When Canada’s Simon Fraser University joined the NCAA this season (becoming the first school outside of the United States in the association), there was a lot of curiosity about how it would affect the playing-field in Division II. It seemed as though the recruiting draw would be huge – a chance for Canadians to participate in the world’s best-organized collegiate sporting system without having to move south of the border. Especially with their history as a Canadian sporting powerhouse – they’ve had more players drafted in the Canadian Football League draft then any other school, as well as the most first round and top overall picks.
The timing of the move, in terms of swimming, seemed fortuitous as Canadian Swimming is hitting a huge surge in young talent (with most of this talent coming stateside to study and train). But it was only a matter of time before a top Canadian swimmer would decide to stay at home and jump to Simon Fraser, and the first was Mariya Chekanovych, a stud breaststroker who should immediately become a D-2 force.
Chekanovych is a home-grown swimmer who is currently a member of the Simon Fraser club program, and trains with SFU assistant Dmitriy Kononenko. She is a huge breaststroker, and in April broke the British Columbia Provincial Record in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:09.78. The previous mark was held by Indiana standout freshman Bronwyn Pasloski.
She’s an even better 200 breaststroker, with a long course best of 2:29.43. If her times translate well to short course, she should sweep the D-2 breaststroke titles as a freshman (Wayne State’s Kayla Scott will be her biggest competition, for the 100 title).
But the bigger question here is could this set off a bigger trend? Chekanovych is the the Simon Fraser club program’s best swimmer, but there are a few other young stars in the ranks. 15-year old Alicia Kan is a versatile freestyler who is going converted 24-low’s in the 50 free, and 16-year old Lauren Swistak has good potential too. But can the Simon Fraser program begin attracting high-level Canadians from other programs?
Or more significantly, can they begin pulling Americans their direction? Their men’s and women’s rosters are currently fully Canadian, save for a German swimmer and a Chinese swimmer. The question is whether or not the draw of competing in the NCAA is enough to pull in other strong Canadian swimmers, as there are other Canadian universities that have stronger club programs attached.
Take, for example, the University of British Columbia, which has a huge, elite training group that includes the Pierse sisters and Martha McCabe. Canadian news sources have reported that they are eyeing Simon Fraser’s transition as a possible model for their own move to the NCAA. That’s a program that could truly dominate in swimming at that level.
And next to watch on the horizon: the Mexican President has expressed interest in entering a Mexican University into the NCAA. In that situation, where there is a language barrier between the two countries that would really motivate athletes to stay home, things could get even more interesting.
Braden- I spoke with one of their assistants a few weeks ago and he told me that because of the accreditation situation, it could be up to a coupe years before they were full members. Things could have changed since then, but that’s fairly recent information.
The way I understand it, the accreditation legislation was passed by the NCAA after SFU had started the process to join the NCAA. The NCAA, however, is enforcing it and will not allow them to become full members until the process is complete. SFU has been granted a waiver that will allow them to take longer than normally allowed for the membership process. From the sounds of it, the whole thing kind of blindsided… Read more »
Confused here. One of the best (or 2nd best or maybe 3rd or at least 4th) best breaststroke groups in the planet is also in Vancouver. Why would this talented swimmer choose to swim NCAA div II when she could swim the next four years at UBC with Pierse, McCabe, Van Bielen and the other Pierse(s) under Joseph Nagy?
Because at SFU she would train by her stepfather Kononenko
Last I heard SFU has to get accredited and will not be able to participate in the NCAA DII Championships until this happens. This process could take up to a couple years.
Josh – from what I understand, this is the “provisional year,” and if all goes accordingly they would become full members during the 2012-2013 academic year.