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 |
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 »
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.
Those are some fast times
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?
Recently graduated club swimmer here. We paid USMS dues as well as a few dollars extra for pool time.
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 »
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 »
Hi Anon. One of the biggest obstacles the clubs and organizers faced was a constant turnover in leadership caused by students graduating and not always having someone else to carry the torch after they left. College club teams also face many budgetary problems and are frequently passed over when they apply for university funding. In a document titled “CCS Background,” USMS and CCS go into further detail on the new partnership: “We (USMS) are not looking to make money from college club swimming, which is why we created a net zero budget to only cover hard costs. Instead, we are looking to support the organization of College Club Swimming and encourage athletes to continue to swim through college and hopefully… Read more »