For the first time in nearly a month, the Gophers swim and dive team is taking to the pool as they host the Minnesota Invite from Dec. 4-7 at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. 

Over the four-day event, the Gophers is hosting some of the top swimming and diving programs in the nation, including Arizona, California-Berkeley, Harvard, Iowa, Michigan and Texas. 

“I think everyone has excited nerves going into this meet. We’ve put in a lot of work this fall and we’re excited to show people what Minnesota can do, but it’s the first big meet outside of dual meets this season. It will be exciting to swim against so many other teams” senior swimmer Lindsey Kozelsky told Gopher Sports. 

The women currently hold the No. 21 spot in the country. The men are just outside of the top 25. 

“I think every individual team member has done a great job this season of enabling our team to do great things as championship season comes around. We’ve all been pushing each other at practice and really look forward to seeing where we’re at this week” senior swimmer Tuomas Pokkinen told Gopher Sports. 

Despite receiving national recognition, the women’s team is 1-3 on the season and the men’s team is 0-4. 

Both the men and women fell short of the Wisconsin Badgers in the team’s last competition on Nov. 8. The men lost 123-177 while the women fell by a closer margin of 145-155. 

After some medley races on Dec. 4, the preliminaries will start Dec. 5-7 at 10 a.m. and diving events will begin at 12 p.m. Finals take place at 6 p.m. each day.

The conclusion of the Minnesota Invite will close out the home slate for the Gophers’ 2019-2020 slate at home. Minnesota will be on the road for the remainder of the season for both the men and women swim and dive teams. They have another month break until the next competition at the University of Tennessee on Jan. 3.