The NCAA is really just getting into the swing of its dual meet season – but before we know it, mid-season invite time will be upon us. In fact, we’re now only a month away from the first major weekend of fall invites.
We’ve asked around the NCAA and compared some major program schedules to come up with a list of the big fall invites and the teams expected to compete at each. Plans can change, of course. Several major invites haven’t yet been able to give us a full list, and the ones that did emphasized that the lineups were still tentative. That said, we’ve rounded up 12 major November/December invites that should include all of the top 20 men’s and women’s programs from last spring’s NCAA Championships.
Dates:
Things are crystallizing into two major weekends: directly before Thanksgiving (Nov. 14-17) and directly after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28-Dec. 1). Here’s a look at the meets happening each weekend:
Nov. 14-17
- Art Adamson Invite (College Station, TX, hosted by Texas A&M) – Wed. Nov. 14 – Fri. Nov. 16
- Ohio State Invite (Columbus, OH, hosted by Ohio State) – Thurs. Nov. 15 – Sat. Nov. 17
- Missouri Invite (Columbia, MO, hosted by Missouri) – Thurs. Nov. 15 – Sat. Nov. 17
- IU Invite (Bloomington, IN, hosted by Indiana) – Thurs. Nov. 15 – Sat. Nov. 17
- Hawkeye Invite (Iowa City, IA, hosted by Iowa) – Thurs. Nov. 15 – Sat. Nov. 17
- Georgia Tech Invite (Atlanta, GA, hosted by Georgia Tech) – Thurs. Nov. 15 – Sat. Nov. 17
- TYR Invite (Evanston, IL, hosted by Northwestern) – Fri. Nov. 16 – Sun. Nov. 18
Nov 28-Dec 1
- Texas Invite (Austin, TX, hosted by Texas) – Wed. Nov. 28 – Sat. Dec. 1
- Tennessee Invite (Knoxville, TN, hosted by Tennessee) – Thurs. Nov 29 – Sat. Dec. 1
- Georgia Invite (Athens, GA, hosted by Georgia) – Thurs. Nov 29 – Sat. Dec. 1
- Minnesota Invite (Minneapolis, MN, hosted by Minnesota) – Thurs. Nov 29 – Sat. Dec. 1
- UNLV Invite (Las Vegas, NV, hosted by UNLV) – Thurs. Nov 29 – Sat. Dec. 1
USA Swimming’s Winter Nationals will also be happening from Nov. 28-Dec. 1. But while that meet is typically a mid-season rest for some college individuals, it may be less so this year as Winter Nationals are being swum in long course meters, which are not eligible for NCAA qualifying.
Teams:
Here’s a look at the teams competing at each meet. The rankings listed are from our first edition Power Rankings. You can see our men’s rankings and women’s rankings by following these links.
These lists are still tentative: we have tentative lists from representatives of the Ohio State, Iowa, Indiana, Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Texas and Tennessee Invites. The other invites have not gotten back to us with tentative lists, and the teams listed are only (1) the host schools and (2) other top 20 programs who list the meet on their official schedule.
