A pair of strong mid-major teams will join the swimming-specific Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) in the 2015-2016: the Florida Atlantic Owls and the Old Dominion Monarchs.
Both teams will be eligible to compete in the conference immediately, and will race at the 2016 CCSA Championships that have been confirmed from February 17th-20th at the University of Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium.
That brings the conference up to 8 total members, as they join Gardner-Webb, Howard, Incarnate Word, UMBC, NJIT, and VMI.
While the women’s side of the CCSA has remained relatively stable in the conference’s 8-year history, the men’s side has seen many more programs come-and-go as the state of the men’s side of the sport remains in flux. For example, of the 6 teams that competed at the 2015 CCSA Championships, only two (VMI and Gardner-Webb) competed just two years earlier at the 2013 championships.
Both teams competed at the Conference USA Championship last year, which offered a full-blown women’s championship, but classed the parallel men’s meet the “Conference USA Invitational” with only three participating teams. Last year’s men’s invitational champions Western Kentucky have had their programs suspended for 5 years after hazing accusations, which left just the above two men’s programs left.
While this will orphan the teams from their women’s programs, who remain in Conference USA, it will provide a more competitive conference championship meet.
Both men’s teams should contend for conference championships in the new-look CCSA. For example, Old Dominion’s 400 medley relay swam 3:13.77 at last year’s CUSA invitational, which would have won the CCSA event title by four seconds. Florida Atlantic, meanwhile, has a strong sprint program, and would’ve won the CCSA title in the 200 free relay. The Owls will bring the CCSA’s only returning sub-20 second sprinter to the conference next year, senior Matthieu Burtez, who swam 19.82 last year.
Last year’s CCSA men’s results:
1. UMBC 996
2. Incarnate Word 778
3. Gardner-Webb University 690
4. New Jersey Institute of Technology 292
5. Virginia Military Institute 224
6. Howard University 160
Although it’s unfortunate the men won’t be in the same conference as the women swimmers and other FAU athletic teams, it’s terrific the coaches were basically able to save the men’s swim program at FAU. Although there are many coed private college swim teams in Florida, there are only three state schools in FL with coed swim teams. So this is good news for the men and women swimmers in Florida.
Do you guys think ODU and or FAU are going to be able to make a significant impact on the team race with UMBC and UIW?
Swimfan23 – addressed that toward the end. It’s hard to quantify depth with the small conferences that they’re coming from, but at the top end, they compare very favorably.