{"id":445702,"date":"2020-09-03T16:12:47","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T23:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=445702"},"modified":"2021-03-09T10:46:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T17:46:04","slug":"swim-poll-of-the-week-93-in-favor-of-moving-2021-ncaa-mens-swimming-diving-championships-away-from-iowa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swim-poll-of-the-week-93-in-favor-of-moving-2021-ncaa-mens-swimming-diving-championships-away-from-iowa\/","title":{"rendered":"Swim Poll of the Week: 93% in Favor of Moving 2021 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships Away From Iowa"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the Swim Poll of the Week for Thursday September 3, 2020, sponsored by Strechcordz Swim Training Products<\/a>. In our last poll, we wanted to know:\u00a0Would you support moving the 2021 NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships to a different location other than Iowa<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The University of Iowa\u00a0made the shocking decision<\/a>\u00a0recently to cut its men\u2019s and women\u2019s 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\u00a0East Carolina<\/a>,\u00a0Connecticut<\/a>,\u00a0Boise State<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Dartmouth.<\/a> Iowa became the first power five school to make the decision, and the first since Oregon State<\/a> cut its women’s team last year.<\/p>\n

It was a stunning move for the rest of the NCAA, especially those in the\u00a0Big Ten family<\/a>, as the Hawkeyes are charter members of the conference that was formed more than 100 years ago. Iowa has produced national champions in\u00a0Artur Wojdat<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Rafal Szukala\u00a0<\/strong>among many others in the 1940s and 50s. The Hawkeyes have one of the top natatoriums in the nation, hosting the 2015 men\u2019s NCAAs, as well as the Big Ten women\u2019s championships in 2020.<\/p>\n

Iowa is set to host the 2021 NCAA men’s swimming & diving championships\u00a0this coming season, making the national championships the last meet the Hawkeyes would ever host.<\/p>\n

Swimming World\u00a0<\/em>called for the championships to be moved away<\/a> from Iowa and presented a couple viable options<\/a> that could host the 2021 NCAA men’s meet on short notice including Indianapolis and Greensboro.<\/p>\n

That decision to bring the meet to Iowa was made in the spring of 2017<\/a>\u00a0but no one could have foreseen a global pandemic holding the season hostage nor the University of Iowa cutting its prestigious swim team that\u00a0has been around for more than 100 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we did was notify the NCAA, so they have our notification and they have not finalized anything so let\u2019s see what their decision is,\u201d Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta<\/strong> said regarding the scheduled 2021 NCAA championships in Iowa City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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