{"id":505822,"date":"2022-05-31T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=505822"},"modified":"2022-05-31T06:36:12","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T13:36:12","slug":"guest-commentary-were-still-here-how-michigan-states-unlucky-13-survived-program-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/guest-commentary-were-still-here-how-michigan-states-unlucky-13-survived-program-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Commentary: \u2018We\u2019re Still Here\u2019: How Michigan State\u2019s \u2018Unlucky 13\u2019 Survived Program Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Commentary: \u2018We\u2019re Still Here\u2019: How Michigan State\u2019s \u2018Unlucky 13\u2019 Survived Program Cut<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michigan State University cut its varsity swimming and diving program in October 2020<\/a>. Despite a robust campaign of alumni and supporters<\/a> fighting for its reinstatement, the university has not wavered on its decision, leaving Michigan State swimmers in the lurch. Members of the final Spartans varsity team captured a club national title in 2022<\/a>. This story first appeared in The State News<\/a>, which will continue to follow this story. Watch for updates, and see more photos of the Michigan State club swim season, at StateNews.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Guest Commentary<\/strong> \u2013 By Audrey Richardson<\/p>\n

Even a year and a half after former Michigan State athletic director Bill Beekman<\/strong> broke the news to my teammates and I, we\u2019re still bitter.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m told I need to move on, find another hobby and leave the sport that has molded my identity since I was 4 years old.<\/p>\n

Eighteen months is a long time. I\u2019m beating a broken drum. Why are we still talking about it? Why can\u2019t we let it go?<\/p>\n

Among endless articles, interviews, photos and videos about this topic, none have been able to encapsulate the extent to which my team and I have been impacted. I want to show what we went through and how swimming is not and never was about money. It\u2019s not about how many times we made it on the podium. It\u2019s not about the six-lane pool and the facilities we were given, either. It\u2019s about family.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a sophomore at MSU and signed to compete as a Spartan swimmer my junior year of high school. Due to the decision to cut the swim and dive team, I have never competed here. As a journalist for The State News, my new hobby, I\u2019m in the unique position to share my view on how this decision changed us all.<\/p>\n

\u2018Blindsided\u2019<\/h4>\n

In August 2020 when news broke that the school year would begin online, I opted to stay home and train with my club team. Spending more time with my cat and spending less money at Brody dining hall was my rationale. I lived vicariously through weekly team Zoom calls and GroupMe notifications.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 22, 2020, everything changed. I woke up to a GroupMe notification.<\/p>\n

\"swim_23_AR\"

Michigan State swimmers, from left,
Stephan Freitag, Evan Stanislaw and Travis Nitkiewicz celebrate after setting the meet record in the men\u2019s 200 free relay at CCS Nationals at McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta
Photo Courtesy: Audrey Richardson<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cNothing out of the ordinary,\u201d I thought.<\/p>\n

After fluttering my eyes open, I realized the tone of the message was off. Questions immediately arose in my head.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll practices tonight are canceled,\u201d head coach Matthew \u201cG\u201d Gianiodis<\/strong> had typed. \u201cWe have a team mtg at 4 PM. Location is forthcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was awake now.<\/p>\n

After several hours of anxiously waiting and non-stop rapid thumb movement, many members of the team met at the Huntington Club at Spartan Stadium.<\/p>\n

I watched the meeting on Zoom at teammate Kasey Venn\u2019s<\/strong> house. Venn and I had been swimming together since I was 7 years old. Her promising words of the athletics culture at Michigan State convinced me to commit to the school. The call ended with me heartbroken.<\/p>\n

MSU cut the swim and dive program.<\/p>\n

I shut Venn\u2019s front door, took a few deep breaths attempting to hush my broken sobs, put my car keys in the ignition and drove straight to swim practice.<\/p>\n

My whole life, I\u2019ve always been \u201cthe swimmer.\u201d I was never the best writer, could never master long division and never had the most aesthetic-looking Instagram. I was always the swimmer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t, I have morning practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those words and the rolling of eyes that followed fueled me at each practice. Knowing that I made sacrifices to pursue my dreams was invigorating. I was never going to let all the early nights, missed school dances and exhausting hours in the pool go to waste. I was going to swim in college.<\/p>\n

I stood proudly on signing day, displaying the Spartan logo and holding a document I thought meant something. I scribbled my name and showed it to my parents, teachers, coaches and friends that had supported me along the way. I wasn\u2019t ready to say goodbye to my sport; my signature said as much.<\/p>\n

My signing day was on Nov. 13, 2019, and less than a year later the abruptness and carelessness of MSU administration\u2019s decision left our team speechless. There was one word that recurred throughout my semester-long project.<\/p>\n

Blindsided.<\/p>\n

Junior breaststroker Travis Nitkiewicz<\/strong> said one of the driving reasons he chose Michigan State was because of the implied safety net of a Big Ten school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to swim all four years, so I figured, Big Ten, I\u2019d be set,\u201d he said. \u201cMichigan State, they\u2019re in good standing, this would never be an issue. And then it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broken Promises<\/h4>\n

The sting of the athletic department\u2019s decision is still very eminent. It\u2019s the gift that keeps on giving. With every board meeting, with every press release, with every encouraging comment from a trustee and rumor from alumni, our hopes go up and then we get defeated all over again.<\/p>\n

Members of the team filed a Title IX lawsuit<\/a> shortly after the decision to cut the program. The suit argues that the facilities and opportunities offered to other MSU athletes were not equal to those offered to our women\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Nutritional sciences senior Sheridan Phalen<\/strong> describes the litigation process after being cut as exhausting.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou start over, all shattered and broken and you have to keep going with what you’re doing,\u201d she said. \u201cBe sad, but then also pick up the pieces and try to build something out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somehow, the swim program getting cut wiggles its way into conversations on an everyday basis. Why\u2019d you come to Michigan State? Oh, I came to swim. We get asked what sport we play when we wear our athletic parkas or shoes, standing in the athlete section at football games, or studying at Smith Center.<\/p>\n

Human capital and society sophomore Cris Gore<\/strong> said that he\u2019s still here with special privileges, like scholarship, athletic gear and sports tickets, but it\u2019s not the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not competing for the school I committed to,\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n

The ghost of what we were has been haunting us for over a year. So, 13 of us decided to do what we had always known: swim.<\/p>\n

Forming a Club<\/h4>\n

Deciding to participate in club sports was something that I would never have considered a year ago. As someone who got recruited, and convinced by the athletic department, to swim for MSU, it never crossed my mind. At the beginning of the school year, there were some strong-minded teammates that already knew they wanted to join. I was on the fence, but I decided to give it a try.<\/p>\n

I felt sick changing in the locker room, walking out on the pool deck and looking up at the record board. There was something seriously wrong about getting into the pool I was meant to call home for four years, but instead for a careless practice. My first time swimming at IM West wasn\u2019t with the purpose and drive I envisioned, I wasn’t surrounded by my 70 teammates, and I did not feel any kind of motivation to get in.<\/p>\n

After a heavy internal debate, I dove in.<\/p>\n

Just like that, I was home.<\/p>\n