In the NCAA’s lower divisions, swimming appears to be expanding. Many Division II, Division III, and NAIA programs have been created in the last half-decade, but those same gains are not spilling over to the NCAA’s biggest schools in Division I.
The Indiana State Sycamores, however, have added another feather in the cap for big college athletics, by announcing that it plans to add women’s swimming as an intercollegiate sport beginning in the fall of 2016.
According to the Tribune Star, President Dan Bradley is expected to make the announcement at this week’s Indiana State trustees meeting.
The new program has been spurred on by the construction of a new aquatics center in nearby Voorhees Park in a partnership with the Vigo County School Corp. Indiana State has a verbal agreement, with details still being ironed out, to use the pool for competitions and potentially for practice when available.
Indiana State currently has a a 6-lane, 25-yard indoor pool that is “not certified for competition” according to Athletics’ Director Ron Prettyman.
The new pool found its location in February where they signed a 25-year lease for the cost of just $1. That lease is renewable for two more terms of 25 years after that, and the pool is scheduled to replace aging pools at Terre Haute North, South Vigo, and West Vigo High Schools. The total project budget stands at $9.8 million, and will include one 50 meter x 25 yard pool and seating for 350 people.
Indiana State’s other athletics programs compete in the Missouri Valley Conference, which currently includes women’s programs from Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Evansville, Northern Iowa, and Arkansas-Little Rock
Why don’t they offer a mens team?
AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME! Kuddo’s to ISU. I love the vision. The new aquatic center has the potential to become an epicenter for great swimming in Indiana.
Go Trees!
Kudos to ISU for not adding rowing or field hockey or something else that no one in Indiana participates in. Indiana State has a long tradition of recruiting in-state athletes in other sports. With the strong tradition of high school swimmers in Indiana, they won’t have to look very far to field a quality team.