Courtesy: Minnesota Athletics
MINNEAPOLIS – Hosting the 2023 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships highlights the 2022-23 schedule for the University of Minnesota swimming and diving programs, which was announced Wednesday. The lineup includes three regular season home duals, the annual Minnesota Invitational in early December, NCAA Zone Diving Championships and the Men’s NCAA Championships.
“This year’s schedule provides great opportunities for our team to compete both on the road and here at home,” Minnesota head coach Kelly Kremer said. “We will once again be host to the fastest invitational in the country in December, and then will close out the NCAA season by hosting Men’s NCAAs in late March.
“It should be a very fun year, and we can encourage all Gophers fans to please make it out to the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center to support these amazing student-athletes.”
The season unofficially kicks off Sept. 30 when Minnesota hosts its alumni meet and intrasquad scrimmage, while the season gets underway for real on Oct. 15 when the team travels to Nebraska as the women face the Huskers and South Dakota, while the men will take on the Coyotes.
The home slate starts on Oct. 20-21 when the Golden Gophers host SMU in a two-day dual meet, while a week later St. Thomas visits in the lone scheduled matchup between the state’s only division one schools.
Minnesota returns to Big Ten action in November when it travels east to take on Wisconsin on Nov. 4, while the women then host Iowa on Nov. 11.
The annual Minnesota Invitational is scheduled for Nov. 30 through Dec. 4 as some of the top programs in the nation descend on Minneapolis. A full list of participating teams and a schedule of events will be announced at a later date.
The Golden Gopher swimmers return to action in 2023 when they visit the University of Tampa on Jan. 12.
Minnesota returns to Big Ten competition in the new year when it goes to Evanston, Ill., to face off with Northwestern and Purdue in a tri-dual, Jan. 27-28.
The championship season kicks off with Minnesota’s own First Chance Meet from Feb. 3-4, where NCAA hopefuls will have an additional chance to notch cut times prior to the Championships themselves in mid-late March.
The University of Michigan will host both Big Ten Championships for the men and women. The women are up first when they head to Ann Arbor, Mich.,. Feb 15-18, while the men are in action the following week.
In a precursor to hosting the men’s NCAA championships, Minnesota is scheduled to host the Zone D Diving Championships, March 7-9.
The women then take on the best in the nation at the NCAA Championships, March 15-18, in Knoxville, Tenn.
One week later, the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center will serve as host to the top men’s swimmers and divers in the country, March 22-25.
The 2022-23 season marks the ninth time that Minnesota will host the men’s NCAA championships, also doing so in 1937, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2018. In addition, the Golden Gophers have hosted the women’s NCAA championships on four occasions, most recently in 2014.
So not too easy to find who will be at the Minnesota invitational. I see UM, Texas, Harvard, AZ, Pitt, Cal and UNLV. Anyone else?