MPSF Bolsters Swimming Field with Air Force, UNLV, Wyoming
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) on Thursday announced the addition of three new men’s swimming programs for the 2025-26 season as affiliate members.
The Air Force Academy, UNLV and Wyoming will all return to the league, having previously competed in 2011-12 and 2012-13. All three schools are members of the Mountain West, which only sponsors women’s swimming championships. The three teams have most recently competed in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championships, which UNLV won in 2025. Air Force was third, Wyoming fifth out of six teams.
The MPSF had four women’s teams (Pepperdine, San Diego, Pacific and Incarnate Word) last year and two men’s team (Pacific and Incarnate Word). Since February, it has struck agreements with the California Baptist, University of Idaho, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, University of Texas-Rio Grand Valley and Utah Tech to join the women’s swimming fold, bringing the league’s 2026 championships to 10 schools. (San Diego’s women’s team is leaving for the Big West in 2025-26.)
The MPSF men’s field will include the three new schools, plus Pacific, Incarnate Word and Cal Baptist for a six-team field.
“The MPSF is proud to welcome the Air Force Academy, UNLV, and the University of Wyoming to our men’s swimming and diving membership,” MPSF Commissioner Foti Mellis said in a press release. “These institutions bring a strong tradition of athletic and academic excellence, and their addition reflects our conference’s continued growth and competitive depth, which will enhance the experience for all our student-athletes. We look forward to the contributions they will make both in and out of the pool as part of the MPSF family.”
Air Force won WAC titles in 2016 and 2017. UNLV has won the last five WAC titles to go with a run of five straight Mountain West titles from 2005-09.
“We are excited to be joining the MPSF,” Air Force coach Rob Clayton said. “They have some familiar faces with Wyoming, UNLV, and Cal Baptist, whom we have been competing with for years. We are looking forward to the challenge of continuing to compete against them, along with Pacific and Incarnate Word who we haven’t competed against in a while, but both bring strong Division-I teams to our region. Air Force looks forward to having a conference that will be similar to the WAC, as there will be six competitive teams for great racing!”
“We’re excited to be joining the MPSF this season,” UNLV’s first-year coach Pat Ota said. “We’re grateful to the conference to give us a competitive place to swim and dive as the WAC moves away from swimming. With much of the same competition, we remain dedicated to competing for a title again next season.”
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