June 27, 2007

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri swimming and diving Head Coach Brian Hoffer announced the Tigers' schedule for the 2007-08 season on Tuesday. Both the men's and women's squads will face a number of competitive programs over the course of the season, including Big 12 Conference foes and others from across the nation.

"This team is one of the best teams I have had a chance to coach," Hoffer said. "This schedule will challenge them at home and on the road."

The Tiger men and women will host four home dual meets this season. The squads will welcome Big Ten Conference powers Indiana in October and Iowa in January. The women will host two other dual meets in the 2008 portion of the schedule as well. The Mizzou Aquatics Center (MAC) will also be the site of the Third Annual Show-Me-Showdown, the Mizzou Dual Challenge and Missouri Grand Prix this season.

"This home schedule will give our fans a chance to see some really good teams go against the Tigers." Hoffer said.

The Tigers begin their season on Oct. 12 when they host Indiana, a program whose women finished the year ranked No. 8 in the CollegeSwimming.com national rankings and a men's squad that finished just outside of the top 10 at No. 11. After what should be an exciting meet with the Hoosiers, Mizzou will hit the pool once more the following day as the program hosts the Third Annual Show-Me Showdown. The daylong competition will feature teams from around the state and that will be looking to unseed the Tigers, who have won the event in its previous two years.

The next weekend Mizzou heads north to Ames, Iowa, for the Big 12 Relays on Oct. 19. The MU squad will remain in Ames the following day for a neutral-site dual meet with the Aggies of Texas A&M, whose women closed out their 2006-07 campaign ranked No. 5 in the country and whose men also finished in the nation's top 25. The Tiger men will look to avenge a narrow, 4-point loss to the Aggies from this past season.

The Tiger women will take to the pool a week later on Oct. 27 as they travel to face Kansas in Lawrence, Kan. Missouri will hope to build on its 76-point victory over the Jayhawks last season, which also represented the largest winning margin by either school in the 24-meet history between the two teams.

November will be a big month for the Tigers, who begin the month by hosting the Mizzou Dual Challenge from Nov. 2-4. This weekend-long event will bring a number of tough teams to the waters of the MAC, including event newcomers Virginia Tech, Illinois and Missouri State. Mid-major powerhouse Southern Illinois and defending men's and women's NCAA Division II national champion Drury will both make return appearances as well.

Mizzou closes out its first semester schedule when they head to West Lafayette, Ind., Nov. 16-18 for the Purdue Invite.

After the team's training trip meet early in January, the Tiger women open up 2008 with a home meet on Jan. 12 against two top-25 caliber programs in Arkansas and Missouri State. The Mizzou men will open up the new year Jan. 18-19 in Pittsburgh in a competitive match-up against host Pittsburgh and Maryland.

The Missouri women will be in action that same weekend on Jan. 19 as they make a return trip to Ames, Iowa, for a dual meet with Iowa State, a team the Tigers dominated at home this past season.

The Tiger men and women will once again be in action together as they host Iowa at the MAC Jan. 26. Both Mizzou squads easily defeated their Hawkeye counterparts during the 2006-07 season.

Mizzou will then head down to Springfield, Mo., for a match-up against Drury on Feb. 8. This will be the final dual event of the Mizzou men's season. The Tiger women, however, will race back to Columbia the following day for a meet against Big 12 counterpart Nebraska to close out their regular season.

The Tigers will have some solid preparation for the Big 12 Championships, as the MAC will again play host to athletes from around the world during the Missouri Grand Prix. The event, which will be held Feb. 15-18, was hugely successful this past year, especially after six-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps broke his own world record in the 200-meter butterfly.

Austin, Texas, will be the site of this year's Big 12 Championships, which will be hosted by Texas. The Longhorn men completed their 2006-07 campaign atop the national rankings and the women finished just outside the top 10 at No. 11. The Mizzou men, who tallied their second-highest championship score at last year's championships, will look to break their streak of six straight third-place finishes. The Tiger women will hope to climb higher in the final standings after being narrowly edged for third place by archrival Kansas this past year.