35|35 Anniversary Website
This is the 21st installment of a series of 35 moments, milestones, and facts that will be featured throughout the 2013-14 academic year to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
It has been nearly two years since the Great Lakes Valley Conference Council of Presidents formally approved men’s and women’s swimming and diving as the league’s 19th and 20 sponsored sports on June 7, 2012.
It has been nearly two days since Drury University was crowned the first-ever GLVC Champion in both sports.
In the span from the initial agreement on sport sponsorship to the conclusion of Saturday’s four-day GLVC Championships, the league office immersed itself in the sport in an effort to prepare for the inaugural event since, as the old adage goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Over the past few years, swimming and diving was an emerging sport for the conference. A handful of league schools had already sponsored the sport, but since the GLVC had yet to reach the minimum of six teams needed for sport sponsorship at the conference level, those teams were forced to compete elsewhere.
As learned this past week at the inaugural GLVC Championships, something was always missing. The common response – the missing link – was that despite the national success of the programs, the student-athletes were unable to compete for the same conference championship as their peers do in other league sports.
Drury athletic director Pat Atwell confirmed that notion.
“Our student-athletes can now earn All-Conference, Scholar-Athlete, and all the other league honors that the other student-athletes on campus can, in addition to having the chance to compete in another important meet,” he said. “I think it is great for the team environment. Only a select few qualify for the national championship meet, but many more members of the team can enjoy competing for the GLVC Championship. I also think it gives our swimming and diving student-athletes a sense of unity with our student-athletes on campus.”
Drury and Missouri S&T, which only fields a men’s program, was a member of the New South Intercollegiate Conference, as was Bellarmine, which began its men’s and women’s programs in 2012. Indianapolis and Lewis had been members of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. William Jewell was a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, as was Truman State, which joined the GLVC as a full-time member for the 2013-14 season. When Maryville implemented women’s swimming into its Saints family prior to this year, the numbers aligned to give the GLVC seven current members for each gender.
Suddenly, the traditional basketball powerhouse conference was now one of the top swimming and diving leagues in the country, long before it have hosted its first meet.
The Drury men have captured the last nine NCAA Division II National Championships and a total of 11 since coming on board as a Division II member in 1994, following nine national titles at the NAIA level. The Panthers have won nine NCAA crowns on the women's side and have claimed four out of the last five national titles, including the 2013 crown. In fact, the Drury women have not placed out of the top-three finishers since classifying as a Division II member in 1994.
“Our success is a direct result of great coaching and institutional support,” said Atwell. “(GLVC Women’s Coach of the Year) Brian Reynolds is driven to succeed and not only recruits high level student-athletes, but turns raw talent into exceptional talent. To have the long-term success that this program has enjoyed is almost unprecedented across all sports at the NCAA level. There is no complacency in this program, just the will to succeed with quality student-athletes who represent Drury in a first class manner. To achieve the success in both genders is something to be very proud of.”
When Drury has not won the women's national title, it has often been Truman State picking up the hardware. The Bulldogs own seven national championships as a team, having most recently won in 2008 following a streak of six-straight from 2001-06.
Prior to the 2014 GLVC Championships, four men’s teams were ranked in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Top 25 Poll and three were recognized on the women’s side. Drury led the nation as the top-ranked men's team, followed by No. 11 Indianapolis, No. 16 Missouri S&T, and No. 21 Lewis, while Truman State was receiving votes. The Panthers also topped the women's rankings, trailed by No. 13 Indianapolis and No. 22 Truman State.
GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich has long credited the league’s coaches for navigating the conference through the first year, which included establishing their handbook by which the sport would be governed, as well as recommending an approved site for the first-ever conference championship.
That site was Lake Central High School in St. John, Ind., a pool that was undergoing construction and was to be a premier pool in northwest Indiana. Once an agreement had been reached by both Lake Central High School and the GLVC, the league formally announced the sponsorship of swimming and the inaugural site on Feb. 12, 2013 – exactly one year prior to the start of the first-ever event.
However, construction delays this past summer ultimately led to both parties agreeing to move the event to another site. After a thorough bid process, the GLVC reached an agreement with the Crawfordsville Aquatic Center on the campus of Crawfordsville High School in Crawfordsville, Ind. – one hour west of Indianapolis.
On Nov. 7, 2013, the league officially announced the move in venues.
"While it was unfortunate to move from Lake Central High School, a venue that was praised by our league coaches, we are thrilled to have found a home in nearby Crawfordsville," said Naumovich at the time."
Naumovich elaborated on the partnership that had been formed with the GLVC and CHS aquatics director Kevin Hedrick and athletics director Bryce Barton. Additional visits to the area included a site visit to CHS to study the event operations during the eight-team Sagamore Conference high school championships in mid-January, as well as a visit weeks later to meet with town leaders, including Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton.
In fact, Mayor Barton displayed that support on the opening night of the GLVC Championships, welcoming a near-capacity crowd to his beloved town before taking a ceremonial dive off the 3-meter board. He remained in attendance throughout the week, donning the white GLVC Swimming and Diving shirt that all 202 community volunteers wore while assisting with the event.
The Crawfordsville Aquatic Center had hosted several championship events in the past, including the 2006 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA Division III) Championship and the 2007 USA Swimming Speedo Central Zone Section 3 Championships.
The 10-lane, 25-yard competition pool with additional cool-down lanes and enough deck space to accommodate the 238 student-athletes competing last week was lauded by the conference coaches.
The pool was expected to be fast… and it was.
A total of 43 pool records were set over the four-day event, along with a number of NCAA “A” and B” qualifying standards. The highlight of the week came late Saturday afternoon when an NCAA Division II national record was set in the 200-yard Breaststroke by Drury senior and GLVC Swimmer of the Year, Agnieszka Ostrowska. Her time of 2:12.70 broke the old national mark of 2:12.89 set by Ana Gonazalez Pena of Wayne State at the 2011 NCAA Championships.
In addition to the championship feel in the water, the Crawfordsville Aquatic Center looked the part as well. More than 50 GLVC and school banners adorned the venue, including some that were placed in unique locations. Thanks in large part to the “whatever it takes” commitment of Hedrick, GLVC school banners were affixed some 20 feet high after Hedrick volunteered to hammer hooks into his block wall so they could hang properly. He also summoned his top 50 Freestyler from his high school team to secure the GLVC flag on the bottom of the pool near the diving boards so it could be visible from the deck and the stands.
To ensure there were lasting memories of the first-ever meet, the GLVC also posted five photo galleries that combined to include 1,043 total pictures, while also posting nightly video interviews with select coaches and student-athletes.
The commitment made to the inaugural GLVC Swimming & Diving Championships has so far been cheered by student-athletes, coaches, administrators and families of those competing.
Missouri S&T’s Doug Grooms, the 2014 GLVC Men’s Coach of the Year, noted that any adjustments that needed to be made throughout the week were done as smoothly as any event that he has ever attended, which is a glowing review from someone who has led the Miners program since 1998.
The man he replaced in that position is now his boss, along with the athletic director liaison to the GLVC swimming and diving coaches. Mark Mullin coached the Miners from 1985-98 and has served as the AD in Rolla, Mo., since 1992.
Upon his return to campus, Mullin penned how much he enjoyed the inaugural GLVC Championships.
“The efforts and commitment shown (by all) make me proud to be a member of this great conference.”
Our hope, of course, is that our “first impression” makes the eight head coaches and 238 student-athletes in competition this past week feel the same way.
Welcome home.