San Diego State's first Pac-12 swimming and diving season will begin across town and end its conference phase in familiar water. The Aztecs released their 2026-27 schedule Friday, opening with the annual pentathlon at the University of San Diego on Sept. 18 and traveling to Houston for the revived Pac-12 Championships from Feb. 24 through 27.
The opening month stays local. SDSU returns to the USD Sports Center on Oct. 2 for a dual meet with the Toreros, with both September and October competitions scheduled for 1 p.m. The team then leaves San Diego for five consecutive events: a sprint meet at Pepperdine, the Fresno State Invitational, California Baptist's Rick Rowland Joust and separate November trips for swimmers and divers.
The swimmers go back to St. George for the Utah Tech Trailblazer Invitational from Nov. 18 through 21. SDSU won that meet in its first appearance last season, collecting nine event titles and 22 top-three finishes. The divers head to Flagstaff during the same week for Northern Arizona's first Lumberjack Invitational, beginning a schedule that sends them to that pool three times.
Home competition arrives Dec. 18 against Cal State Bakersfield. The date ends a three-month stretch without an Aquaplex meet and starts a heavily local middle section. Seven of the Aztecs' nine January meets are at home, compressing much of the regular-season evaluation into one campus and one month.
That January run begins with a Jan. 4 quad meet against Alaska Fairbanks, Colorado College, New Mexico and Puget Sound. Pepperdine and Utah Tech visit for a swimmers-only double dual Jan. 8. The next morning brings Fresno State, Nevada and UC Santa Barbara for the Aztec Invitational, followed by a same-day head-to-head scrimmage with Fresno State.
The split between swimming and diving becomes more pronounced around those home dates. Divers compete at UCLA's Bruin Invitational from Jan. 8 through 10 while swimmers remain in San Diego. Both groups reunite Jan. 16 for a double dual against Grand Canyon and California Baptist in Phoenix, but the divers return to Flagstaff for another Lumberjack Invitational at the end of the month.
Houston carries continuity inside a conference change. SDSU has competed there in a conference championship for four straight seasons, and the venue remains the CRWC Natatorium as the Pac-12 restarts its meet. The field includes former Mountain West opponents Colorado State, Fresno State and Washington State, plus swimming-and-diving affiliate California Baptist. Familiar rivals reduce one variable; the conference standard still has to be established in the pool.
The Aztecs enter that transition after five consecutive Mountain West titles and 10 conference championships since 2010-11. They return 20 letterwinners, including Alli Mann, Alyssa Schiller and Kaydence Bispo, who combined for 18 all-conference honors last season. SDSU's schedule now gives that experienced core two clear assignments: manage an extended road opening, then turn a dense January at home into preparation for a new league meet. Postseason qualification remains individual after the conference meet. Divers are scheduled back at Northern Arizona for the NCAA Zone E Championships from March 8 through 10, and national qualifiers advance to Austin for the NCAA Championships March 17-20. That path makes the repeated Flagstaff trips more than travel repetition: the regular-season visits offer the divers advance work in the pool that will decide NCAA places.