Six NCAA dual meets to watch before midseason begins

The 2024-25 NCAA season has begun in earnest. The highlight of the season is the NCAA Championships, but there’s plenty of fun to be had before March. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of six pre-midseason invitational dual meets to mark on your calendar.

We tried to collect as much information as possible about each meeting, including available streaming information. If there isn’t a viewing guide yet, that means we don’t have it yet. However, we will keep this page updated as this information becomes available.

Of course, this is just a snapshot of all the meetings that took place before the invitations. So feel free to let us know in the comments if you’re looking forward to meeting up that we haven’t mentioned yet.

October 5: Battle At The Burr III – Georgetown vs. Howard

• Where: Burr Gym Pool – Washington, DC
• When: 1:00 p.m. ET
• Who: Women’s and men’s teams

The Battle At The Burr, the revived collegiate dual meet, is back for a third year. Cross-city rivals Howard University and Georgetown University will face off again on October 5, and ongoing preparations suggest this could be the biggest battle yet.

Tickets for the poolside seating area are completely sold out, but tickets are still available for the watch party, where a DJ will play and the meeting will be shown on a jumbotron.

Georgetown has won the meet in the last two editions, although the men were separated by just two points in 2022. Both Georgetown and Howard have reached the top of their conferences, and this cross-conference one-two promises to be a spectacular show on and off the land.

The meeting is marked “NEC Front Row” on Howard’s schedule.

October 18: Florida vs. Virginia

• Where: Aquatic and Rec Center – Charlottesville, VA
• When: 10am ET – Diving, 1pm ET – Swimming
• Who: Women’s and men’s teams

There’s a lot going on during this matchup between two of Division I’s best programs. The Virginia Women’s NCAA Title Banner Raising Ceremony and 50th Anniversary Celebration will take place. Perhaps more importantly, Todd DeSorbo recently revealed on a SwimSwam podcast that it will be in the SCM and that he would like to get fit for it.

SCM adds even more excitement to an already intriguing meet, as it could be a preview of what’s to come at SC Worlds if one of the two teams’ stars plans to compete at the meet in December.

Last year, the Virginia women and Florida men won this head-to-head race. On paper it looks like we are heading for the same results, but the main advantage of this competition is the promise of fast times in an unconventional format that is having an impact on international swimming.

There is no available information on where the meet can be streamed, although Virginia has streamed home meets via Instagram in the past, so keep an eye out for that.

October 18: Triple Distance Meet – Cal vs. Stanford

• Where: Avery Aquatic Center – Stanford, California
• When: 1:00 p.m. PDT
• Who: Women’s and men’s teams

We love a meeting with a gimmick.

On the other side of the country, after the matchup between UF and UVA, there is another exciting matchup between Cal and Stanford, who are renewing their rivalry for the first time as members of the ACC. At the Triple Distance Meet, swimmers choose between a number of events: Sprint Freestyle (50/100/200), Distance Freestyle (200/500/1000), Stroke (50/100/200) or IM (100/200). /400) and drive any distance.

Cal will already have two tournaments under their belt at this point, but this should be our first look at the Paris 2024 gold medalist Torri Huske has worn a Stanford cap since 2023 since she redshirted last season. Additionally, this event often features at least one newcomer who achieves some fast times and/or an established star who swims PBs in an off-stroke race that they do not normally compete in.

This is the first of three meetings between Cal and Stanford this season; They will meet later in October for a three-way meeting that also includes Arizona State.

October 26: South Carolina vs. North Carolina

• Where: Bowman Gray Memorial Pool – Chapel Hill, NC
• When: 10 a.m. ET
• Who: Women’s and men’s teams

A meeting that ends in a draw will pique anyone’s interest – that’s exactly what happened in the Women’s Carolina Clash last season, and that’s exactly why the meeting is on our must-watch list for this season.

It was the closest the Gamecock women had come to beating UNC since 1985, surpassing the multiple NCAA diving champion’s margin of victory Aranza Vazquez Montano gave the Tar Heels the lead after the 100 fly, the third-to-last event. South Carolina had a nine-point lead heading into the 400 freestyle relay, but UNC’s sprinters came through for them, breaking the tie with a 1-2 score.

Both teams lost some key swimmers to graduation, but what’s important for the Tar Heels is the return of Vazquez Montano Skyler Smith, Greer Pattison, And Georgia Nel. For the Gamecocks, NCAA scorer Greta Pelzek And Amy Riordan Return to lead the team this season.

The UNC men rallied late, overcoming South Carolina’s hot start and taking the game by 22 points. That’s a small enough margin to make this season’s second leg interesting, especially because both teams made some interesting additions in the offseason; UNC’s freshmen are particularly worth keeping an eye on – we ranked them as the 11th-best men’s recruiting class this season.

1st–2nd November: Indiana vs. Texas

• Where: Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center – Austin, Texas
• When: 12:00 p.m. CT (both days)
• Who: Women’s and men’s teams

Texas is one of the teams that has followed Howard’s lead and really worked to increase the entertainment factor for their dual meets. We’ve seen this several times in recent seasons, especially in the matchups against Virginia. In the second semester, they will face Virginia in an exciting quad duel that also includes ASU and NC State. However, as far as duals go, this matchup against the Hoosiers is an exciting matchup for both men and women.

The Indiana and Texas men’s programs produced perhaps the two strongest transfer classes we’ve ever seen. So it’s a pleasure to see these two groups – which include Olympians and former teammates – compete against each other. These are two teams looking to improve the NCAA rankings in March.

On the women’s side, Texas lost some big pieces (Kelly Pash, Lydia Jacoby, Anna Elendt) and hopes their recruiting class will immediately help maintain second place in the league against a reloaded Stanford team. At the same time, the Hoosier women achieved their best NCAA finish by adding two swimmers to the Olympic team and building a solid recruiting class of their own.

November 9: Denison vs. Kenyon

• Where: James A. Steen Aquatic Center – Gambier, OH
• When: 10 a.m. ET
• Who: Women’s and men’s teams

As intrastate and NCAC rivals, Kenyon and Denison have competed against each other many times, from dual meets to conference championships to NCAAs. But that doesn’t make it any less exciting when these teams compete against each other, and because of this long history, their annual dual meet early in the season is always something to keep an eye on, as the rivalry is a little bigger than the average dual meet.

Both teams finished in the top eight at the 2024 NCAAs; The Kenyan women reclaimed the title after Denison won in 2023, 18 points ahead of the Big Red. In the men’s event, Kenyon finished second while Denison finished sixth. So it’s not just a rivalry meeting, but it also has national implications.

The programs split last season’s wins: Denison women won by 33 points while the Kenyon men took the win by four points. An interesting twist in the women’s competition over the last two seasons is that whoever lost the doubles competition won the NCAAs.

Kenyon streams his home meets via his YouTube channel.