May 20, 2008
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist swimming and diving program released their 2008-09 schedule on Tuesday morning. The most important meet will be the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships on February 12th, 13th, and 14th at Loyola College in Baltimore, Md. Both the men and the women will be looking to defend their 2008 MAAC Titles.
The Red Foxes will open their competitive schedule in West Point, N.Y. at the United States Military Academy in the Black Knights' Invite on October 18th and 19th. While at West Point, they will take on Army and Syracuse.
The first dual-meet of the season will be at Fordham on October 23, and the first home and conference dual-meet will be against the Broncs of Rider on November 1st. Rider's men and women were the favorites heading into this past season's MAAC Championships but were upset in thrilling fashion by the Red Foxes. It was the fourth straight title for the Marist men and fifth straight for the women.
Marist will take on MAAC foes Fairfield and Iona on November 8th and 12th respectively, with the meet versus the Stags at the McCann Center Natatorium. The Red Foxes will then take three weeks off from competition before making their first trip of the season to Baltimore, Md. for a four-team meet with Drexel, Delaware, and host Loyola. The Greyhounds were in close competition with the men and women at the MAAC Championships last season.
"The MAAC is now a three-school race because of the way Loyola came on in 2008," said Marist Director of Aquatics Larry VanWagner. "During the first twelve years of our membership, it was just Marist and Rider."
Following intersession training in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Marist will move out of the conference for their final four dual-meets of the season. They will host Lehigh on January 10th and Southern Connecticut State on January 17th, and then hit the road to visit mid-major powerhouse UMBC and Big East foe Seton Hall.
The Red Foxes will take a week off following the Seton Hall meet before heading back to Baltimore for the MAAC's. On February 27th, 28th and May 1st, those that qualify will participate in the ECAC Championship Meet hosted by Harvard.
"Our regular season schedule is formatted around competitiveness," said VanWagner. "We only schedule the top tier of MAAC schools, and then we look outside of our conference for top schools in conferences like the Big East, Atlantic-10, America East, and Patriot League to prepare us for the championship part of the season."
