SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University swimming teams make their annual trek to George Mason University this weekend for competition in the 2015 Patriot Invitational, to be held Thursday – Saturday inside the Mason Aquatics and Fitness Center.
 
Morning prelim sessions begin each day at 10 a.m., with the evening finals to follow at 6 p.m.
 
The Patriot Invitational is an annual tradition for the Raiders, who use the meet as a benchmark for establishing its fastest times of the young season and to gauge what it is capable of later on in the year.
 
"We are really anticipating another fantastic trip to George Mason," head coach Tim Verge said of the meet. "I think this is 15 years we have been going and it is just a tremendous meet for us. The teams there are fun, friendly and extremely competitive. It is a great environment for us to race and see where we are mid-season."
 
While the season is technically only its second month, one should keep in mind that the swimming campaign is quite possibly the longest of any SU sports team. When factoring in that team practice begins a week into the fall semester in September, and the PSAC Championships do not occur until mid-February, the swimmers endure a rigorous schedule of both training and competition.
 
This weekend, being the first open "tournament" meet of the year and being held in a top-notch facility, has the Raiders eager to go out and compete.
 
"Our team is just so excited that this is here," Verge said. "Obviously, I think we are capable of swimming really well. But they have to go out and swim the races. As simple as that sounds, that is what it comes to."
 
In the past, it has not been out of the question for school records to be set at the Patriot Invitational – as several SU swimmers have done so in years past. But in order to have that success, SU must be able to perform against Division I competition this weekend and be ready to race to reach the finals sessions each night.
 
"While it is nice that we've had success there in the past, this is a new year," Verge said. "We need to be confident on what we've done this fall and enjoy the experience – go and have fun. This team has high expectations for themselves as they should. Thursday will be here soon."
 
Updates throughout the weekend will be available on Twitter (@ShipURaiders), with recaps posted each night on shipraiders.com.