Jan. 16, 2009

RICHMOND, Va. - The seven-time defending Atlantic 10 Champion Richmond swimming & diving team heads to Rutgers this weekend for Swimming World Magazine's College Conference Carnival. The meet brings together the powers from four major conferences in the East - Richmond (A-10), Florida (SEC), North Carolina (ACC), and Rutgers (Big East).

Pre-sale tickets are on sale for the meet, which is designed to promote college swimming along the East Coast. It is expected to be a sell-out with two of the nation's Top 25 programs at the meet -- No. 6 Florida and No. 14 North Carolina.

"This is a tremendous event to bring the different conferences together in this format and include a mid-major," said Richmond head coach Matt Barany. "We have a good group of swimmers from New Jersey and I think their families will be excited to watch them race again locally. There will be some events where we will set the standard, and there are some events where we will be the students. In both cases, it will be an important weekend as we attempt to win the school's eighth-consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship in February."

The meet will be streamed live and will also be available on demand at: www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/CollegeConferenceCarnival2009/ with competition beginning each evening at 6:30 pm (EST).

The highly competitive field features four of the top teams from four of the country's best conferences. Last season, Florida finished second in the SEC, North Carolina placed second in the ACC and Richmond captured the Atlantic 10 crown.

All proceeds from the event will benefit the Frank Elm Endowed Scholarship at Rutgers University. Elm was the head swimming and diving coach at Rutgers from 1961-1993, where he was a driving force in the construction of the Rutgers Aquatic Center.

The four teams will each compete with squads of 11 swimmers in 12 events in an "A Finals Only" format. Each swimmer may swim two individual events and one relay per night, and there will be a swimmer representing each program in all of the final heats.

The meet will take on an NCAA Championship atmosphere, with the competition pool being arranged in the center of the RU Aquatic Center. In addition, music will be played as the athletes parade out for each of the "A Finals" and each athlete will emerge from behind banners representing their specific conference.