Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech swimming and diving teams will open the 2015-16 season this weekend as the squads will travel to face Penn State and West Virginia on Friday and Saturday.
The Hokies will face the Nitanny Lions at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon in University Park, Pa. before traveling to Morgantown, W.Va. on Saturday for a 2 p.m. meet.
"We are excited to hit the road for competitions this weekend against schools that we have a long history with. Penn State and West Virginia each have strong programs and we look forward to the challenges of swimming and diving on the road. We have had a strong few months of training and it will be nice to finally swim and dive against someone outside of Blacksburg. We have fantastic leadership and I know that our team is ready to represent on the boards and in the pool," said head coach Ned Skinner.
The last time the teams were in competition, they had sent 26 swimmers and divers to the NCAA Championships in March. The team returns a strong core led by NCAA All-American Weronika Paluszek and Honorable Mention All-Americans Robert Owen, Klaudia Nazieblo, and Brandon Fiala.
The first two tests of the season this weekend kickoff a challenging slate for the Hokies that includes six teams who finished inside of the top-30 last year of the regular season rankings.
In 2014-15, Virginia Tech was the only Atlantic Coast Conference school to have both the men and women’s team finish in the top three at the ACC Championships. The two teams also had 38 All-ACC Academic winners and was named a Scholar All-America Team by the College Swimming Coaches Associate of America.