Courtesy: James Madison Athletics
HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison swimming & diving has revealed its 2019-20 schedule, as announced by head coach Dane Pedersen on Friday morning.
“I’m really pleased with how our schedule came together for this upcoming season,” Pedersen said. “We have a great balance of out-and-in conference opponents which is always one of my goals when scheduling. Our team will be constantly tested throughout the season as we lead up to our main focus at the end of the season, which is our conference championships. I am excited to be hosting three meets including the CAA Pod meet which is always high energy with exciting competition. We also have a few wrinkles in our schedule as we try new things like scrimmaging Harvard and having a combined practice with Richmond the day before our dual meet on Saturday. These small changes will continue to challenge our team in new ways.”
The Dukes will start their season in Boston, scrimmaging Harvard on Oct. 11 before a Colonial Athletic Association meet against Northeastern on Oct. 12. JMU will host three meets in Savage Natatorium, beginning with Towson on Oct. 19.
For the first time since 2016, JMU will host the annual CAA Pod meet in which UNCW, Delaware and W&M will take part in on Nov. 2-3.
JMU’s swimmers will attend the Liberty Invitational Nov. 22-24 while the divers travel to Morgantown, W.Va. for the West Virginia Invitational to close out the first half of the season.
The Dukes will begin the new year hosting the Richmond Spiders on Jan. 11 – a meet that will honor JMU’s eight seniors on Senior Day. JMU will then head to Lynchburg, Va. on Jan. 25 where they will compete against Liberty and Campbell.
JMU’s final dual meet of the season will be against Marshall in Huntington, W.Va. on Feb. 1. Select swimmers will compete at the Virginia Tech Invitational in Christiansburg, Va. on Feb. 7-9 while the divers host the JMU Diving Invitational Feb. 8-9.
The Dukes will compete in the 2020 CAA Championship in Christiansburg on Feb. 19-22, as the Dukes look for their third consecutive conference title. Divers who qualify for the NCAA Zone A Diving Championship will compete in Morgantown on March 9-10 before the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships held in Athens, Ga.