CHICAGO- The UIC swimming and diving programs kick off the 2016-17 regular season on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT in a tri-meet at the Myers-McLoraine Pool within the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center on the campus of the University of Chicago. The Flames will be competing in the meet alongside the Northwestern Wildcats in addition to the Maroons.

"This meet is a great starting point to see where our program is at for this point of the season," said head coach Tim Loeffler. "With all the newcomers this year, we are very excited to see how they handle their first competition."

The Flames faced Chicago last season in a quad-meet where both the men's and women's teams earned victories over the Maroons. Junior Brianna Hines set both the pool record at the Myers-McLoraine Pool and the UIC record in the 1000 freestyle with her time of 10:03.49. 

Hines' record setting continued later in the season at the annual TYR invitational, UIC's last encounter against Northwestern. Hines set another school record in the 500 freestyle with her time of 4:49.56. Meanwhile, sophomore Lexie Joy followed, setting a new school record in the 200 individual medley with her time of 2:03.59.

On the men's side, junior Tanner Alms finished third in the 1000 freestyle (9:55.04) at last year's triple dual meet against the Maroons and Wildcats.  Last year's seniors Christian Grobe and Ryota Kuwahara netted top finishes for the Flames in their respective events alongside current senior Nicholas Kowalski.

Overall, both the men's and women's teams look to improve after placing second and third, respectively, at last year's Chicago meet.

On Saturday, the Flames prepare to debut 14 freshmen, all of whom will be poised for the big season ahead.

"The divers have been training well…and I'm excited to see how they will compete this weekend," said head diving coach Susan Bromberg. "It should be a lot of fun."