MIAMI (July 13, 2017) – Coming off the program's third-straight Conference USA crown, Head Coach Randy Horner announced the FIU swimming and diving team's 2017-18 schedule on Thursday. 
 
Featuring teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Southeastern Conference (SEC), Big 10 Conference and Big 12 Conference, the 2017-18 schedule is comprised of 13 meets, including seven from the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center.

The Panthers, which posted the fourth-highest point total in C-USA Championship history last season, begin their quest for a fourth-straight championship on Sept. 30, hosting the University of Miami.
 
"Our schedule this season has a good balance," Horner said. "We are excited to host our first annual FIU Fall Classic.  It's a new format for our team and should give our top athletes a chance to swim against some great competition.  For the first time at FIU, we will be sending a split squad to compete on the road.  It will be a challenge but should strengthen the depth of our team.  The Purdue Invitational will be our focus of the fall semester.  Competing against teams from the ACC, SEC and Big 10 will give us a true measure of where we rank on the national stage.  All of our meets point towards preparing us for the C-USA Championship Meet and the NCAA Championships."
 
FIU will begin the month of October with split-squad competition, hosting the FIU Fall Classic (Oct. 6-7), featuring TCU, Florida Atlantic, George Washington, Army, and Buffalo. Nine swimmers and two divers will compete in the home event, while the remainder of the team will hit the road to compete against North Florida and Georgia Southern on Oct. 7 in Jacksonville. The team will then take part in this year's Dual-A-Palooza (Oct. 27-28) in New Orleans, Louisiana. The meet will feature Rice, Tulane, and Denver.
 
FIU returns home to host Illinois in a two-day meet (Nov. 3-4). After traveling to West Lafayette, Indiana, for the Purdue Invitational (Nov. 17-19), featuring Purdue, Florida, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Southern Illinois and Missouri State, the Panthers will close out the 2017 calendar year, hosting Georgia Southern (Dec. 14).
 
Following a date in the Orange Bowl Swim Classic (Jan. 3) in Key Largo, Florida, FIU will host three-straight home meets. The Panthers will host the FIU Sprint Invite (Jan. 5), a dual meet with Central Connecticut State (Jan. 11) and will welcome Nova Southeastern (Jan. 20) for Senior Day.
 
A pair of road meets close out the regular season as FIU travels to Fort Myers to take on intra-state rival Florida Gulf Coast on Jan. 27, followed by a trip to Boca Raton to face C-USA foe Florida Atlantic on Feb. 3.
 
The 2018 C-USA Swimming and Diving Championships will take place Feb. 21-24 from Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatics Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUSwimDive) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSwimmingAndDiving) for all the latest Swimming and Diving news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.