This op-ed is courtesy of Katherine Vanbourgondien, a former collegiate swimmer at William & Mary who is the director of 100 Days, a documentary about the fight to save the Cal Poly swim and dive program.
As a former Division I swimmer, I never imagined that my swim team could simply disappear.
In 2020, my team at William & Mary was cut. Overnight, a program with decades of history was gone. While our team was ultimately reinstated, the experience opened my eyes to a reality facing athletes across the country: there is no guaranteed safety with non-revenue-generating sports.
Now, that reality became even more clear with the settlement of House v. NCAA.
That’s what led me to want to produce and direct 100 Days, a documentary about the fight to save the Cal Poly swim and dive team that started on March 7th, 2025.
Hundreds of college sports programs have already been cut, and thousands more athletes face an uncertain future. 100 Days tells the story of the Cal Poly swim and dive team who had less than a hundred days to raise $25 million to save its program. Through the eyes of head coach Kim Carlson, we follow a journey that begins with building a successful team and ends with a desperate fight to keep it alive.
As Kim retraces those pivotal months, we hear from swimmers who once called Cal Poly’s pool home and learn how a program that produced conference champions, record holders, and Olympic Trials qualifiers found itself fighting for survival.
Despite raising millions of dollars and rallying a passionate community of alumni, parents, and supporters, the team ultimately fell short of the goal it was given. Cal Poly’s swim and dive program was cut, leaving behind an empty pool and countless unanswered questions.
But Cal Poly is not an isolated case.
Its story represents a growing crisis affecting college athletics across the country. Non-revenue sports such as swimming, track and field, gymnastics, tennis, and many others are increasingly vulnerable as schools navigate mounting financial pressures and a new era of athlete compensation.
This is why we are making 100 Days.
The film is not just about swimming. It is about what happens when people are forced to fight for something they love. It is about athletes who dedicate years of their lives to a sport, coaches who build programs from the ground up, and communities that refuse to let those opportunities disappear without a fight.
Most importantly, it is about bringing awareness to an issue that many people still do not fully see. The future of non-revenue sports is being decided right now. By telling Kim’s story, we hope to spark a broader conversation about what college athletics should look like for the next generation.
Because if programs can disappear overnight, the question is no longer whether this can happen. The question is where it happens next.
If you are interesting in supporting this film please check us out at 100 Days – Film and Storytelling | Seed&Spark or at our Instagram @lane.eight.productions.
I think the Cal Poly story is the entry point, given it was the first team cut citing House vs NCAA settlement as the reason. Since then, so many more teams – swimming, tennis, etc. – have been cut, while NIL deals for football and men’s basketball are in the multi-millions.
I think it’s amazing that this grad student, a former swimmer herself who went through something similar, is choosing this topic for her thesis project. If you’re following everything that’s still happening federally, with House v NCAA objections and appeals and a Congress’s so-far unsuccessful attempts to come up with legislation to “save college sports”, her topic is timely and an important story to share.
Kudos to… Read more »
Started back in 2021-22 when AD told more than one parent and staff that all swimmers are “coddled & spoiled” and that he didn’t care for the swim team. When his friend/coach was forced out it then appeared to turn into retribution for him. From there on out it sure felt like he was looking for a way to cancel the team and he did it on his way out of the door too…
Absolutely. And now this story “through Kim’s eyes” is going to distort the truth even more. She had been brought in as a desperation measure to fill a hole to keep the program afloat one more year. But as it turns out, she violated so many NCAA regulations that Cal Poly admin said she would have been suspended if the program were to continue. And if the truth had gotten out, she certainly wouldn’t be coaching now. So, if she’s not producing this piece, then those who are should check the facts and talk to Traci Granger, the CO-head coach, who brought her in.
Too bad they aren’t digging deeper than Kim because the situation started long before she got there.
I think she’s producing it.
I wonder if she’s going to bring up what happened in Vegas? IDK that the program wasn’t going to be cut anyway, but that whole incident sure made it an easy call. I don’t think you can really tell this story without talking about Vegas.
Well, if that’s the case, it’s going to be a complete distortion of reality.
So impressive. What a great idea for a thesis project. I will be donating to help bring awareness!