CLEVELAND, Miss. - After a month away from competition, the Delta State University Statesmen and Lady Statesmen Swimming Diving teams return to action this weekend, as they host the annual Christmas Invitational this Saturday, Dec. 15 through Tuesday, Dec. 18 at the DSU Aquatics Center. The four-day meet features six of the top teams in NCAA Division II and the NAIA. It will be DSU versus the Show-Me State as all the schools participating are from the state of Missouri.

"The level of competition at this year's Christmas Invitational will be outstanding," DSU head coach Dan'l Murray said. "In a lot of ways, the Christmas Invitational serves as a preview for the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference Championship and NCAA DII Championship meets. Our teams are excited to be back in the water this week after the long break and we're ready to see how we stack up this weekend against five nationally ranked opponents."

The Christmas Invitational will feature six men's teams, including Delta State, Lindenwood University, Lindenwood University-Belleville, Missouri Institute of Science & Technology, University of Missouri at St. Louis, and Maryville University. The women's competition features Delta State, Lindenwood University, Lindenwood University-Belleville, University of Missouri at St. Louis, and Maryville University.

The women's meet will feature two teams in the top 15 in the CSCAA Poll with DSU coming in at 11 and Lindenwood at 15. On the men's side three of the schools are in the top 13, Lindenwood comes in at number five in the country, Missouri S&T is number nine and DSU is 13^thin the poll.
 

The meet will get jumpstarted on Saturday at 1 p.m. with 3-Meter Diving trials. Timed finals will get underway at 5 p.m. in the 800-Free, 1000-Free, 200-Medley Relay, and 3-Meter Diving. A complete schedule is outlined below.

Live results will be available online and through the MeetMobile app. Live video will also be available during each finals session.
 
SATURDAY, DEC. 15 | 5 P.M. 
• 800 Free Relay (W)
• 1000 Free (M)
• 200 Medley Relay (W)
• 200 Medley Relay (M)
• 1000 Free (W)
• 3-Meter Diving (W)
• 800 Free Relay (M)

SUNDAY, DEC. 16 | 10 A.M. PRELIMS/5 P.M. FINALS
• 500 Free (M)
• 500 Free (W)
• 200 Individual Medley (W)
• 200 Individual Medley (M)
• 50 Free (W)
• 50 Free (M)
• 1-Meter Diving (M)
• 200 Free Relay (W)
• 200 Free Relay (M)

MONDAY, DEC. 17 | 10 A.M. PRELIMS/5 P.M. FINALS
• 400 Individual Medley (W)
• 400 Individual Medley (M)
• 100 Butterfly (W)
• 100 Butterfly (M)
• 200 Free (W)
• 200 Free (M)
• 100 Breaststroke (W)
• 100 Breaststroke (M)
• 100 Back (W)
• 100 Back (M)
• 1-Meter Diving (W)
• 400 Medley Relay (W)
• 400 Medley Relay (M)

TUESDAY, DEC. 18 | 10 A.M. PRELIMS/4 P.M. FINALS
• 200 Back (W)
• 200 Back (M)
• 100 Free (W)
• 100 Free (M)
• 200 Breaststroke (W)
• 200 Breaststroke (M)
• 200 Butterfly (W)
• 200 Butterfly (M)
• 1650 Free (W)
• 1650 Free (M)
• 3-Meter Diving (M)
• 400 Free (W)
• 400 Free (M)