The defending NCAA champion Texas Longhorns have announced their schedule for the 2017-18 season. The Longhorns will be going for an NCAA 4-peat this season after winning their 3rd consecutive title in 2016-17. Their schedule features 2 home dual meets and 6 away dual meets, as well as their annual Texas Invite.
The Longhorns are slated to battle 3 top 10 opponents from last season’s NCAAs, the first of which will be #3 Florida and #7 Indiana in tri-meets on September 29th in Gainesville. They’ll race in both long course and short course, with separate days marking separate tri-meets. Texas looks to avenge the tri-meet loss to Indiana after the Hoosiers won the long course and short course meets last season. After that, they’ll hit the road again on November 3rd to battle in-state rival Texas A&M for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
On November 10th-11th, the men will travel to North Carolina. They’ll first go head-to-head with NC State, looking to turn the tables after NC State beat them at home in their dual meet last season. The next day, they’ll head over to UNC to face the Tarheels. That’s their last dual meet of the fall, as they’ll prepare for the Texas Invite on November 29th-December 2nd next. The Longhorns host that meet, and will use it as a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships early on.
After about a month off for winter training, Texas returns to competition in January with a home dual meet against Auburn on January 8th. They’ll then get a chance to compete in a USA Swimming meet as the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin takes place from January 12th-14th. The Longhorns are back on the road after that, traveling to Arizona State (January 26th) and Arizona (January 27th) to close out the month. They have their final dual met of the season after that at home against TCU on February 2nd.
Championship season kicks off on February 21st-24th in Austin as they host the Big 12 Championships. Swimmers will then have one last chance to qualify for NCAAs as they host the American Short Course Championships from March 1st-3rd. The Longhorns travel to Minneapolis on March 21st-24th for the NCAA Championships as they battle for a 4th consecutive championship title.
Texas Men’s 2017-18 Swimming & Diving Schedule:
| Date | Meet | Location |
| Sept. 29 | Orange & White Meet | Austin, TX |
| Oct. 20-21 | Florida & Indiana | Gainesville, FL |
| Nov. 3 | Texas A&M |
College Station, TX
|
| Nov. 10 | NC State | Raleigh, N.C. |
| Nov. 11 | UNC | Chapel Hill, NC |
| Nov. 16-18 | UT Diving Invite | Austin, TX |
| Nov. 29 – Dec. 2 | Texas Invite | Austin, TX |
| Dec. 13-19 | USA Diving Nationals | Greensboro, NC |
| Jan. 8 | Auburn | Austin, TX |
| Jan. 12-14 | Arena Pro Swim at Austin | Austin, TX |
| Jan. 26 | Arizona State | Tempe, AZ |
| Jan. 27 | Arizona | Tucson, AZ |
| Feb. 2 | TCU | Austin, TX |
| Feb. 21-24 | Big 12 Championships | Austin, TX |
| Mar. 1-3 | American Short Course Championships | Austin, TX |
| Mar. 11-13 | Diving Zones | Minneapolis, MN |
| Mar. 21-24 | Men’s NCAA Championships | Minneapolis, MN |
Jonathan Roberts is the key, imho. Shebat, Schooling, Haas, Harry returning should be,a,given.
Roberts has been steadily improving, and he needs to be even better this,season.
Jonatha
Cal will give Texas a very tough run for the 2018 NCAA title. On paper, Cal may have the edge. 2018 may be Texas’ weakest year in quite a while due to weakness in the breaststroke. The loss of Licon will hurt Texas’ Medley Relays a lot. Austin Temple or Ryan Harty look like the most likely replacement, but they are a long ways from Licon’s times. Recruiting a great sprint breaststroke swimmer should be Texas’ highest priority. The bright spot for Texas is that their Class of 2018 recruiting looks great in the 50-100-200-500 Freestyle, but again they need a Licon-level breaststroker to solidify future NCAA Championships. Eddie is one of the greatest coaches ever in developing good swimmers… Read more »
It IS a challenge, but if anyone is up to it, my money is on Eddie developing a sleeper.
Remember John Murray stepping up? Before that there was a guy Agustin Magruder.
