FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University men's and women's swimming and diving programs will open their 2025-26 season this weekend by hosting the annual Fairfield Invitational at the RecPlex Pool. The Fairfield Invitational starts a regular-season slate that includes meets against 10 schools as well as the Terrier Invitational in November.

Fairfield will welcome Manhattan University, Southern Connecticut State University, and the University of Bridgeport on the men's side while those three schools will join Sacred Heart University on the women's side. The divers will start the event on Friday evening at 6 pm before the swimmers take to the pool on Saturday at 12:00 pm.

The Stags have opened the year by hosting the Fairfield Invitational since the 2018-19 campaign. Last year, the men's and women's teams combined to win 26 events during the two-day competition with the women winning 14 events and the men adding 12 victories to the team total.

Both programs finished the 2024-25 programs with 5-3 overall records in dual meet competition in addition to competing in various Invitationals and Championships throughout the campaign. The season culminated with strong runs at the 2025 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships in which the women's team finished second place in the 12-team field and the men secured third place in the nine-team competition.

This year, both the men's and women's teams were selected first in the 2025-26 MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll with both teams earning first place votes. The men's team collected 74 points, four points better than runner-up Niagara University, while the women's program secured 134 points, three more than second-place Niagara.

Fairfield will spend most of October in its home pool with three home dates on the docket. Following this weekend's Invitational, the Stags will wrap a pair of home dual meets around an away meet, beginning with a date against Bryant University on October 11. The teams will take to the road for the first time on October 18, heading up to Providence College for an 11 am start with the divers. The Stags return home for another dual meet, welcoming Marist University on October 25.

The programs will not return home again until their senior day on January 17 when Iona University will compete against Fairfield.

The Fairfield Invitational and all Stags' home meets will be streamed through LiveBarn while results will be available from SwimNerd.live.