Loyola Marymount Drops Women’s Swimming as Six Program Cut

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Loyola Marymount Drops Women’s Swimming as Six Program Cut

Loyola Marymount University announced it is axing women’s swimming as part of six varsity programs being cut.

The Division I school in Los Angeles announced the move on Tuesday, somewhat patronizingly, in the name of, “Refocusing efforts to achieve competitive excellence.” Those efforts will continue without  men’s cross country, men’s and women’s rowing, and men’s and women’s track and field.

Members of the team, led by sophomore Alena Sharp, have launched an online petition to push for reinstatement of the program.

“Our mission is to support our students in their pursuit of the highest level of success athletically, academically, and culturally,” athletic director Craig Pintens said in a press release. He penned a longer letter to the community as well. “This decision, while difficult, best positions our department and remaining Division I sports for success.”

The cuts are effective at the end of the 2023-24 season. The Lions have 29 swimmers on their roster, among 115 student-athletes, five full-time and two part-time coaches affected. They are led by coach Bonnie Adair, who has been at the helm since 2002-03 and guided them in both the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference, which the Lions returned to in 2014-15. The Lions finished seventh out of 15 teams in the league last year.

The program cuts leave LMU with 14 varsity sports programs. Most of them compete in the West Coast Conference, which does not sponsor swimming championships. The 20 that existed before the cuts was tied for the most among WCC members.

The university has pledged to “honor existing athletic financial aid commitments to the impacted student-athletes to complete their undergraduate career at LMU” or help facilitate transfers from the school.

Wrote Pintens in his community letter:

These changes also reflect the realities of the transformational changes impacting college athletics nationally. The NCAA landscape is changing rapidly, and schools of all sizes must adapt to provide the best student-athlete experience while becoming even more competitive. LMU is no exception. Finally, and importantly, we are committed to ensuring that all of the decisions associated with our sports offerings are aligned with NCAA, WCC, and legal requirements. Within these parameters and from a position of strength, we conducted a comprehensive review of all our sports offerings and evaluated several key considerations. This strategic move ensures greater LMU Athletics successes and opportunities by making deliberate choices about the sports programs we will support into the future.

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