Tanner Hoops | Staff Writer

It has been over a decade since the whistle blew and college athletes hit the water at Finkbine Natatorium.

That is because the swimming program at Buena Vista University (BVU) was eliminated on May 31, 2004. Schools are not required by the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) to offer competitive swimming in order to gain conference membership. The money saved from cutting the swim program would go to hire full-time coaches for IIAC membership-required sports.

Storm Lake Times sports editor Jamie Knapp has been covering local prep and college sports in Buena Vista County since 1991. Knapp said program sized contributed to the decision to end it.

“Not many numbers, not many meets,” he said.

Numbers were cited as a reason for the program being discontinued. In fact, BVU did not have enough participants to field a full competitive women’s team as recognized by the IIAC five out of the program’s final nine years and seven of the nine years on the men’s side.

“We’ve had a program,” said then-BVU athletic director Jan Travis, “we just couldn’t count it.”

Recruiting proved difficult. At the time, only 52 high schools in the state of Iowa offered swimming as a sport; only four of those were within a 90 minute radius of BVU. Furthermore, Morningside had switched their affiliation to NAIA a year before and were able to offer scholarships to potential recruits, where as BVU being NCAA DIII could not.

The cutting of the program ended the BVU collegiate careers for 21 swimmers and then-Head Coach Deb Blanchard.

While the pool remains open for active use to be enjoyed by the BVU community, others are left to wonder what could’ve been and if it will ever return to use under the Beaver flag.

Featured Image by Emily Kenny