The Flames swimming and diving team will learn a lot about where it stands early in the season this weekend.  A dual meet Friday at Big Ten squad Michigan State, followed by a dual meet at perennial Horizon League champion Oakland, will test the Flames in two hostile environments.

"We like to have these weekends where we can go back to back meets, because it helps us prepare for things like the conference championship which is four days back-to-back-to-back-to-back," head coach Tim Loeffler said.  "We narrowly lost to Michigan State last year.  We also had a good fight against Oakland, who ended up winning the conference championship.  We'll see really how we're able to handle ourselves, not just being on the road but swimming against two teams that we might have more of an emotional fight with, so we're really excited about these meets."

Associate head coach Susan Bromberg, who leads the diving squad, is excited about taking on an Oakland team that will host the conference meet in February.

"Any time we go to the pool where we're going to have conference, I look at that as a learning experience," she said.  "So we'll take a lot of videos when we're there, and a lot of pictures, just to help them with their visualization of the pool so that when we go back there for the conference meet they're comfortable."

The meet against the Spartans will start at 4 pm Central on Friday.  The Flames and Golden Grizzlies will get going at noon on Saturday.

Last Time Out

• The Flames have just one meet under their belts.  Northwestern defeated the men's and women's teams on October 12.
• Illinois' women were also at that meet, and they claimed victory over UIC's women.

Flames to Watch

• Hunter Crook, Luke Hutchinson, and Danny Sivak were among the upperclassmen on the mens' side with top performances in the opening meet.
• Ben Gabbey and Garrett Prybell had impressive debuts in breaststroke and IM races.
• Christina Neri and Lauren Johnson led the women returning swimmers.
• Lilly Culp and Victoria Thor had top-three finishes in their Flames debuts.
• Cydney Liebenberg and Felix LaFortune were UIC's top divers.

Scouting the Opposition

• Michigan State's men are 1-3.  Their lone win came over Miami (OH).
• The Spartan women are 2-3-1 with wins over Northern Iowa and Miami.  They tied with Illinois in their last meet.
• Oakland is undefeated with wins over Milwaukee and Wayne State, as well as Vanderbilt and Toledo on the women's side.
• Oakland's men and women both took first place at the Golden Grizzly Relays.
• Oakland has won both the men's and women's Horizon League championships every year since joining the conference in 2013.