Conference Carolinas Adds Five Swimming Associate Members For 2026-27

Conference Carolinas has announced the addition of five men’s and women’s swimming associate members beginning in the 2026-27 season.

The NCAA Division II conference will add Carson-Newman University, Catawba College, Mars Hill University, Lenoir-Rhyne University and Wingate University next season, bringing the total up to 12 women’s swim teams and 11 men’s in the conference.

Mars Hill and Wingate already compete in Conference Carolinas in acrobatics & tumbling and women’s flag football.

All five schools are currently members of the South Atlantic Conference, which only had six teams compete at its conference swimming & diving championships last season. The 2026 South Atlantic Conference Swimming Championships are scheduled to run from Feb. 4-7, but based on this recent announcement, it seems likely that it’s the last one.

The lone South Atlantic Conference school with a swim team that isn’t joining the Conference Carolinas is Emory & Henry.

“We are thrilled to welcome five new institutions as associate members to grow our men’s and women’s swimming membership,” commissioner Chris Colvin said.

“The addition of these institutions provide stability and strength to the conference’s sponsorship of men’s and women’s swimming. We are excited to continue partnering with Wingate and Mars Hill and look forward to adding Carson-Newman, Catawba, and Lenoir-Rhyne to our large number of associate members.

Conference Carolinas schools that currently sponsor men’s and women’s swimming are Barton College, Chowan University, Converse University, Emmanuel University, and King University. UNC Pembroke sponsors women’s swimming. The University of Montevallo is an associate member in both men’s and women’s swimming.

At the 2025 Conference Carolinas Championships, the UNC Pembroke women and Emmanuel University men were victorious, both defending their titles from 2024.

Based on times produced so far in the 2025-26 season, a theoretical Conference Carolinas championship meet with the new members added in would see Wingate emerge as the frontrunners for both men and women, while Catawba would move to 2nd on the women’s side with defending champion UNC Pembroke in 3rd. For the men, Carson-Newman and Catawba would rank 2nd and 3rd behind Wingate, with defending Emmanuel bumped down to 3rd.