PITTSBURGH - Duquesne will open the home portion of the 2018-19 campaign this weekend hosting a pair of teams from the Mid-American Conference in Buffalo on Friday at 4 p.m. and Akron on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Towers Pool. Both meets will be streamed live on ESPN+. In addition, the DU divers will face off with the Zips at Carnegie Mellon University at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning.

The event schedule for both meets can be found below.

Saturday's matchup with Akron will feature a non-traditional format with 17 "mystery" events. Both teams will have a lineup already in place for each event. As the swimmers are behind the blocks, the scorers' table will draw a "mystery" event from a hat before announcing it. The swimmers will then take part in that respective event, not knowing which event that will be until moments before.

Swimmers may compete in a maximum of four events. This includes either two relays or two individual events, or one relay and three individual events.

The mystery events include: 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 1000 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, 200 fly, 50 back, 100 back, 200 back, 50 breast, 100 breast, 200 breast
100 IM, 200 IM and 400 IM

The Dukes return to the Steel City following their winter training trip to Florida over the holiday break. Duquesne took part in the FIU Sprint Invite, posting a second-place finish. A meet which showcased another non-traditional format, the 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast and 50 free were competed in a four-round elimination tournament. 

Kristen McKnight won the 50-yard butterfly championship with a time of 25.34 in the fourth and final round. McKnight led the four-round tournament from wire-to-wire, pacing each of the four rounds.

Several Dukes own the top time in events in the A-10 so far this season, including Summer Svitavsky (500 free - 4:43.90), Abigail Stauffer (50 breast - 29.37) (200 breast - 2:18.35), Kristen McKnight (50 fly - 25.34) and Audrey Steen (100 IM - 56.75).

Duquesne will officially compete at Towers Pool for the first time since winning its first Atlantic 10 Championship in Feb. 2018. The Dukes had just one meet at Towers Pool last season, defeating Youngstown State by a score of 168-125 in Nov. 2017.

Duquesne is 5-3 in dual action this season and 14-4 since the start of the 2017-18 campaign.

The Bulls come into Friday with an 0-3 mark in dual meets, dropping decisions to Florida Gulf Coast (172-117) and Liberty (179-109) on Jan. 5 in Fort Myers, Fla. Buffalo and the Dukes crossed paths at the Magnus Cup in November, where the Bulls placed second and Duquesne fourth. UB's Birttney Beetcher was recently named the MAC Swimmer of the Week for her performance in long distance events at the dual meets against FGCU and Liberty.

Akron, which won its fifth straight MAC championship last season, topped Duquesne by a score of 197-101 last year. The Zips are 3-1 in dual meets this season with their lone loss coming to No. 15 Ohio State. Akron also competed at the Magnus Cup, winning its fourth consecutive title at the event.


Event Schedule - Buffalo
200 Free Relay
- Break -
500 Free
100 IM
50 Fly
100 Back
50 Breast
100 Free
- Break -
400 Medley Relay
- Break -
200 Medley Relay
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
50 Back
100 Breast
50 Free
- Break -
400 Free Relay  


Event Schedule - Akron
1-meter dive (11 a.m. at CMU)
3-meter dive (11 a.m. at CMU)
200 Medley Relay
Event 4 - Mystery
Event 5 - Mystery
Event 6 - Mystery
Event 7 - Mystery
- Break -
Event 8 - Mystery
Event 9 - Mystery
Event 10 - Mystery
Event 11 - Mystery
Event 12 - Mystery
- Break -
200 Free Relay
Event 14 - Mystery
Event 15 - Mystery
Event 16 - Mystery
- Break -
Event 17 - Mystery
Event 18 - Mystery
Event 19 - Mystery
Event 20 - Mystery
- Break -
Event 21 - Mystery
400 Medley Relay


NEXT UP
Duquesne will host a pair of teams from the Buckeye State next Saturday, Jan. 19, facing off with Xavier and Ohio at Towers Pool. Diving against the Bobcats will again take place at Carnegie Mellon that morning. The swimming portion of the meet will begin at 2 p.m. at Towers Pool.