The NIU women’s swim team will experience a change of scenery, as it journeys to the palm trees and outdoor pools of California Jan. 9-10.

The swimmers will compete in the University of California-Irvine Invitational, the first of their three swim meets over Christmas break.

Women’s coach Mike Burt said he scheduled the meet because he wants to see how NIU’s squad ranks with the rest of the country. He also wants the team to swim over break because it gets to be a long time for them to sit in DeKalb for a month as they did last year.

“It’s a chance to see some people and schools we will never meet during the school year, and we get to see how well we can fare against them,” Burt said. “It also helps recruiting.”

The meet will host approximately 15 schools, one of which is the University of Southern California—one of the top five schools in the country. Burt does not have high expectations for NIU placing in the top slots, because the meet falls at the time when the swimmers are doing their most intensive training.

“It’s more important not to let up on training right now,” Burt said. “They (NIU) will be very tired, and very run down for the meet. My expectations are that they will swim close to some of their best times from the season, but not any better.”

Burt is pulling for the team to place in the top one-half. Everyone is expected to swim to her maximum, with each individual competing in eight to 10 events for the meet.

Following the California trip, NIU will attempt a home repeat of last season’s victory at Notre Dame, in a coed dual meet at 5 p.m. Jan. 15 in Anderson Hall Pool. Burt said he feels last year’s 139-130 NIU win over the Fighting Irish was a little closer than he expected it would be, but he feels the team can pull it off again.

“Notre Dame has twice as many swimmers as we do, but I believe we are a better team,” Burt said.

One day after the Notre Dame meet, the team will be back on the road for a dual meet with Illinois State. ISU was the championship team in the Midwest Invitational Championships last year, and Burt said the Huskies were beaten fairly easy by the Cardinals last season.

“If we can beat them (ISU), we have a good shot of going on to the championships at the end of the year,” Burt said.