The University of Pittsburgh Johnstown (colloquially known as Pitt-Johnstown) has announced the addition of men’s and women’s swimming programs and women’s wrestling at the NCAA Division II level. The school will not immediately be adding diving programs to complement their swimmers.
All three programs have begun recruiting and will be “looking to field a team for competition as early as Fall 2025.”
The school has framed the additions as a way to boost enrollment and chase “competitive excellence.”
“We are thrilled by this historic addition of Women’s Wrestling and Men’s and Women’s Swimming to our athletic programs, which already includes several championship teams in our conference. We are highly confident that these new sports will elevate an already outstanding athletic program, making Pitt-Johnstown an even more compelling destination for prospective students, thereby helping to increase our in-state and out-of-state enrollments,” stated Pitt-Johnstown President Jem Spectar.
The school, founded in 1927, is located about 75 miles east of Pittsburgh. The school has a current undergraduate enrollment of 1,994 according to federal data. That is a decrease of almost 500 from the 2019-2020 academic year, where the school listed 2,462 undergraduates, though it is a slight uptick from the 2023-2024 academic year.
Of that enrollment, the majority (about 57%) are men – basically a flip of the national average which shows 57% of American college students as women. With no football team, that makes Pitt-Johnstown the rare school that boasts more men’s programs than women’s, though these new additions will bring them up to 7 men’s and 7 women’s program.
The 2023-2024 NFHS survey shows that 10,140 boys and 10,470 girls participate in high school swimming & diving in the state of Pennsylvania.
From the press release, the school explains the addition of swimming teams as both a product of regional interest, participation in a large swimming conference, and the ability to use it as a vehicle for community engagement:
Swimming, another growing sport in our athletic conference and region, is also a popular choice for high school students looking to continue their athletic career at the collegiate level. The Pitt-Johnstown Admissions Office receives many inquiries each year about the sport of swimming from potential student-athletes, and its addition is already earning praise from potential recruits and the swimming community. Pitt Johnstown will be joining approximately 100 NCAA Division II schools who sponsor Women’s Swimming, and 60 who sponsor Men’s Swimming – this includes twelve PSAC institutions who sponsor Women’s Swimming and seven that sponsor Men’s Swimming. The addition of both swimming programs will open opportunities for more student-athletes to call our campus home.
“The addition of Swimming, a very popular sport, also leverages key strengths, including the recently renovated Zamias Aquatic Center and UPJ’s history for hosting high school swim meets on our campus,” stated Abby Gearhart, Pitt Johnstown’s Director of Athletics. “The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is one of the strongest conferences for swimming which makes it a perfect fit. We also look to grow the sport of swimming by adding various programs for the community to partake in.”
Two main reasons were cited for the addition of wrestling: its addition as a new NCAA Championship sport, and the school’s long history in men’s wrestling. The school won the NCAA Division II National Championships in men’s wrestling in both 1996 and 1999 and has continued its success in recent years.
The PSAC currently has 12 women’s swimming & diving programs and 8 men’s swimming and diving programs, all from the state of Pennsylvania. West Chester University won both the women’s and men’s titles in February at the Graham Aquatics Center in York.
New Head Coach Already Hired
Kile Zeller has been named the swimming program’s new head coach after spending three seasons as an assistant at Division I Saint Francis University – which recently announced that it will drop to D3 for athletics in coming seasons.
Prior to that, he spent 23 seasons as a USA Swimming coach, which includes building a successful swim lessons business – a skill that should lend itself well to Pitt-Johnstown’s community programs.
Zeller coached with several clubs during his career, including the Smoky Mountain Aquatic Club, South Carolina Swimming Club, and Chattahoochee Gold Swim Club – a nationally-recognized program where he was one of the team’s first swimmers at age 15, and later returned as a coach.
He also spent time working in the South Carolina Swimming LSC as the Development Director.
Zeller swam collegiately at Florida State where he was one of the program’s top backstrokers.
Facility
Zamias Aquatics Center on Pitt-Johnstown Campus (Courtesy: Pitt-Johnstown)
Pitt-Johnstown is home to the Zamias Aquatic Center, which features a brightly-lit, 6-lane, 25-yard pool. It also has its own weight room. The pool is located at the south end of the school’s 650 acre campus.
The pool is already home to a number of community programs, including SCUBA instruction.
The pool was originally due to open in 1988, but an explosion that killed two workmen and injured several others delayed the opening until 1990.
This changes everything. This will be a pool where champions are made.
Fantastic that they’re adding Swimming! There will now be 9 men’s teams in the PSAC not 8.
Isn’t this the same town that had a notable flood in the 1800s
It is! There’s a really great museum about it in the old Carnegie library.
Also had big floods in the 30s and the 70s.
Fuzzy Zeller is absolutely the highlight of this article and new program. Congrats Kile! Those athletes are gonna have a blast!
Recruits that want to practice at a haunted pool – this is your spot!
Haunted pool? Do tell!
Tell me you didn’t read the whole article without telling me you didn’t read the whole article.
Heck yeah, H2P!