US Masters Swimming Helps Create New NGB for College Club Swimming

Today, US Masters Swimming (USMS) revealed a new partnership with College Club Swimming, the freshly-minted successor to Collegiate Club Swimming, which previously served as the de facto national governing body of college swim clubs in the United States.

If you’re unfamiliar with college swim clubs, consider this: Haven’t you ever wondered what swimmers who don’t choose to swim in college do after high school? Do they just become NARPs (Non-Athlete Regular People)? Do they take up lap swimming? Or do some, after an unspecified length of time, eventually join a masters team?

While all are possibilities for those who elect not to pursue the path of the varsity college athlete, there is also another option, frequently overlooked by the rest of the swimming community: enter the college club team.

Realizing the growing popularity and potential of college club teams, USMS partnered with the former Collegiate Club Swimming to provide the missing infrastructure and organization that had long stifled the swimmers and teams involved.

In a newsletter released today, USMS CEO Dawson Hughes stated: “USMS is excited to help unify and strengthen CCS. We saw an opportunity to help grow the sport of swimming at the college level and promote the health and fitness benefits of swimming as a lifelong endeavor. The parallels between College Club Swimming and Masters Swimming make this a great partnership. We look forward to its continued growth.

To bring CCS up to speed and broaden its appeal to unregistered college club teams, USMS will provide club and swimmer registration tools, a club lookup tool, a calendar of events, and an individual swimmer results database. Essentially, USMS will equip CCS with all of the same tools it currently provides to its own members.

Jayden Howell, a CCS swimmer from Utah State and member of the CCS Advisory Board, sees the benefits of the USMS partnership stretching beyond college: “Many college club programs are excited about partnering with USMS–an organization that understands our love of swimming for fun, health, fitness, and competition. Masters swimmers are much like us, and it’s great to know that USMS is there for us to continue our sport long after college is over.”

To join CCS an athlete must meet two requirements:

  • Is a member in good standing with a CCS club affiliated with a university or college.
  • Is affiliated with the university as a full-time or part-time undergraduate or graduate student in the current academic term, a full-time co-op/intern student or faculty and staff in the current term.

CCS will elect a new Advisory Board–the second in its history–this spring. The freshly-minted NGB kicked off its first official season in August of 2017 and has already sanctioned dozens of meets throughout the country. The season will culminate with a National Championships in April, hosted by the Georgia Tech Swim Club.

For those of you eager to compare times with CCS swimmers, below are the marks it took to win at the 2017 Collegiate Club Swimming & Diving National Championships (full results here). Last year’s championships, which took place at Georgia Tech, were also sanctioned by USMS.

Club Athlete/Team Women Event Men Athlete/Team Club
University of South Florida Kathryn Brewer 24.19 50 Freestyle 20.41 Kevin Mastracci James Madison Swim Club
Illini Swim Club Melissa Andruzzi 51.76 100 Freestyle 44.79 Justin Kaisrlik Florida Club Swim & Dive
University of North Carolina Julianna Prim 1:54.75 200 Freestyle 1:40.71 Gerard Rodriguez Lopez Swim Club at UVA
UC Club Swim-OH Taylor Myszka 5:10.50 500 Freestyle 4:35.74 Ryan Baker Mizzou Swim Club
Auburn University Swim Club Audrey Wright 11:04.92 1000 Freestyle 9:35.89 Ryan Baker Mizzou Swim Club
UGA Swim Club Ali Ramirez 26.76 50 Backstroke 22.98 Henrik Pohlmann Swim Club at UVA
UGA Swim Club Ali Ramirez 58.64 100 Backstroke 49.15 Henrik Pohlmann Swim Club at UVA
University of Colorado, Boulder Alaina Gossett 2:06.66 200 Backstroke 1:48.13 Henrik Pohlmann Swim Club at UVA
Clemson University Taylor Lawson 30.77 50 Breaststroke 25.97 Eric Holden Swim Club at UVA
Illini Swim Club Melissa Andruzzi 1:03.64 100 Breaststroke 56.62 Eric Holden Swim Club at UVA
Illini Swim Club Melissa Andruzzi 2:18.07 200 Breaststroke 2:01.06 Eric Holden Swim Club at UVA
University of South Florida Kathryn Brewer 25.27 50 Butterfly 22.28 Calvin Higdon Ashland University Swim Club-OH
University of South Florida Kathryn Brewer 56.03 100 Butterfly 49.63 Calvin Higdon Ashland University Swim Club-OH
University of North Carolina Julianna Prim 2:08.04 200 Butterfly 1:52.25 Ethan Navarro Swim Club at UVA
Club Swimming at Ohio State Catherine Cui 59.69 100 IM 50.31 Henrik Pohlmann Swim Club at UVA
Illini Swim Club Melissa Andruzzi 2:05.88 200 IM 1:53.22 Ryan Baker Mizzou Swim Club
University of Colorado, Boulder Gina Blum 4:47.06 400 IM 4:02.35 Ryan Baker Mizzou Swim Club
Club Swimming at Ohio State Club Swimming at Ohio State 1:40.87 200 Freestyle Relay 1:22.18 Florida Club Swim & Dive Florida Club Swim & Dive
Swim Club at UVA Swim Club at UVA 3:39.85 400 Freestyle Relay 3:04.26 Swim Club at UVA Swim Club at UVA
Northeastern University Northeastern University 8:06.63 800 Freestyle Relay 6:50.30 Swim Club at UVA Swim Club at UVA
Club Swimming at Ohio State Ohio State 1:51.42 200 Medley Relay 1:30.98 Swim Club at UVA Swim Club at UVA
Club Swimming at Ohio State Ohio State 4:06.12 400 Medley Relay 3:21.39 Swim Club at UVA Swim Club at UVA
University of Colorado, Boulder Rebecca Jacobs 221.95 1 Meter Diving 288.25 Tanner Bosma Western Michigan University
University of Colorado, Boulder Natalie Brummet 186.45 3 Meter Diving 271.40 Matt Jagiello University of Colorado, Boulder

