It has been a long, dark summer for collegiate swimming in the state of New York, with the state losing yet another varsity swimming program this week when SUNY Cobleskill announced that they were closing their pool and discontinuing their men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams.
“We couldn’t make the financially responsible decision to invest in the long-term repairs required to repair and maintain the pool,” the school’s Director of Athletics, Sport, and Exercise Marie C. Curran-Headley said in an email to stakeholders.
SUNY Colbeskill, one of 64 schools in the State University of New York system, is an NCAA Division III school.
The school did not field a varsity swimming & diving program last season after the pool was closed in August 2022 for “critical repairs.” The school says that last summer, the main water line to the pool fractured, and an emergency repair was completed. This event revealed other mechanical and structural issues within and around the pool. Due to these issues, the pool was drained so that a full assessment of the facility could be conducted.
Curran-Headley says that she explored alternative options for the team to train and compete, but ultimately had to suspend last season.
“The safety of our student-athletes and community members who use the pool always comes first, and we will work as fast as we can to address the issues with our facility and reopen the pool for use as soon as we can,” said SUNY Cobleskill Athletic Director Marie Curran-Headley. “It was our hope that we could find alternative means to have our Men’s and Women’s swim teams continue practicing and competing this year, but, unfortunately, we’ve exhausted all options in this regard and will have to temporarily suspend team activities until our pool is back online.”
The school’s 2021-2022 roster lists four men and six women. The women’s team placed 5th out of 5 teams at the 2022 North Atlantic Conference Swimming & Diving Championship, while the men placed 3rd out of 4 teams.
SUNY Colbeskill, like the SUNY system as a whole, has seen a decline in enrollment in recent years. The school lists a full-time degree-seeking enrollment of 2,289 for 2017, which was already declining pre-COVID-19. The pandemic accelerated the decline, and the fall 2022 degree-seeking enrollment was 1,786, which is an almost-22% decline from five years earlier.
SUNY Cobleskill becomes the sixth New York school to lose an NCAA Swimming and Diving Program in 2023.
Medaille University, Cazenovia College, Buffalo State, St. Francis, and Utica University are the other schools losing their programs. Medaille and Cazenovia have shut down as colleges entirely, citing enrollment challenges. All of these programs were Division III, except St. Francis which was Division I.
To be fair, Cazenovia College didn’t just cut its swim program – the entire college closed down. I’m not sure if that warrants them being included in this discussion.
Medaille too
100% a front for getting rid of swimming!