The Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) has announced that James Madison University (JMU) and Old Dominion University will be joining the conference this season for women’s swimming & diving.
The CCSA is a Division I mid-major conference that sponsors men’s and women’s swimming & diving, as well as women’s beach volleyball. The conference now sponsors eleven women’s swimming & diving programs, including: Bellarmine, Campbell, Florida Gulf Coast, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Liberty, UNC Asheville, North Florida, Queens, Old Dominion, and James Madison. On the men’s side, Bellarmine, Gardner-Webb, Queens, and Old Dominion are all members of the conference, as well as the Florida Atlantic men.
Liberty is the defending CCSA champion, out-scoring second-place FGCU last season by 302.5 points. The full standings from 2022:
- Liberty – 1830.5
- Florida Gulf Coast – 1528
- UNC Asheville – 1309.5
Incarnate Word – 942- Campbell – 889
- Georgia Southern – 756.5
- Gardner-Webb – 577.5
- North Florida – 513.5
- Bellarmine – 400.5
CCSA Commissioner Jerome Rodgers commented on the additions, saying:
“The CCSA is excited for the additions of James Madison University and Old Dominion University. Effective immediately, James Madison and Old Dominion will compete as CCSA members. We look forward to having them join us in Knoxville for our Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship in February 2023.”
The Old Dominion women are making the shift from Conference-USA, where they recently finished 6th out of 6 teams in 2022. The women will now join the men, as Old Dominion’s men’s swimming & diving program made the move from Conference-USA to the CCSA in 2015, and have since recorded as high as a 2nd place finish in 2018. Both of Old Dominion’s programs are led by head coach Jessica Miller Livsey.
James Madison is making the move from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), where they have been largely successful. They had a four-title winning streak from the 2017-2018 season to the 2020-2021 season, and have captured eleven conference titles overall in their time in the CAA. Last season, they also won the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) title. JMU is a women’s only program and is currently being led by head coach Dane Pedersen, who is in his ninth season in the role.
JMU will only spend one season in the CCSA, as they are in the midst of moving to the Sun Belt Conference. The Sun Belt Conference does not currently sponsor women’s swimming and diving, however, they do plan to have it approved no later than the 2023-2024 season.
JMU has already faced Old Dominion once this season, where they won decisively 210-83. They will not face any other CCSA teams until they compete at conference in February. Old Dominion will take on Campbell January 28th just before the CCSA Championship.
This makes infinite sense – and is really a better conf situation for JMU and ODU than what they’ll find in 2024 in the brand new Sun Belt swim “conference” with just 4 teams (these two along with Marshall and GA Southern)
this is so mother boots the house down