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Ugiv
6 years ago

As a current CCS I’d like to offer a little more insight into the background of college club swimming: the national meet in the past has had close to 2000 swimmers in attendance and club sizes can range from 10 members to well over 100. Despite having little national recognition there are a lot of teams nationwide. I think the times speak for themselves about the level of the nationals meet. Obviously how each club runs is different, but often clubs are highly democratic with officer elections, etc. I’m excited to see what the greater national structure and governance brings. Hopefully more swimmers see this as an option, especially if they’ve been burned out, missed out on recruiting, or otherwise… Read more »

Esther W
6 years ago

This is a great idea… Way to go, USMS! There should be more opportunities to be with a team and race with less time commitment and intensity. I stopped swimming after freshman year on a college team, and (after a nice long break, lol) I would have enjoyed a college club. Now I swim Masters and it has been great for my health. I’m really enjoying the sport again.

E P
6 years ago

Those are some fast times

Anon
6 years ago

To help these swimmers later transition to USMS, will college club swimmers need to pay USMS dues to also compete in USMS meets? I would suggest that should consider giving them automatic USMS membership in order to foster involvement in USMS meets (in addition to the collegiate club meets) and hope that there is some carryover to Masters Swimming after they graduate.

What was lacking with the governing body for collegiate club swimming that had been established in the last year or two which necessitated a new structure?

urahrah
Reply to  Anon
6 years ago

Recently graduated club swimmer here. We paid USMS dues as well as a few dollars extra for pool time.

Anonymous
Reply to  Anon
6 years ago

There actually wasn’t a previous “collegiate club swimming” governing body. Someone had tried to compile some resources to unify clubs somewhere around 6-10 years ago, but it never went anywhere because said person was the only one with any knowledge about what he was trying to do – there wasn’t a formal organization like CCS. The new structure will continually allow newly elected Advisory Board members to learn from outgoing members, and provides some of the same functionality that swimmers were used to as USA Swimming members – times/results look up – as well as resources that USMS offers – starting a new club, ease of entering meets, insurance coverage, and more.

As for transition to USMS, once CCS can… Read more »

Anon
Reply to  Anonymous
6 years ago

I’ve been a spectator at 2016 NCAAs, 2015 and 2017 ACCs, and the 2015 and 2017 national club championships within the past few years, all at Georgia Tech. While obviously not as fast, the club meet is far and away louder and more fun.

I hope in the future the national meet will be held at least every 2 or 4 years at Georgia Tech. The 1996 Olympic pool thereis such an amazing venue, and holding the meet there has been such a success. And while Atlanta is not exactly centrally located, the Atlanta airport is a major hub that is accessible for much of the country and 3 interstates (20, 75, 85) converge within a few miles of the… Read more »

About Reid Carlson

Reid Carlson

Reid Carlson originally hails from Clay Center, Kansas, where he began swimming at age six.  At age 14 he began swimming club year-round and later with his high school team, making state all four years.  He was fortunate enough to draw the attention of Kalamazoo College where he went on to …

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