Temple was a 52.3, maybe he will find his mojo again. Casey Melzer has really improved. Jared Butler is down to 1:55 in the 200. Maybe an IMer like Sam Stewart or Jonathan Roberts will volunteer. Harty is an interesting candidate. Or a sprinter (ala Murray) for the 200 Medley Relay. Can Tate Jackson swim breast stroke??
Come to think of it, Will Licon was a late bloomer. He wasn’t even fast enough to swim the 200MR until what, his senior year?
He wasn’t exactly a household name during junior year in high school…He developed nicely, don’t you think?
I’ve got Texas down for around 390 to 405 points. Next best team (Cal) only had 349, but loses Ryan Murphy. Will be closer team score than last, but UT still has horses to win it
Loses Ryan Murphy gets a 4 time finalist in Hoffer and two finals minimum in Grieshop
I have a lot of respect for Hoffer, but did NCAA change rules to allow him to swim 4 individual events? It will take a heck of a meet for him to match Murphy’s point total. Grieshop is a good swimmer, and indeed should make a couple consols. UT brings in Kaatz (200 back), Pomajevich (200fly), JohnThomas Larson, Parker Neri, Chris Yeager. Between that bunch, they should match Grieshop’s contributions. And UT has a fantastic championship caliber diver: Jordan Windleshould score some serious points.
Don’t forget Harty was injured last year, and is a proven NCAA scorer.
I think the meet will be close through the 2nd day, but when you have John Shebat, Jonathan Roberts, Ryan Harty,… Read more »
And Townley! Lol
Divers may finally have to push Horns over the top. I really thought last year they would need the diving points. Turns out they didn’t. Campbell and Windle should both score key points this year. Not sure if Cal has any divers to cancel these guys out?
Honestly a very easy schedule for the Long Horns here. I don’t see them losing anywhere. #GoHorns #Hookem
I don’t know, Indiana beat them last year I’m pretty sure. And nobody really saw that coming
Same schedule as last year when they lost several duals.
Harty is back this year and can swim everything including sprint breast if needed for a relay. With Murphy gone from the relays for Cal Texas will still be in good shape. Then their incoming class for next year has already solidified their 800 free relay for another 4 years. They will not be as dominant as the past 3 years but still could win this year and cover up their last two subpar classes due to all the money being tied up in what turned out to be the greatest college team of all time.
They aren’t swimming UGA this season for the first time in a LONG time. anyone know why not?
They can’t win any IM event this season
Harty…
Ryan Harty can try his best but can’t beat Gunnar in IM
Shebat
Texas too good. They’re never gonna lose again.
I guess we will have to wait and see.
Statement has been made at the last ncaas
Lol
Exactly. 800 free relay was crushing!!!!
Yeah , first word is okay.
Then the statement had some blanks….
If Joseph Schooling is in form (meaning beating Dressel for the 100 fly and withstanding a challenge from Quah Zheng Wen to win the 200fly to reclaim his throne as butterfly king), and they can find a good breastroker that isnt more than 2 seconds slower than Licon was (Joe Schooling can do the work in the fly), and barring anyone else flopping, they could 4-peat
Oh, they will lose, but maybe not this year. Texas does not need any points in breaststroke, but needs good breaststroke leg in medley relays. There will be good contribution by some of freshmen and few swimmers that did not make it last year will make it to NCAAs this year. Texas wins again this year.
Like Harty and Schooling (in the 200fly)
Won’t lose this year or anytime in next 4 years. Have you seen recruit class from HS class of 2018? Insane.
They lost a dual meet last season I believe and that was with their best roster
Without either will licon or joseph schooling and ryan harty each time if I recall correctly. Either way they were without someone when they lost though
Lol like dual meets matter.
Two years ago they won their duals because duals matter. Last year they lost several duals because duals don’t matter. At the end of this year depending on the W-L record we can decide if duals matter.
actually no. Their duel meet W-L record has nothing to do with how they’ll swim at NCAA’s, and if they win NCAA’s again who really cares about their duel meet record? The duel meets really don’t matter, they are essentially a big race pace practice where the swimmers rehearse their race plans while trying to beat each other and the members of the other school