HOUSTON – A total of 14 regular season meets, including one on-campus at the Aquatics Center, highlight the new 2018-2019 schedule for the Rice Owls swim team.
The Owls open the 2018-2019 season on September 22 in Lawrence, Kansas, at the Collegiate Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Open Water Championships. The team then hosts its lone home event with the annual Rice Fall Splash Invitational on Oct. 12-13. The Blue & Gray welcome the United States Air Force Academy as well as longtime foes Houston and Incarnate Word in the Invitational. The four four-team meet is scheduled for three sessions over the two days (with Saturday’s action divided into morning and afternoon events).
Rice heads to Denver, Col., the following weekend (Oct. 19-20) for the fourth annual Dualapalooza. In this unique event the swimmers are scheduled to compete against three teams in separate dual meets over a two-day span. The Owls face defending Conference USA Champion Florida International, 2018 Summit League champion Denver, and longtime rival Tulane for the three round-robin meets in the Mile-High City.
On November 16-18 the Owls are across town at UH’s annual Phill Hansel Invitational. Rice heads to College Station on Dec. 1 for a double-dual meet against SEC foes Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
That is a fairly rugged lineup of opponents, and the Rice schedule has not even yet reached the new year. The Blue & Gray has winter training and a holiday meet in Florida at C-USA rival FAU. In 2019 the swimmers are scheduled to compete against some of the best in the region and face strong opponents all the way through the C-USA Championships starting in late February. On Jan. 11 the Owls have a C-USA dual meet against league foe North Texas. Rice then competes against nationally-ranked SMU and SEC power Arkansas the next day. The Owls also have a rugged two-day double-dual against LSU/Houston in Baton Rouge, La., on Feb. 1-2.
The annual C-USA meet returns to the Georgia Tech Swim Center, the same facility that hosted the 1996 Olympics. The 2019 NCAA Championships are set for late March in Austin, Texas. In mid-March keep an eye out for the return of the CSCAA Swimming & Diving Invitational (often referred to as the “Swimming NIT”) which the Owls were second-overall in 2018 and won in 2014.
Rice Swimming is under the direction of head coach Seth Huston, who is now his 17th season at the helm of the program. A year ago the Owls finished second in both the Conference USA Championships and CSCAA Invitational.
2018-19 Rice Swimming Schedule
Sept. 22 CSCAA Open Water National Championship (Lawrence, Kansas)
Oct. 12 -13 Rice Fall Invitational
Dual-A-Palooza (Denver, Colorado)
Oct. 9 at Denver / vs. FIU * / vs. Tulane
Oct. 10 at Denver / vs. FIU * / vs. Tulane
Nov. 16 – 18 Phill Hansel Invitational
Dec. 1 at Texas A&M / vs. Vanderbilt
Dec. 20 FAU Fun Invitational (Boca Raton, Fla.)
Jan. 11 at North Texas
Jan. 12 vs. Arkansas / at SMU (Dallas, Texas)
Feb. 1-2 LSU/Houston Tri Meet (Baton Rouge, La.)
Feb. 23 U.H. First Chance Meet
Feb. 27 – March 2 C-USA Championships (Atlanta, Ga.)
March 14-17 CSCAA National Invitational (Cleveland, Ohio)
14 total meets, not 14 home meets