CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Queens University of Charlotte men's and women's swimming and diving teams have announced their 2025-26 competition schedule, marking their first season fully eligible for NCAA Championships after completing the Division I reclassification process.
The Royals enter the year coming off a standout 2024-25 campaign in which the men's team captured the ASUN Championship title, while the women finished third at the conference meet. Both squads excelled nationally at the National Invitational Championships (NICs) as the men earned a runner-up finish and the women secured fourth place to close out the season.
Queens will open its historic 2025-26 schedule on Friday, September 26, traveling to Chapel Hill to face UNC, an ACC powerhouse coming off a strong national finish. The following day, Queens will compete at Davidson before heading to Atlanta on October 4 to take on Emory University.
The team returns home to host Catawba on October 18 after a road meet at Wingate. In a significant mid-season challenge, Queens will travel to Wilmington on November 1 to face UNCW and William & Mary. The Royals will then host Big Ten opponent Rutgers for a women's only dual meet across two days, November 7-8.
Queens will close out the fall semester at its annual Fall Frenzy Invitational, November 20-23, at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center. This year's Fall Frenzy features a deep field, including LaSalle, Incarnate Word, Nova Southeastern, Wingate, UNC Asheville, James Madison, Florida Tech, and UNCW, with prelims each morning and finals sessions each evening.
Following winter training, the Royals resume competition on January 2 against Virginia Tech in Christiansburg before hosting USC on January 3. The program will also compete at UNC Asheville in a dive-only meet on January 16. Queens will celebrate its seniors on January 24 with a home meet against conference opponent Gardner-Webb.
Championship season begins February 17-21 at the ASUN Championships in Orlando, Florida. The Royals will then send qualifiers to the National Invitational Championships in Ocala, Florida from March 12-14. Queens concludes the season with its first-ever opportunity to compete at the NCAA Championships, with the women racing March 18-21 and the men March 25-28, both hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
"Our schedule this year was built around the concept that to become a Top 20 program in the NCAA, you have to swim Top 20 programs," said Head Coach Jeff Dugdale. "We kick the season off swimming UNC, who is coming off an amazing season led by Head Coach Mark Gangloff, then we travel home to celebrate our school's history-making ASUN Conference Championship Ring Ceremony that same evening.
We also will have Big Ten Rutgers coming to Queens to swim over two days in a women's only meet. We will travel to Virginia Tech and host USC to kick off the new year. Finally, our Senior Day will be hosting conference foe Gardner-Webb. Our mid-season Fall Frenzy will host some new teams as well with the addition of UNCW and Incarnate Word. Every dual meet will have a lesson tied to it, and those lessons will add up with the hopes of delivering another championship to Queens."
The Royals aim to build upon last season's conference title and top-four national finishes as they compete for the first time as full NCAA Championship contenders, striving to establish themselves among the nation's top Division I programs.
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