Courtesy: Big West
The Big West has announced Grand Canyon men’s and women’s, Seattle University men’s and women’s and the University of San Diego’s women’s programs have accepted invitations to join the conference as affiliate members in swimming and diving beginning with the 2025-26 season.
All three programs will be immediately eligible upon entry to vie for The Big West championships and to represent The Big West in NCAA championships.
GCU and Seattle U previously competed in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), while San Diego was a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF).
GCU posted second-place conference finishes for the men’s and women’s programs a year ago, which was the best combined result in school history. In all, the Lopes set two WAC records and six team records at the conference championship meet.
The Seattle Redhawks set 10 new school records at the 2024 WAC championships en route to a sixth-place finish for the men and an eighth-place finish on the women’s side.
Competing in the 2024 MPSF championships, San Diego’s women’s program turned in 18 lifetime bests and 42 season bests as the Toreros finished ninth overall.
“Since adding men’s and women’s swimming and diving for the 2024-25 season, The Big West has looked for ways to bolster and strengthen our western foothold and overall competitiveness,” Big West Commissioner Dan Butterly noted. “The addition of these five programs is a positive step in strengthening swimming & diving and we welcome these highly competitive programs and their fans into The Big West.”
“GCU is very excited to join The Big West as an affiliate member in swimming and diving,” Grand Canyon Vice President of Athletics Jamie Boggs said. “The Big West has added swimming and diving as a newly sponsored sport and rapidly built it into an ambitious, stable and competitive league. GCU is looking forward to competing for championships in the premier men’s and women’s swimming and diving conference in the West.”
“The University of San Diego is thrilled to be joining The Big West as an affiliate member in Swimming and Diving,” University of San Diego Executive Director of Athletics Kimya Massey noted. “As the industry rapidly changes around us, we are always looking for the best opportunities for our student-athletes to have competitive challenges, both regionally and nationally. Competing in this new championship will allow for both of those opportunities. We are excited for the next chapter for these programs and grateful for this opportunity.”
“Seattle University is thrilled to compete as an affiliate member in The Big West,” Seattle University Director of Athletics Shaney Fink said. “This is a great opportunity for our student-athletes to compete amongst the top talent in the West and participate in a premier conference championship experience.”
These additions of GCU and Seattle U will give The Big West seven competing programs in men’s swimming and diving, joining Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Hawai’i, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. Adding the women’s program at San Diego will bring the total number of Big West women’s swimming and diving programs to nine with UC Davis also competing alongside each program who sponsors the sport on the men’s side.
