet, though Virginia has broadcasted home meets from their Instagram in the past, so be on the lookout for that.

October 18: Triple Distance Meet – Cal vs. Stanford

• Where: Avery Aquatic Center — Stanford, CA
• When: 1 pm PDT
• Who: Women’s and Men’s Teams

We love a meet with a gimmick.

Across the country from the UF vs. UVA dual, there’s another high-powered clash taking place between Cal and Stanford, who renew their rivalry for the first time as members of the ACC. At the Triple Distance Meet, swimmers pick between one of set of events: sprint freestyle (50/100/200), distance free (200/500/1000), stroke (50/100/200), or IM (100/200/400) and race each distance.

Cal will have two meets under its belt by this point, but this should be our first look at Paris 2024 gold medallist Torri Huske in a Stanford cap since 2023 as she redshirted last season. Additionally, this meet often has at least one new arrival throw down some fast times and/or an established star swim best times in an off-stroke they don’t normally race.

This is the first of three meetings between Cal and Stanford this season; later in October they’ll reconvene for a tri-meet also featuring Arizona State.

October 26: South Carolina vs. North Carolina

• Where: Bowman Gray Memorial Pool — Chapel Hill, NC
• When: 10 am ET
• Who: Women’s and Men’s Teams

A meet ended in a tie will pique anyone’s interest—that’s exactly what happened in the women’s Carolina battle last season, and that’s exactly why the meet is on our “must watch” list for this season.

It was the closest the Gamecock women had come to beating UNC since 1985 and they overcame the advantage multi-time NCAA diving champion Aranza Vazquez Montano gave the Tar Heels to take the lead after the 100 fly, the third-to-last event. South Carolina held a nine-point lead heading into the 400 freestyle relay, but UNC’s sprinters came through for them and made the meet a draw with a 1-2 finish.

Both teams lost some key swimmers to graduation, but importantly for the Tar Heels, Vazquez Montano returns, as do Skyler Smith, Greer Pattison, and Georgia Nel. For the Gamecocks, NCAA scorers Greta Pelzek and Amy Riordan return to lead the team this season.

The UNC men surged late to overcome South Carolina’s hot start and claim the meet by 22 points. That’s a small enough margin to keep things interesting in this season’s rematch, particularly because both teams have made some intriguing off-season additions; UNC’s freshmen are particularly worth keeping an eye on—we ranked them as the 11th best men’s recruiting class this season.

November 1-2: Indiana vs. Texas

• Where: Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center — Austin, Texas
• When: 12 pm CT (both days)
• Who: Women’s and Men’s Teams

Texas is one of the teams that’s followed Howard’s lead and really worked to elevate the entertainment factor for their dual meets. We’ve seen it multiple times in the past couple of seasons, particularly in their meets against Virginia. Second semester, they’ll face Virginia in a thrilling quad meet that also includes ASU and NC State, but in terms of dual meets, this meet against the Hoosiers is a thrilling matchup for both men and women.

Indiana and Texas’ men’s programs brought in perhaps the two most stacked transfer classes that we’ve ever seen, so it’s a treat to see those two groups—which include Olympians and former teammates— go head-to-head. These are two teams aiming to vault up the NCAA standings come March.

On the women’s side, Texas lost some big pieces (Kelly Pash, Lydia Jacoby, Anna Elendt) and is hoping their recruiting class will immediately help maintain its hold on the #2 position in the league against a recharged Stanford team. At the same time, the Hoosier women are coming off tying their best NCAA finish, putting two swimmers on the Olympic team, and adding a solid recruiting class of their own.

November 9: Denison vs. Kenyon

• Where: James A. Steen Aquatic Center — Gambier, OH
• When: 10 am ET
• Who: Women’s and Men’s Teams

As in-state and NCAC rivals, Kenyon and Denison have faced each other many times from dual meets to conference championships to NCAAs. But that doesn’t make it any less exciting when these teams go head-to-head and because of that long history, their annual early-season dual meet is always one to watch as it’s got a little more rivalry behind it than your average dual meet.

Both teams finished in the top eight at 2024 NCAAs; the Kenyon women reclaimed the title after Denison won in 2023, 18 points ahead of the Big Red. On the men’s side, Kenyon took second while Denison finished 6th. So, not only is this a rivalry meet, but it also comes with national implications.

The programs split the wins last season: Denison women won by 33 points, while the Kenyon men claimed victory by four. An interesting wrinkle for the women’s meet the past two seasons is that whoever has lost the dual meet has gone on to win NCAAs.

Kenyon streams their home meets through their YouTube channel.