College Dual Meets

It's way early to be talking about college track schedules...but hey, I am a Superfan, aren't I?

I love college dual meets.  They decide a winner and a loser.  Like a real sport. 

Many haven't released their schedules yet, but here's what I've got from "major colleges" so far.

The best of all of them as always will be UCLA at USC.  This is tentatively set for May 1, a Sunday, in order to not clash with USC's spring game.

LSU will travel to Texas A&M on January 22.  This is the best matchup of teams, but I don't think the win will mean as much to the athletes or their fans as the crosstown rivalry above.

Niether UCLA nor Oregon have released their schedules, and their dual-meet contract was up, so I have no idea whether they've renewed.  Several other teams list a quad meet on April 15 at UCLA, so we'll have to presume that one is off the table.

Traditional rivalries continue.  Michigan and Ohio State have their traditional home-and-home series between their men's teams, in Columbus on January 15 and in Ann Arbor on April 16.  The women are getting into the action for the first time and stealing one of my ideas, as the women's teams meet in Michigan at the same time as the men meet at Ohio State.

Texas goes to Arkansas for a mens-only meet on January 14, the same date that Missouri goes to Kansas.  Indiana goes to Purdue on January 15.  The Big Meet will have Cal at Stanford on April 16; Washington State goes to Washington on April 30; and the double-dual between Arizona, Arizona State and Northern Arizona will be in Tempe on April 30.

Some new meets look interesting.  The USC fan site lists a tentative "Trojan Tri-meet" against BYU and a team to be announced on April 2, and a tentative "Georgia quad meet" on April 9.  Texas will host a men-only tri-meet against Arkansas and UCLA on March 25.  Arkansas will host a tri-meet on January 7 against Ole Miss and a not-yet-announced team.  Missouri's schedule lists a meet at Georgia on April 23 which appears to be a dual, but is as yet unconfirmed.  Texas Tech hosts a quad meet on February 18 against unannounced opponents.  Wisconsin will host a quad meet against Eastern Michigan, Purdue and Indiana State on January 29.

So far, so good.  I think a lot of the dual/tri/quad meet resurgence is related to the current setup for NCAA championships qualifying, which basically eliminates chasing marks.  I'll post more when I get it.