{"id":449015,"date":"2020-10-11T01:24:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T08:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=449015"},"modified":"2020-10-11T13:57:32","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T20:57:32","slug":"though-blindsided-by-cuts-la-salle-mens-swimming-fighting-hard-to-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/though-blindsided-by-cuts-la-salle-mens-swimming-fighting-hard-to-survive\/","title":{"rendered":"Though \u2018Blindsided\u2019 by Cuts, La Salle Men\u2019s Swimming Fighting Hard to Survive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though \u2018Blindsided\u2019 by Cuts, La Salle Men\u2019s Swimming Fighting Hard to Survive<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Johnson<\/strong> had a job interview scheduled for the afternoon of Sept. 29. So the La Salle men\u2019s swimming captain handed off the duty of hosting the informal squad Zoom meeting to a teammate, a way they\u2019ve been keeping together and accountable while taking classes remotely.<\/p>\n

When interim head coach Sasha Malanina<\/strong> emailed that morning to say that all team meetings were off until further notice, it raised an eyebrow, but Johnson didn\u2019t think much of it. That is, until an email from the La Salle athletic department summoned them to a collective meeting.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when alarm bells went off and the swimmers\u2019 group chat lit up. Fellow senior Isaiah Gregory<\/strong> started comparing notes with other Explorers athletes, for hints on who else was being hauled into the meeting and hints as to the subject, as a sense of dread set in.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long, after a few platitudes about the difficulty of the decision, for the La Salle men\u2019s swimming and diving team to be informed<\/a> that it was among seven varsity programs<\/a> to be discontinued after the 2020-21 season.<\/p>\n

Shocking as it was, it\u2019s a decision the Explorers aren\u2019t gently acquiescing to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were completely blindsided by this decision,\u201d Johnson told Swimming World<\/em> last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people started crying and getting upset,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cIt was an emotional day. I was angry. I went for a run, I came back and immediately we started figure out what we could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In less than two weeks, the La Salle men\u2019s swimming community has rallied a robust effort to save itself. The program has started an Instagram account, @savelsu_swimanddive<\/a>, with nearly 1,000 followers and a website<\/a>. The group is in talks about launching a non-profit to raise more than just personal donations. Amid the uncertainty already wrought by COVID-19, it\u2019s another obstacle swimmers must deal with.<\/p>\n

One of the possibilities for the original call, Johnson had hoped, was that it would\u2019ve allowed swimmers to return to campus to train, like the men\u2019s basketball team is doing. That wasn\u2019t to be, and for Johnson, it gives the lie to the \u201c25 sports, one team\u201d motto of equality in the athletic department, where a middling basketball program is elevated above all other varsity offerings.<\/p>\n

The Explorers\u2019 success in the pool \u2013 winning dual-meet records each of the last four seasons, a top-half finish in the eight-program Atlantic 10 for most of the last decade, including runner-up in 2017<\/a> \u2013 is among their prime arguments. The buy-in of alumni is another. Johnson has connected with alums in the financial and legal sectors as well as former university employees, trying to bolster the case not just for the program\u2019s viability but for how its termination won\u2019t help the university\u2019s larger financial issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always have support of our alumni, and our professors too,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cIt\u2019s one big family, one big bloodline. Once you graduate as a La Salle University swimmer, on the men\u2019s or the women\u2019s side, it\u2019s a bloodline. If you look back and say, oh he graduated, he\u2019s a swimmer, you know something about them, that he\u2019s a good person and a good student.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where La Salle\u2019s program deletion differs from many is that it\u2019s gender specific: Where schools like Iowa, Dartmouth and William & Mary have this summer cut both men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams simultaneously, La Salle\u2019s women\u2019s program was spared.<\/p>\n

The programs are very close, often living near each other in North Philadelphia and regularly training together, even planning meals together on campus. When the news came down about the La Salle men\u2019s swimming team, the women provided a shoulder to cry on and an aide in the campaign that Johnson described as \u201cinstrumental.\u201d Much of the online content they\u2019ve put out has had the #familyfirst hashtag, a statement of the programs\u2019 solidarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge to have their support,\u201d Johnson said. \u201c\u2026 We are such a tight family, and our concern is that the women on the team, they signed up for a co-ed team. That was a factor for a lot of them. It brings a certain level of competitiveness in practice having a men\u2019s team. I think we\u2019re pretty humorous and bring a lot of humor to the team, too. It brings a family dynamic that is really unmatched by a lot of programs, so to have that support, they were 100 percent were on board when we reached out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Next up on our #FamilyFirst series is junior Annie Moser. Annie talks about why having a co-ed team is CRUCIAL to the success of the team as a whole! Please continue to like, share, repost, and PLEDGE to support the men\u2019s swim team\u2019s goal of being reinstated! #lasalleu #saveLSUSD #lasalleswimming #lasallewedoit #familyfirst @anniemoser10 @lasalleuniv @goexplorers @savelsu_swimanddive @lasalleuswim @lasallesga<\/a><\/p>\n

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