Oct. 1, 2006

Fairfax, Va.--George Mason University's swimming and diving teams compete eight times at the Aquatic and Fitness Center during the 2006-07 campaign and face competition on the road just five times, two of which are dual meets. The Patriots will host the CAA Championships for the eighth straight time and will also have the annual Patriot Invitational at the Aquatic & Fitness Center.

The Patriots begin the season at the Potomac Relays, which will be hosted by American on Oct. 14 (5 p.m.). Mason opens up Colonial Athletic Association competition at Delaware on Oct. 21 (1 p.m.) and then welcome James Madison for the first home competition for the Patriots (Oct. 28).

For the second time in three years, one of the CAA Pod Meet's sites is the Aquatic & Fitness Center, which is taking place Nov. 3-4. The schools competing along with Mason are the College of Charleston, Drexel and Davidson with action kicking off at 4 p.m. on Nov. 3 and 1:30 p.m. the proceeding day.

The annual Patriot Invitational is slated for Nov. 17-19, which historically has included about 11 teams for each gender. Last season, both Mason teams placed fifth, which included a first place finish for Amanda Fielding in the 1-meter dive event (244.70) and Tom Koucheravy setting a new Patriot Invitational record as he swam the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:22.79 to place first.

The U.S. Open is set to take place from Nov. 30-Dec. 2 and then there is the Orange Bowl Classic in Florida on Jan. 6 at 12 p.m.

Conference competition resumes on Jan. 13 with a dual meet against Towson in Fairfax (1 p.m.) and then Mason's final away meet of the season on Jan. 21 against George Washington. The Patriots then host Mary Washington on Jan. 26 (6 p.m.). The following day, Mason will host American, Old Dominion and Army for the last competition in the month of January.

Howard marks the final regular season dual meet (Feb. 2) and the next competition for the Patriots is the CAA Championships at the Aquatic & Fitness Center from Feb. 14-17.

"The capper of our regular season is the CAA Championships," said Mason swimming head coach Peter Ward. "It promises to be a very exciting championship here in Fairfax for the eighth time. It is the highlight of our season and I will look for my teams to be very competitive since we prepare all season long for the conference championships."

The NCAA `Zone A' Diving Championships is scheduled for March 2-4 in Buffalo, N.Y., while both the women's and men's NCAA Championships will take place in Minneapolis, Minn. The women's competition is from March 8-10, while the men compete the following weekend, March 15-17.