2021 NCAA MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Wednesday, March 24 – Saturday, March 27, 2021
- Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
- Prelims 10 AM/ Finals 6 PM (Local Time)
- Short course yards (SCY) format
- Defending champion: Cal (1x) – 2019 results
- Streaming:
- Championship Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
Will Myhre, the lone swimmer competing at NCAAs for the Iowa men, scratched the meet after testing positive for COVID-19. Iowa is set to eliminate its men’s swimming & diving program after this season.
Iowa announced the news in a press release today. Myhre’s first event would have been the 100 breaststroke this morning, but he did not compete. He was the 14th seed, and his time of 51.70 actually would have made the A final this morning. Myhre was also entered in tomorrow’s 200 breast, but will not compete in the meet.
Women’s NCAAs had zero confirmed positive tests for the novel 2019 coronavirus, and until today, there were no confirmed positive COVID tests at the men’s meet, either. Myhre was the only full-meet scratch from either meet that didn’t have a non-COVID-related explanation given.
Iowa announced last year that it would be eliminating its men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs after this season. While the women’s program has been reinstated as of last month, the men’s program remains set for elimination after the season, which officially ends with Myhre’s scratch. Some observers say there’s still a chance that Iowa reinstates the men’s program, but there’s been no news as of yet.
Is Swimswam gonna say anything about him transferring to Wisconsin? It’s on his Instagram
What’s fair is fair. Keep men’s & women’s programs, support, and scholarship #s equal by sport. Men should not have their swimming opportunities taken away, so as to “balance” football #s. ADD women’s flag football to each school with football (and split the support / scholarships for those two sports). Get rid of the current insane Title 9 interpretation of mixing all sports together… Our school awarded the first “real” women’s athletic scholarships (in several sports), back in the early 70s. Our Top-10 guy’s program was thrilled to share the school & the pool with the ladies — and they went on to win Back-To-Back national championships in swimming. Our guy’s team could not have been prouder! Then Title 9… Read more »
I don’t think you’ve thought this through.
If colleges add 85 football scholarships for women, and the ‘other’ funding to go with it, then all swimming & diving programs go away.
HTH.
Thinking around 45 for each football program (Men / Women). They are outdated in “stockpiling” football players… walk-ons are students who’d love to contribute to those football teams, as well.
Football scholarships provide for way more social mobility, on average, than do swimming & diving scholarships.
So, maybe a better answer is to eliminate men’s swimming & diving scholarships, if the goal of college athletics is “net world good.”
If the goal of college athletics is not “net world good,” then 80% of the arguments for college swiming & diving to exist at all in its varsity form evaporate pretty quickly.
Regardless of who you’re cheering for this week, I think we need to all pour one out for Iowa Swim and Dive. When it rains, it pours. Sucks to see this happen to a great IL swimmer, and a solid NCAA program. Will could have had the potential to score this week too, giving Iowa one last All-American or Honorable Mention. Big L for the swimming community.
…other than becoming a very proud parent and husband, Iowa Swimming was clearly the best thing that has happened in my life…I am sincerely sorry to Will Myhre and the current Hawkeye team…You all have earned better than this!
Excellent post Coach Paul!
I’m glad I got to even play a small role for a few years as a volunteer with the program. My days in Iowa City helped me meet so many excellent and generous people affiliated with the Hawkeye swim programs. It’s really sad to see this program end like this……and we need to keep fighting to get it reinstated!
Shakespearean tragedy
Geez, SwimSwam jinxed him with that earlier article on no positive tests.
That’s sad.