Swim Poll of the Week: 93% in Favor of Moving 2021 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships Away From Iowa

swim-poll

This is the Swim Poll of the Week for Thursday September 3, 2020, sponsored by Strechcordz Swim Training Products. In our last poll, we wanted to know: Would you support moving the 2021 NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships to a different location other than Iowa?

The University of Iowa made the shocking decision recently to cut its men’s and women’s swim teams at the end of the 2020-21 season. It was the fifth time a Division I school axed its swim team this offseason during the COVID-19 pandemic, following decisions from East CarolinaConnecticutBoise State and Dartmouth. Iowa became the first power five school to make the decision, and the first since Oregon State cut its women’s team last year.

It was a stunning move for the rest of the NCAA, especially those in the Big Ten family, as the Hawkeyes are charter members of the conference that was formed more than 100 years ago. Iowa has produced national champions in Artur Wojdat and Rafal Szukala among many others in the 1940s and 50s. The Hawkeyes have one of the top natatoriums in the nation, hosting the 2015 men’s NCAAs, as well as the Big Ten women’s championships in 2020.

Iowa is set to host the 2021 NCAA men’s swimming & diving championships this coming season, making the national championships the last meet the Hawkeyes would ever host.

Swimming World called for the championships to be moved away from Iowa and presented a couple viable options that could host the 2021 NCAA men’s meet on short notice including Indianapolis and Greensboro.

That decision to bring the meet to Iowa was made in the spring of 2017 but no one could have foreseen a global pandemic holding the season hostage nor the University of Iowa cutting its prestigious swim team that has been around for more than 100 years.

“One of the things we did was notify the NCAA, so they have our notification and they have not finalized anything so let’s see what their decision is,” Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta said regarding the scheduled 2021 NCAA championships in Iowa City.

So for the swim poll, we wanted to know: should the 2021 NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships move away from Iowa?

Here are the answers regarding whether to move the 2021 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships:

Yes – 93%

No – 7%


ONE IN THOUSAND

 

 

Show how special you are and become a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s “One In A Thousand” Club. Help keep the International Swimming Hall of Fame moving forward toward a new vision and museum by joining now!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

10 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Matt Scott
3 years ago

Can take away Iowa’s AD also!

Brent Lichty
3 years ago

Heck YES

Alan Haake
3 years ago

YES!!!!!!

Ellen Boeseneilers Pidde

Good

Kelly Spencer Williams

Yes!

Bill Thompson
3 years ago

Move the meet. It’s the principle of the matter.

Elisa Engel Gould
3 years ago

Move the meet!

Suze Fila Couchon
3 years ago

Most definitely!

Jeff Strahota
3 years ago

unpopular opinion: A championship meet requires a certain type of facility that can handle specific requirements. Iowa is one of these facilities, and these days, its more often the facilities themselves who are bidding for events like these. I can understand that you would want the facility (and associated learning institution) to be supportive of swimming/diving, which I’m sure they were at time of bid/selection, and I would imagine that significant weight (and potentially new contractual language) will be put on this aspect of future bids. But for now, I’m fine with this meet as is.

Ed Burton
3 years ago

Move it.

10
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x