Michigan State diving alumnus and 1992 U.S. Olympian Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse spoke at this morning’s Michigan State University Board of Trustees meeting about the school’s decision to cut its swimming & diving programs.
Farrell-Ovenhouse was a two-time NCAA champion for the Michigan State Spartans diving program. She graduated in 1991, winning the NCAA 1-meter title in 1990 and the 3-meter title in 1991. Her school records on both boards still remain on the books more than three decades later.
A year after graduating, she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team on the 3-meter board, taking 5th at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Michigan State school newspaper The State News reported that Farrell-Ovenhouse was set to address the Board of Trustees today. And one of the paper’s reporters confirmed on Twitter this morning that Farrell-Ovenhouse and swimming alumnus Andrea Bird Mahoney addressed the board.
Previous Board meetings have featured current and former team members criticizing the school’s decision to cut both its women’s and men’s swimming & diving programs at the end of this year.
The cuts came in a brutal year 2020 for college swimming. Michigan State and Iowa both eliminated their collegiate swimming & diving programs – cuts to the Power-5 Big Ten Conference after several years where program cuts were confined to mid-major conferences or Divisions II and III.
Battle for MSU Swim and Dive is also a Facebook site.
prediction. women’s will be reinstated. Men’s gone forever
That seems to be the trend.