This past October, Lees-McRae College informed its men’s and women’s swimming team that this season would be the program’s last.
That was just the first piece of adversity the Lees-McRae swimmers dealt with last season in what was a series of unprecedented circumstances they managed to overcome.
Lees-McRae is an NCAA Division II school located in Banner Elk, North Carolina, competing in the Conference Carolinas.
Two days after the swimmers learned of the team being cut, Lees-McRae was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, so much so that students had to be evacuated.
Aaron Van Nostrand, who competed with the Bobcats through the 2023-24 season and graduated last May, received word that the program was being eliminated and immediately reached out to the school to see if there was anything he could do to help to ensure the athletes had the best experience possible in their last season with the team.
Despite having limited coaching experience, Van Nostrand was given the reins as the head coach of the team for their last season, and he began working with the swimmers at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, having relocated to the Greensboro area and Guilford College amidst the hurricane.
The swimmers trained in Greensboro for a month before returning to campus, though their home pool was too damaged from the hurricane to be used. Instead, they primarily trained out of nearby Appalachian State and the local YMCA for the rest of the season.
“We swam in six different pools this season, none of which were our own, for practice,” Van Nostrand said. “And they were able to work through all of that, and get through and give themselves a great last season.”
More than half of the team transferred elsewhere after the first semester, leaving just eight swimmers, four men and four women, on the roster for the conference championships.
Despite all the adversity, those eight swimmers combined to break six school records and record 17 total personal bests to close out the season.
The Lees-McRae men’s team scored 262 points at the Conference Carolinas Championships, with all four male swimmers (all seniors) earning at least one ‘A’ final appearance.
Chase Davis was 2nd in the 200 back, 3rd in the 100 back and 7th in the 200 free, Thomas Ware was 3rd in the 1000 free and 1650 free and took 5th in the 500 free, and Nathan Higdon took 4th in the 100 breast, 200 breast and added a 7th-place finish in the 200 IM. Additionally, Stephen Bandy claimed an 8th-place finish in the 100 back.
In the men’s relays, Lees-McRae was 3rd in the 200 medley and 4th in the 400 medley.
On the women’s side, senior Taylor Simmons led the way with a pair of 8th-place finishes in the 1000 and 1650 free.
“They really came through,” Van Nostrand said of his swimmers. “They were able to manage what ultimately was an unprecedented circumstance with that hurricane hitting, and really powered through, obviously, the program being cut is not my deal, but it happened. The hurricane combined with that. Every chance they could, they powered through.
“It was a story of perseverance. It was nonstop perseverance.”
In addition to the five senior swimmers graduating, Van Nostrand said the remaining three swimmers who finished out the season will stay at Lees-McRae without swimming.
At the 2024 Conference Carolinas, the Lees-McRae men finished 3rd in the team standings (out of seven teams), while the women were 7th (out of seven teams) before both took 7th in 2025 with just eight swimmers combined.
SwimSwam has reached out to Lees-McRae for the reasoning behind the program cut.
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