USA Swimming has published an updated version of its competition plan for the 2017-2020 quad, with the coming year’s schedule suggesting a Pro Swim Series meet in Columbus, Ohio as well as a Team USA vs Pac-12 meet in the fall.
The Quad Plan lays out the major competitions for USA Swimming over the next four years leading into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Dates and events get more tentative the further into the future you go, but the coming year is described in detail.
There’s been no official announcement on dates or hosts for the 2018 Arena Pro Swim Series, but the Quad Plan lists 6 stops, one of them new to the tour. A Pro Swim Series stop is listed in Columbus, Ohio on July 6-8. That would serve as the series finale, replacing U.S. Nationals, which served as the final stop of the tour last year. Those dates also push the tour a week later than it ran last year, and almost a month later than the tour typically ran prior to last season.
The other stops include Austin (January 12-14), Atlanta (March 1-3), Mesa (April 12-14), Indianapolis (May 17-20) and Santa Clara (June 14-17). U.S. Nationals are scheduled for July 25-29 in Irvine, California.
The other interesting note comes in October, where USA Swimming lists a meet as “USA vs. College Conference.” That event takes place at the University of Southern California. The Team USA vs a college conference component isn’t new; USA Swimming had a portion of its national team last year take on a team of Big Ten all-stars in what was called the USA College Challenge in Indianapolis. But the meet moving out to USC might suggest Team USA is this season taking on the Pac-12 conference, of which USC is a part.
That meet is listed on October 20-21. We reached out to USA Swimming for clarification on the specifics of that meet as well as to confirm the Columbus Pro Swim Series date – a spokesperson for USA Swimming said there has been no official announcement of the College Challenge or Pro Swim Series lineup, but that the quad plan is “primarily used by our National Team staff to help coaches plan upcoming schedules,” and that the calendar listed is still subject to change.
Be nice if the new National Team Director would have a say?!?!
Who is it?