Four Collegiate Club Divisions Begin 2009 Season This Weekend

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Teams in the Big Ten, Florida, Texas and Southwest Divisions will begin Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) divisional play this weekend at Purdue University, University of Miami (Fla.), University of Texas and University of New Mexico, respectively, on September 12-13.

In the Texas Division, 16-games willl be contested between Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas "A", Rice University, University of Texas "B", University of Houston, Baylor University and Texas State University as each of the teams will look to build an early lead in the division standings before continuing the season on October 3-4 at Texas A&M and October 24-25 at the division championship on the campus of Houston.

Just North and to the West, the Southwest Division of University of Arizona "B", Northern Arizona University, Arizona State University "A", University of New Mexico, Arizona State University "B" and University of Arizona "A" will clash in a 10-game tournament.  The division schedule will continue after this weekend at Arizona on October 10-11 before wrapping up division play at the Southwest Championship on October 24-25 at Arizona State.

Across the nation in the Sunshine State, University of Miami, Florida State University, University of Florida "A", Florida International University, University of Central Florida and University of Florida "B" will convene at Miami's Center Pool for an 11-contest event.  Following Miami, the schedule will restart on October 3-4 at Florida State before concluding with the division championship on October 31-November 1 at Cocoa at Brevard Community College YMCA in Cocoa, Fla.

The biggest change of the new season occurs in West Lafayette, Ind. as Purdue University hosts the first Big Ten Division event under the auspices of the Collegiate Water Polo Association.  The Big Ten, which operated independent of the CWPA prior to this year but competed at the National Collegiate Club Championship, will see University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Michigan, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin, University of Iowa and defending national champion Michigan State University duke it out for the early season lead in the division.  Following this weekend, the Big Ten schedule resumes on September 26-27 at Iowa before concluding on October 24-25 at Wisconsin with the division championship tournament.

The titleists of each division will advance to the National Collegiate Club Championship on November 13-15 at the University of Florida.  In the Florida Division, if the host Gators win the championship, the runner-up from the division will advance to the field in addition to Florida.  However, if another team wins the championship, then Florida will advance to the field as the host team.