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Schaffer releases 2025-26 schedule
9/18/2025 12:00:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving
1st season in Big West, Mountain West provides new opportunities
Grand Canyon swimming and diving announced its 2025–26 schedule on Thursday, featuring a balanced slate of high-level meets.
Head coach Steve Schaffer, entering his 18th season leading the Lopes, believes the schedule provides a strong mix of competition.
"We have a great schedule again this year," Schaffer said. "It's a good balance of competition for us. We will start off with very strong competition with the All-Arizona DI meet giving us a chance to race some really fast swimming right out of the gate."
GCU opens its season Oct. 10 at the All-Arizona DI Invitational in Tucson, Arizona, before heading to Long Beach, California, for the MPSF Open Water Championships on Oct. 18. The Lopes will also return to Honolulu to face Hawai'i (Oct. 24–25) and to Colorado Springs, Colorado, for a dual at Air Force (Oct. 31–Nov. 1).
"Our distance swimmers will once again compete in the MPSF Open Water Championships," Schaffer said. "Our women are defending champions and our men finished second last year, so we have high expectations for this year. We will see a new mix of teams at our mid-season invitational at Oakland University, and we expect some tough competition from Oakland in particular."
The Lopes will host Simon Fraser, Arizona Christian and Ottawa (Arizona) on Nov. 7–8 before sending divers to the USC Diving Invitational (Nov. 20–22) and then heading to the Oakland Golden Grizzly Classic in Michigan (Dec. 3–6). GCU also hosts Arizona Christian and Ottawa again on Dec. 13 before heading across the Valley to Arizona State (Jan. 3).
The first road trip of the new year will include a trip to California Baptist (Jan. 17) before GCU returns home to honor its seniors against UNLV (Jan. 31).
Championship season begins in February with the men's Big West Championships (Feb. 11–14) and the women's Mountain West Championships (Feb. 18–21) in Houston.
"A lot of the same teams as last year, but new challenges for us with our conference championship meets," Schaffer said.
From there, the postseason ramps up with NCAA Zone E Diving Championships (March 9-11) in Flagstaff, the CSCAA National Invitational Championships (March 13–15) in Ocala, Florida, and back-to-back NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The women's championships are set for March 19–22 in Atlanta, with the men's championships following March 26–29 in Atlanta.
Head coach Steve Schaffer, entering his 18th season leading the Lopes, believes the schedule provides a strong mix of competition.
"We have a great schedule again this year," Schaffer said. "It's a good balance of competition for us. We will start off with very strong competition with the All-Arizona DI meet giving us a chance to race some really fast swimming right out of the gate."
GCU opens its season Oct. 10 at the All-Arizona DI Invitational in Tucson, Arizona, before heading to Long Beach, California, for the MPSF Open Water Championships on Oct. 18. The Lopes will also return to Honolulu to face Hawai'i (Oct. 24–25) and to Colorado Springs, Colorado, for a dual at Air Force (Oct. 31–Nov. 1).
"Our distance swimmers will once again compete in the MPSF Open Water Championships," Schaffer said. "Our women are defending champions and our men finished second last year, so we have high expectations for this year. We will see a new mix of teams at our mid-season invitational at Oakland University, and we expect some tough competition from Oakland in particular."
The Lopes will host Simon Fraser, Arizona Christian and Ottawa (Arizona) on Nov. 7–8 before sending divers to the USC Diving Invitational (Nov. 20–22) and then heading to the Oakland Golden Grizzly Classic in Michigan (Dec. 3–6). GCU also hosts Arizona Christian and Ottawa again on Dec. 13 before heading across the Valley to Arizona State (Jan. 3).
The first road trip of the new year will include a trip to California Baptist (Jan. 17) before GCU returns home to honor its seniors against UNLV (Jan. 31).
Championship season begins in February with the men's Big West Championships (Feb. 11–14) and the women's Mountain West Championships (Feb. 18–21) in Houston.
"A lot of the same teams as last year, but new challenges for us with our conference championship meets," Schaffer said.
From there, the postseason ramps up with NCAA Zone E Diving Championships (March 9-11) in Flagstaff, the CSCAA National Invitational Championships (March 13–15) in Ocala, Florida, and back-to-back NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The women's championships are set for March 19–22 in Atlanta, with the men's championships following March 26–29 in Atlanta.
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