Vanguard University takes its first dip into aquatics
By Patti Ammerman
Vanguard University’s newest athletics teams are making a big splash on campus!
The VU athletics department is extending its tradition of excellence in competitive intercollegiate athletics with the addition of an aquatics program. The program will kick off in the 2009-2010 academic year with men’s and women’s varsity swim teams. Recruiting is underway for both.
“We’ve added swimming for this year, and water polo will be introduced in fall 2010. Craig Bluell has been selected to be our swimming coach,” says Bob Wilson, VU athletic director. Bluell has been the head swim coach at the YMCA of Orange County, California, since 2003.
“I’m very exited about being the first head swimming coach at VU. It is a great opportunity for Vanguard students to have a swim team here,” says Bluell.
The Lions will use the YMCA of Orange County, which is conveniently located in nearby Newport Beach, as their home pool, and Bluell is actively recruiting both current students and prospective student athletes for the teams.
“We are excited to add aquatics as our fourteenth and fifteenth sports,” says Wilson, who has been the athletic director at Vanguard for the past 14 years. “We have a number of students already at Vanguard who have expressed an interest in swimming. We hope to attract an additional 20 new student athletes the first year.”
The addition of the VU women’s swim team brings the total number of Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) schools fielding a women’s swim team to six – the minimum number required to be recognized as a conference sport by GSAC. With women’s swimming now a GSAC-sponsored sport, the women’s swim team will swim in GSAC competitions. The men’s swim team will compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) against other non-conference opponents since men’s swimming only has five GSAC schools that sponsor a men’s swim team.
“This first year is about team building. We’re starting from scratch and getting the word out about Vanguard’s swim team. We have to keep building, keep training the kids and advancing the program,” says Bluell.
For additional information about athletics at Vanguard University (Costa Mesa, California) visit www.vanguard.edu/athletics. Universities interested in scheduling meets for next season should contact Bob Wilson at bwilson@vanguard.edu.