| Invites | Dates | Women’s Teams | Men’s Teams |
| Art Adamson | 11/14-16 | #6 Texas A&M. LSU | #13 Texas A&M, #23 LSU |
| Ohio State Invite | 11/15-17 | #1 Stanford, #13 Kentucky, #16 Ohio State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Kenyon, WVU, Yale | #21 Ohio State, Kentucky, Kenyon, Notre Dame, Pitt, WVU, Yale |
| Missouri Invite | 11/15-17 | #19 Missouri | #21 Missouri |
| IU Invite | 11/15-17 | #5 Louisville, #7 Indiana, #14 NC State, Arizona State, Purdue | #3 Indiana, #5 NC State, #7 Louisville, #18 Arizona State |
| Hawkeye Invitational | 11/15-17 | #10 Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri State, Grand Canyon, South Dakota, SMU | #14 Minnesota, #16 Purdue, Missouri State, Grand Canyon, South Dakota |
| Georgia Tech Invite | 11/15-17 | #21 Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, East Carolina, FGCU, UNC | #11 Florida, #17 Alabama, #19 South Carolina, #20 Auburn, #23 Florida State, #23 Virginia Tech, East Carolina, UNC |
| TYR Invite | 11/16-18 | #20 Northwestern | Northwestern |
| — | — | — | — |
| Texas Invite | 11/28-12/1 | #4 Texas, #11 USC, #17 Wisconsin, #18 Arizona, Harvard | #1 Texas, #4 Stanford, #9 USC, #15 Harvard, Arizona, Wisconsin |
| Tennessee Invite | 11/29-12/1 | #8 Tennessee, Denver, Duke, Carson-Newman, Penn, Penn State | #10 Tennessee, Denver, Duke, Carson-Newman, Penn, Penn State |
| Georgia Invite | 11/29-12/1 | #2 Cal, #3 Michigan, #9 Virginia, #11 Georgia | #2 Cal, #6 Michigan, #8 Georgia, #12 Virginia |
| Minnesota Invite | 11/29-12/1 | #10 Minnesota, Utah, San Jose State | #14 Minnesota, Utah |
| UNLV Invite | 11/29-12/1 | UNLV | UNLV |
The most loaded invites overall are currently the Georgia and Texas Invites, with 8 ranked programs competing in each, between men and women. Both meets have four top-20 women’s programs and four top-20 men’s programs scheduled to compete. And between the two, which happen roughly concurrently, 75% of the teams ranked inside the top 4 for men or women will compete. The only top 4 programs swimming the first weekend are the #1 Stanford women (at Ohio State) and the #3 Indiana men (who host their own invite).
The Georgia Tech Invite will feature six men’s programs that received top 20 votes, but just one women’s program. The IU Invite should be close behind, with three ranked women’s programs and four ranked men’s programs competing.
UNC is going to Ga Tech Invite, according to the schedule on the website.
Iowa men are definitely going to their own invite, and I don’t think San Jose State has a men’s team.
Looks like Townley has replaces MA and CD as the new poster boy of SS. Well deserved.
UNLV is the only team attending the UNLV invite?
“The other invites have not gotten back to us with tentative lists, and the teams listed are only (1) the host schools and (2) other top 20 programs who list the meet on their official schedule.”
I think Penn State is planning to attend the Tennessee Invite now, not Ohio State.
Yes. PSU is not going to OSU invite and are rather going to Tenn Invite this year.
Why does MN go to Iowa and then host an invite 2 weeks later? Split squad- because better quality competition at Iowa? Just seems a bit odd….
They’ve hosted the Minnesota invite for years and continue to do so since many d3 teams in the surrounding area use it as their mid-season meet. Going to Iowa because they are hosting Big 10s.
Need a new headline. Many of those listed aren’t top 20!
Do you feel it would have been more informative for us to exclude all the unranked programs, or to report all of the information we’ve found so far on which teams will compete?
Just state who is going to what mid season meets!
U got 52 downvotes for that – well done lol
Shouldn’t Nationals be on the second list?
Nationals is tricky, because there’s nobody to ask for all registered teams, because the entry deadline isn’t close yet, and some teams will send a swimmer or two, but not the whole team. That’s especially true this year where the meet is LCM, and as such can’t be used for NCAA qualifying. In other words: Winter Nationals aren’t an NCAA meet, and we doubt that many college teams will be using it as their mid-season taper (though, again, I would bet some with invites the week prior will send swimmers trying to get their Trials cuts to try and capture a cycle).
We plan to do lots of previews as Winter Nationals draw closer, so we should have more info… Read more »
Great points Braden. Will be interesting to see who goes to Winter Nats. My sense is that it will be mainly pro swimmers and elite high schoolers. Might get a few top NCAA swimmers but I think it will be lightly attended by NCAA swimmers for all of the reasons you said.