Schaffer releases 2025-26 schedule – Grand Canyon University Athletics

Head coach Steve Schaffer, coming into his 18th season main the Lopes, believes the schedule supplies a powerful mixture of competitors.

“We have a great schedule again this year,” Schaffer stated. “It’s a good balance of competition for us. We will start off with very strong competition with the All-Arizona DI meet giving us a chance to race some really fast swimming right out of the gate.”

GCU opens its season Oct. 10 on the All-Arizona DI Invitational in Tucson, Arizona earlier than heading to Long Beach, California for the MPSF Open Water Championships on Oct. 18. The Lopes will even return to Honolulu to face Hawai’i (Oct. 24–25) and Colorado Springs for a twin at Air Force (Oct. 31–Nov. 1).

“Our distance swimmers will once again compete in the MPSF Open Water Championships. Our women are defending champions and our men finished second last year, so we have high expectations for this year,” Schaffer stated. “We will see a new mix of teams at our mid-season invitational at Oakland University and we expect some tough competition from Oakland in particular.”

The Lopes will host Simon Fraser, Arizona Christian, and Ottawa (AZ) on Nov. 7–8 earlier than sending divers to the USC Diving Invitational (Nov. 20–22) after which heading to the Golden Grizzly Invite in Michigan (Dec. 3–6) for the midseason Invitational. GCU additionally hosts ACU and OUAZ once more on Dec. 13 earlier than heading throughout city to Arizona State (Jan. 3).

The first highway journey of the brand new yr will embody a visit to California Baptist (Jan. 17) earlier than GCU returns residence to honor its seniors towards UNLV on Jan. 31.

Championship season begins in February with the Big West Championships (Feb. 11–14, males’s staff) and the Mountain West Championships (Feb. 18–21, ladies’s staff) in Houston.

“A lot of the same teams as last year, but new challenges for us with our conference championship meets, with the men competing in the Big West Conference this year, while the women will compete in the Mountain West,” Schaffer stated.

From there, the postseason ramps up with NCAA Zone E Diving Championships (March September 11 in Flagstaff), the CSCAA National Invitational Championships (March 13–15 in Ocala, Fla.), and back-to-back NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships. The ladies’s championships are set for March 19–22 in Atlanta, with the boys’s championships following March 26–29 in Atlanta.