Walsh University, an NCAA Division II school in North Canton, Ohio, has announced the addition of men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs, set to begin competition in the 2026-2027 academic year. These additions bring the school up to 25 NCAA sports and 28 athletics programs overall, making it one of the most robust varsity athletics programs in the country.
The school has taken an aggressive approach to integrating athletics into its campus life. According to federal data, 596 out of its 1,211 undergraduate population are student athletes, equating to approximately 53%.
The school says that it is driving toward offering 30 sports by 2030 as part of its “30 by 30” initiative.
“Adding swimming and diving is a forward-thinking investment in our students’ futures,” said Christina Paone, Vice President for Athletics and Athletic Director. “Through sport, our scholar-athletes learn to lead with integrity, adapt to adversity, and work collaboratively—skills that last a lifetime and set them apart in the workforce. Our mission is to develop servant leaders, and athletics is one of our most powerful tools.”
The teams will compete in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), which partners with the school’s traditional conference the Mountain East in swimming & diving.
While the school doesn’t have an on campus aquatic center, the famed C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton is less than 5 miles away. That pool hosted the 2025 G-MAC/Mountain East Swimming & Diving Championship; Findlay won the women’s meet by more than 550 points, while the Findlay men also won, though by a smaller margin. Last season, the conference had 10 women’s programs and nine men’s programs.
Walsh University is a private Catholic university with full-time yearly tuition of $35,600 for the 2025-2026 school year. Founded in 1961 as LeMannais College, The school transitioned from NAIA to NCAA Division II athletics in 2013. The school bucks the trend of small private schools in seeing growth in recent years: the fall 2024 enrollment class of 508 “traditional undergraduate students” was the school’s highest total since 2014, and included a school record 128 transfer students.
