Weekend Preview – Oct. 23-24

After weekends of two and three dozen meets, this weekend's schedule will feature over two hundred teams in action.  Here's a quick rundown of what's on the schedule.

• 10/23 Auburn at LSU (M&W) - The men’s national champions open their 2009-10 season in the Bayou the day before a football match-up between the same two schools. LSU hosts an SEC opponent for the second straight weekend. The LSU men and women both fell to Tennessee but did have some outstanding individual performances, particularly from Cal transfer Mary Beck who was named Counsilman Hunsaker National Collegiate Swimmer-of-the-Week. Auburn returns 20 All-Americans and seven national champions from a season ago.
• 10/23-24 SMU Classic - Four top 25 women’s teams from last season’s NCAA Championships will descend upon Dallas to compete in a two-day invitational meet in which each team is allowed eight swimmers and one diver. Florida (7th), Wisconsin (14th), SMU (19th), and Louisville (22nd) will join Florida State and Rice in a meet which really displays the talent at the top end of each teams’ roster.
• 10/23-24 Southwest Collegiate Plunge - Eddie Reese, now in his 32nd year, leads the NCAA runner-up Texas Longhorns into battle against Big 12 runner-up Missouri, Conference USA champ SMU and a Texas A&M team that finished 12th at NCAA’s in their home pool seven months ago. The Longhorns recruited yet another great class last year (one ranked #2 by CollegeSwimming.com) to go with their 11 returning All-Americans. With the men’s Big 12 Relays no more, this meet gives each men’s Big 12 team a different, and more competitive, environment in which to start the season thanks to the addition of top 25 staple SMU as well as a different meet format.
• 10/24 - Toledo and Toronto at Michigan - Much has changed in a year.  Upstart Toledo will look for its second upset in as many weeks.  On the men's side, the Wolverines will compete at home for the first time in nearly a year when they take on Toronto.
  
• 10/23-24 - North Dakota, South Dakota vs. Wyoming in Gillette, Wyo. – Wyoming hosts a two-day meet in the northern part of the large western state for the second straight year. UND has already beaten USD this year on both the men’s and women’s side.
• 10/23 – Oakland at Notre Dame – The Grizzly men defeated the Irish, 161.5-137.5, a season ago in Rochester, Mich. The Irish hold an 11-6 all-time series advantage.
• 10/23 – Florida at Georgia Tech (M) – The Gators travel to Atlanta to take on a 3-1 Yellow Jacket squad that has beaten Clemson, Florida Atlantic, and Western Kentucky. The Gators opened the season two weeks ago with a 159-141 road win over Virginia. The Gators own a 24-14 edge in the series.
• 10/24 – Duke/N.C. State at Maryland (M&W) – An early season ACC double dual between three teams with NCAA men’s basketball titles to their credit. Duke swept UNC-Wilmington last weekend. Maryland will face Johns Hopkins the day before this three-way battle. This will be N.C. State’s first meet of the season.
• 10/23 – Indiana at Northwestern (M&W) – The Hoosier men won a 158-129 decision last season against a Wildcat squad that has had a memorable several years this decade. The Big 10 champion Hoosier women beat the NU women, 172.5-127.5, last year as well.
• 10/23 – Tennessee at Louisville (M) – The Volunteer men try not to fall into the same trap the Cardinals sprung  on the Tennessee women last Thursday.
• 10/24 – Florida, Kansas at Arkansas (W) – The rest of the Gator squad will face a an Arkansas team that touts the current SEC swimmer of the week in Yi Ting Siow. Siow leads the country in the 100 breast and 200 IM.  The Jayhawks finished fourth at last week’s Big 12 Relays.
• 10/23 - Indianapolis vs. Wayne State, Ashland and Truman State - All Great Racers come to Indianapolis and this weekend features the best of Division II. 
• 10/24 - NCAC and MIAA Relay Meets - Pre-season previews from some of the top recruiting classes in Division III.  What will Kenyon, Denison and Kalamazoo bring to the table?  We'll get a glimpse here.

And where are the smart fans turning their attention?  Our bet is the MIT Alumni meet.