For the first time, the Hulbert Aquatic Center and West Fargo, North Dakota, is the site for the Summit League Swimming & Diving Championships presented by the U.S. Air Force Special Warfare. The action begins Thursday and concludes Saturday. Denver is the defending champions on both the men's and women's side. South Dakota has been the runner-up on both sides each of the last two years.
 
Here is what to know ahead of this week's championships:
 
Hello, North Dakota: The Peace Garden State will be the seventh state since the Summit League formed back in 1982 to host the Summit League Championships. True, no Division I North Dakota schools sponsor swimming and diving. This year's participants include Denver, South Dakota State and Eastern Illinois along with the Valparaiso men and Omaha women making five teams on both sides.
 
How to Follow: Live Stats and Live Video are being provided for FREE by the Summit League
 
April Championships: The Summit League Swimming and Diving Championship meet typically takes place in late February, but was moved to April this year due to COVID-19. The NCAA Championship Meet took place back in March with the Texas men and Virginia women claiming crowns. As such, this will be the final competition of 2020-21 for all participants.
 
Defending Champ Denver: Denver's men and women have swept the team race every year since they entered the conference meet in 2014. Before then, Oakland swept the championships for 14 consecutive years starting in 2000.
 
The Denver women have won every swimming event at the championships since 2015. The Denver men had won every swimming event since 2016 until South Dakota's 800-yard freestyle relay team earned gold in 2019. Last year, it was the Coyotes' Jake Leichner who won the 100-yard individual medley for the first non-Denver swimmer to win individually in four years.
 
Coyote Women: USD returns eight all-Summit League performers from a year ago including senior diver Haley Pederson and junior Maddie Lavin. Pederson won the 3-meter competition as a freshman back in 2018 and has been the runner-up the last two years. She also has two bronze medals in the 1-meter. One of her top competitors will be freshman teammate Stella Fairbanks who has won nine diving competitions this season. Lavin placed third in the 200-yard butterfly last year and is the school-record holder in the event with a time of 2:02.91. She enters with the top time in that event and is slated to compete in three others.
 
Also seeking a return to the podium is junior Lucie Anderson who placed third in the 100-yard backstroke last year and was fifth in the 200-yard back. Junior Isabel Fairbanks took bronze in the 100-yard individual medley last year and placed fifth in the 100-yard back. Junior Madilyn Sindelar has earned all-Summit marks as a relay member and is seeking her first individual top-three finish as she is entered in four events. The Coyotes are looking for their first gold medalist in a swimming competition since Shannon Moceri in 2013.
 
Coyote Men: USD returns all but one of its nine all-Summit League honorees from a season ago. Leichner is back to defend his title in the 100 individual medley. He took silver in the event back in 2019. Leichner also earned fifth-place finishes in the 200 IM and 100-yard breaststroke last season. He is the program record holder in all three individual medley events.
 
The Coyotes have four other school record holders seeking their first podiums in individual events. Junior Jacob Won took fifth in both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly last year. Junior Brady Torborg was fifth in the 100-yard backstroke and seventh in the 200 back. Sophomore Zachary Kopp was sixth in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 back. Junior Charlie Bean's top finish is seventh in the 200-yard freestyle in 2019. He will challenge for a top spot in the 50, 100 and 200 this week.
 
As for newcomers, look for freshman Colton Burks and sophomore transfer Aidan Gantenbein in the backstroke. Gantenbein is also a favorite in the 100 fly and freshman teammate Jackson Gurley is expected to score points in the butterfly as well. Also look for freshman Parker Sonnabend in the individual medley and breaststroke.
 
Senior Seth O'Dea and junior Hudson Wilkerson will be featured in the two diving events. Wilkerson took silver in the 3-meter competition in 2019 and was fourth in the 1-meter. He ranks second on the Coyotes' all-time list for both boards. O'Dea was one spot off the podium in the 1-meter a year ago.
 
Showdown Series: Two points are up for grabs in the South Dakota Showdown Series presented by South Dakota Corn and MidcoSN. The Series is an annual competition between South Dakota and South Dakota State. The team that places higher in the final standings will earn a point for their respective side. SDSU currently leads this year's matchup 5.5-4.5 with seven athletic events remaining. USD has won both swimming and diving points in each of the last two years.