MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (October 22, 2015) – The West Virginia University swimming and diving teams will host its fourth home meet of the season at the WVU Natatorium, with the Big 12 vs. Big East Weekend, on Friday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m., andSaturday, Oct. 24, at 10 a.m.
The Mountaineer men and women will compete against Seton Hall and Xavier on both days, while the women will also face Butler.
Admission is free for all fans. Parking is available in the lots surrounding the WVU coliseum. Live stats can be found at WVUsports.com/swimming.
“We are now in the fourth week of hard training and competing,” said coach Vic Riggs. “After the exciting meets last weekend, staying focused on the job at hand is what we’ll need to do. We’ve talked this week about this being our last competition before the Tennessee Invite, and how we need to use this weekend as a dry run for that meet.”
The Butler women opened the 2015-16 season with the Butler Double Dual meet, competing against Evansville, Saint Louis, Wright State and Xavier. Butler beat Evansville, but lost to Saint Louis, Wright State and Xavier.
Seton Hall opened its season competing against Montclair State and Saint Peter. The Pirates men’s and women’s squad won the meet, and each squad holds a 2-0 record in 2015-16.
Xavier has competed in four meets this season. The Musketeers opened the year at the Butler Quad meet, where the women finished first of five teams and the men placed third out of four. Both teams also faced road tests at Louisville, Cincinnati and Miami (Ohio) to open the season.
“The meet format this weekend allows us to put together a strong lineup and to have the opportunity to compete well in each event,” said Riggs. “With there being four teams at the Natatorium, I’m looking for our program to step up and represent WVU and the Big 12 Conference at the highest level in every aspect, as we host three very fine programs from the Big East.”
Last weekend, the Mountaineers hosted the first ever Big 12 vs. ACC Weekend, featuring Georgia Tech on Friday, and Virginia Tech on Saturday. The WVU women’s squad overcame the Yellow Jackets, winning 133-110, while the men fell, 108-135. On Saturday, the WVU men’s squad was edged by the Hokies, 155-145, while the women lost, 173.5-118.5. In total, the Mountaineers posted 25 first-place finishes over the weekend, and the men’s squad set four WVU pool records.
Senior Jaimee Gillmore and junior Nate Carr were honored for an impressive weekend by CollegeSwimming.com as the Big 12 Men’s and Women’s Swimmers-of-the-Week. Carr won five races, and Gillmore won four. They each raced eight times, and neither finished below third place.
“We still need to improve on our pre- and post-meet preparation,” said Riggs. “We can still finish our meets stronger, and our freshman are getting better, but we need to have consistent swims and dives for all three sessions.”
The Mountaineers have four weeks off from competition to prepare for the three-day Tennessee Invite, in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Nov. 20-22. The meet will begin at 8 a.m., each day.
Swimming news courtesy of West Virginia Swimming & Diving.