BLACKSBURG - Virginia Tech men's and women's swimming and diving head coach Sergio Lopez Miro announces the teams have finalized their schedule for the upcoming 2019-20 season. The schedule features eight regular season meets, including five home meets and four new meets from last year.
"I am very excited for this 2019-20 season as we are starting our second season here at Virginia Tech," said Lopez Miro. "We don't have as many meets as last year, but we've been able to add N.C. State to our schedule. We're going to make sure that we keep adding some of the top teams in the country so we can keep competing with the best and learn what we need to do to keep moving forward."
N.C. State won both the men's and women's 2019 ACC Championships last season. The Wolfpack men finished third in the final TYR top 25 poll, and the women finished fourth.
"One of the meets that we're adding that's going to be very interesting for us, they have very good swimmers, is the [Division II] NCAA Champions, Queens," Lopez Miro said. "They're going to come and visit us along with Richmond's women. Those are two teams that we didn't see last year."
Queens University of Charlotte has won five straight men's and women's NCAA Division II championships.
The season gets underway Oct. 26 against George Washington at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. Next, is a meet at Penn State with Ohio State joining on Nov. 1-2. The Hokies saw all of these opponents last season.
Virginia Tech then competes against opponents not seen last year. The Hokies host the Richmond women's team and Queens on Nov. 8. The teams will then travel to the Ohio State Invite from Nov. 21-23, followed by the US Open Championships at Georgia Tech Dec. 4-7.
"We're going to go to the U.S. Open in December and try to make some trial cuts and see where the team is at that point," said Lopez Miro. "This will be one of the meets that will get our kids' some good experience to keep moving forward."
The Hokies will kick off 2020 with a Commonwealth Clash home matchup against Virginia on January 18, beginning the ACC portion of the schedule. N.C. State comes to the Christiansburg Aquatic Center Feb. 1 for Senior and Parent Day. Virginia Tech wraps up regular season competition with the Virginia Tech Invite Feb. 7-9.
The 2020 women's ACC Championships are scheduled for Feb. 19-22, while the men's championships are set for the following week, Feb. 26-29. Both meets take place in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The 2020 NCAA Zone A Diving Championships are the first of the national meets beginning March 9-11 in Morgantown, West Virginia. The Women's NCAA Championships will be March 18-21 in Athens, Georgia, and the men's championships are March 25-28 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
"Very excited about the overall schedule this season," said Lopez Miro. "Looking forward to seeing all the new freshman, we have a very big class and I'm excited to see how they react to the competition."
