In what had become one of the worst-kept secrets in swimming, the Sun Belt Conference has finally confirmed that it will sponsor a women’s swimming & diving championship in the 2023-2024 season.
The Sun Belt Conference will host a conference championship in 2024. The event is set for February 14-17 at the Rosen Aquatics Center in Orlando, Fla.
“After adding men’s soccer and beach volleyball during the 2022-23 season, we are excited to once again expand our conference sport sponsorship with the return of Sun Belt women’s swimming & diving,” said Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill. “We look forward to providing an enhanced conference championship experience for these programs under the Sun Belt Conference umbrella at the Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center in 2024.”
The conference has been mulling the reignition of its swimming & diving offerings since James Madison joined the conference in July 2022. The Dukes are the 4th of the conference’s program to sponsor women’s swimming & diving, and will join Georgia Southern, Marshall, and Old Dominion in the conference.
The Sun Belt previously sponsored women’s swimming and diving from 2001 through 2013. During that time, at least two athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships each year, with 8 CSCAA All-America awards, four top 25 team finishes, and more than 30 athletes qualified for the national championship meet.
The conference stopped sponsoring a swimming championship in 2013, when the conference saw a big shakeup that included the departure of swimming & diving sponsors FIU, Florida Atlantic, and North Texas. Denver, which also has a varsity swimming & diving program, left a year earlier in 2012, and Western Kentucky, which at the time sponsored a swimming & diving program, left a year later.
All-Time Sun Belt Conference Team Champions:
- 2001 – Western Kentucky
- 2002 – Western Kentucky
- 2003 – Western Kentucky
- 2004 – Western Kentucky
- 2005 – Western Kentucky
- 2006 – Florida Atlantic
- 2007 – Florida Atlantic
- 2008 – Western Kentucky
- 2009 – Western Kentucky
- 2010 – Western Kentucky
- 2011 – Denver
- 2012 – Denver
- 2013 – Western Kentucky
None of the four schools that won Sun Belt conference titles in women’s swimming & diving are still members of the conference. Western Kentucky, the conference’s most-dominant program, cut its team in 2015 after issues with hazing.
The Sun Belt has historically had ties with the swimming and beach volleyball-focused CCSA, where James Madison, Georgia Southern, and Old Dominion competed last season. The Sun Belt has been pulling its teams back, though – they also launched a beach volleyball championship last year.
2023-2024 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Institutions:
Georgia Southern
Location: Statesboro, Ga.
First Season of Women’s Swimming and Diving: 2008
Previous Conference Affiliations: CCSA (2008-2023)
Head Coach: Allyson Sweeney (Second Year)
James Madison
Location: Harrisonburg, Va.
First Season of Women’s Swimming and Diving: 1966
Conference Championships: 12 (1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2012, 2019, 2019, 2020, 2021) CAA, (2022) ECAC
Previous Conference Affiliations: CAA (1986-2021), ECAC (2022), CCSA (2023)
Head Coach: Dane Pederson (Tenth Season)
Marshall
Location: Huntington, W.Va.
First Season of Women’s Swimming and Diving: 2003
Previous Conference Affiliations: MAC (2003-2005), C-USA (2006-2022), MVC (2023)
Head Coach: Ian Walsh (Sixth Season)
Old Dominion
Location: Norfolk, Va.
First Season of Women’s Swimming and Diving: 1984
Conference Championships: One (1998, CAA)
Previous Conference Affiliations: CAA (1992-2013), C-USA (2014-2022), CCSA (2023)
Head Coach: Jess Livsey (Fifth Season)
Where are they coming from?
- James Madison came from the CAA, where they were barred from competing at the 2021-2022 conference championship meet after accepting an invite to the Sun Belt. In the absence of a traditional conference championship, the Dukes used the ECAC metaconference as their championship in 2022, where they won the title against a field made up largely of partial rosters. In 2023, they finished 2nd in the CCSA, 102.5 points behind Liberty.
- Georgia Southern has been competing in the CCSA since its formation in 2007-2008. While the last four championships have seen them finish 8th-6th-6th-7th from 2020 through 2023, respectively, the Eagles were consistently a 3rd and 4th place finisher for most of that history.
- Old Dominion spent just one season in the CCSA after leaving the CAA, placing 8th in 2023. Tara Enneking was the top performer, placing 2nd in the 200 IM.
- Marshall spent one season as an affiliate member of the Missouri Valley Conference for women’s swimming and diving, finishing 6th out of 10 teams. That result was highlighted by a 3rd place finish in the 400 medley relay.
The CCSA Becomes the ASUN
With all of the changes, the swimming & diving portion of the CCSA will become administered by the ASUN, which is a traditional conference. This move has not yet been announced yet.
Women’s teams in the ASUN
- Bellarmine
- FGCU
- Gardner-Webb
- Liberty
- UNC Asheville
- North Florida
- Queens
Men’s teams in the ASUN
- Bellarmine
- Florida Atlantic
- Gardner-Webb
- Old Dominion
- Queens
- SMU
SMU men’s swimming joins the usual CCSA crew in the ASUN after a few years spent with Cincinnati as a dual-meet conference championship in the American. Cincinnati is joining the Big 12, so SMU needed a home for its men’s team.
The Mustangs have been part of big conference realignment rumors thanks to a generous donor base that is willing to close the gap for their admission to one of the Power 4 conferences, but so far nothing has been closed. The SMU men may be transient in the ASUN for now.
Other offseason moves include Campbell’s women leaving for the CAA, and Florida Atlantic’s men leaving for the American.
Liberty, winners of the last four conference team championships, has joined Conference USA, which had a conference championship meet until 2022. Conference USA partners with the CCSA on beach volleyball, though, and so far seems content to do the same on swimming & diving.
With most of these schools in continued states of flux as to conference affiliations and the desire to move up the collegiate ladder, both conferences will probably see more changes in the next few years.
May have missed it, but where is FAU going to compete for Men’s and Women’s Swim and Dive if they’re moving to the American? Since SMU left, would they be all along there for specifically their men?
Men are going to the ASUN with SMU (see the list).
SMU women are still competing in the American, which has enough teams for a conference championship meet still.