University of Montevallo President John W. Stewart III recently announced the addition of men’s and women’s swimming as intercollegiate sports within the athletic department.
The addition of men’s and women’s swimming gives Montevallo 21 intercollegiate sports. The announcement marks the addition of the 10th new intercollegiate sport added at Montevallo within the past six years.
“We’re excited about the continued growth within our athletic department,” said Montevallo Athletic Director Mark Richard. “We’re proud to offer the opportunity for talented student-athletes to continue their swimming careers at the collegiate level. We look forward to adding to our high-achieving student-athlete population on campus.”
A national search for the first head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming teams will begin this spring. The inaugural season for both programs will begin in the fall of 2019. The teams will compete at the state-of-the-art natatorium inside the Robert M. McChesney Student Activity Center.
Montevallo is the first NCAA Division II institution in the state of Alabama to add men’s and women’s swimming as an intercollegiate sport.
Montevallo will become the 74th NCAA Division II institution to add men’s swimming and the 104th institution to add women’s swimming at the NCAA Division II level.
Montevallo will be the second Gulf South Conference school to add men’s swimming and the third school in the conference to add women’s swimming.
In addition, five Sunshine State Conference schools offer both men’s and women’s swimming and one additional school sponsors women’s swimming in the NCAA Division II South Region.
With the addition of men’s and women’s swimming, the University will continue to add to its student-athlete population, which makes up roughly 15 percent of the total undergraduate student population.
Student-athletes at the University have graduated at a 62 percent rate at the institution, a 17 percent higher rate than the general student body, in the latest NCAA Academic Success Report cohort covering federal graduation rates.
— The above information came from a press release from Montevallo.