The Longhorns are set to start the season with a bang as they head to Mansfield for the Southwest Collegiate Plunge.

The Plunge is a two-day event that features many competitive teams in the Southwest region including Texas, Missouri, SMU and Texas A&M. The Longhorns have dominated this event in the past, as they go into Friday’s meet as two-time defending champions.

Coming into this season, the Longhorns are extremely motivated as last season ended with a bittersweet second-place finish at the National Championships.

The Longhorns boast a talented freshmen class and return a more than adequate squad of upperclassmen, including nine all-Americans and two national champions.

“I think we will have a pretty good team,” said senior swimmer Eric Friedland. “As long as all of our classes do what they need to do, we will be successful.”

Motivation and familiarity should prove more than enough to provide the Longhorns with a bit of early success in the first meet of 2011-2012.

“I’d hope we win all of our meets,” said junior swimmer Madison Gibson. “We lost a few meets last year, but we look to be really good either way.”