Lindenwood University, one of the top NCAA Division II swimming & diving programs in the country, will move to NCAA Division I. The school becomes an official NCAA Division I member on July 1, 2022.
The school will join the Ohio Valley Conference, which doesn’t sponsor swimming & diving. In most other sports, they will compete in the OVC regular season and post-season, but will not be eligible for NCAA post-season competition until the 2026-2027 season, presuming they clear all of the hurdles for full Division I membership.
The Ohio Valley Conference is home to several other schools that sponsor swimming & diving programs, including Little Rock (Missouri Valley – women only), Eastern Illinois (Summit League – men & women) and Southern Indiana (new program next season).
The school has not yet decided where the swimming & diving teams will compete next season, though geographically, the Missouri Valley or MAC make the most sense.
Last season, the Lindenwood women placed 4th at the NCAA Division II Championships and the Lindenwood men placed 5th. That was the highest-ever finish by the women’s team. The men’s team’s highest finish came in 2016, where they placed 2nd.
This is the school’s second move in a decade – they became full NCAA Division II members for the 2013-2014 season after previously competing in the NAIA.
Division I allows for an increased scholarship amount compared to Division II. Both men’s and women’s programs in Division II would be allowed 8.1 scholarships compared to 9.9 for men and 14 for women allowed in Division I.
Lindenwood sponsors one of the largest sport offerings in the country with 29 NCAA sports. About 10% of the student-body (700 out of 7,000 students) compete in an NCAA sport.
Since joining the NCAA, Lindenwood has won four National Championships, with the most recent being the 2021 Women’s Lacrosse team. In 2017, Lindenwood ranked sixth in the NCAA Directors’ Cup, which included five team conference titles. In the NCAA era, Lindenwood has claimed three regional championships, 31 conference titles, and eight conference tournament championships. Lindenwood has garnered 13 individual national champions at the NCAA level. In addition to the individual achievement, six student-athlete have earned the NCAA Elite 90 Award for academic and athletic success throughout the season. Lindenwood’s NCAA sport programs have combined for a 3.0 GPA or higher since the start of the 2013-14 school year.
Lindenwood has been the site of many significant events during its time in the NCAA. The Lions will are set to host the 2022 NCAA Division II Women’s Lacrosse National Championship in May. Lindenwood has put on numerous regional championships at three different facilities on campus. Lindenwood was selected to host the 2020 NCAA Division II National Championship Festival, which would have featured five national championships, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Today is an exciting day in the history of Lindenwood University,” said Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Brad Wachler. “Over the last 10 years at the NCAA Division II level, we were fortunate to find great success on and off the field of play. We are now prepared more than ever to make the transition to the highest level of college sports. We are thankful for the Ohio Valley Conference’s partnership and look forward to working together to elevate the student-athlete experience.”
Founded in 1948, the OVC is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, and has been located in the Nashville metropolitan area since 1979.
This latest move comes amid a mad dash by Division II teams to Division I. Southern Indiana University has voted to make the move starting next season, where they will also add a swimming program to their athletic offerings, while the dominant NCAA Division II swimming & diving program Queens has voted to explore the possibility.
Lindenwood also sponsors women’s collegiate club water polo, which is organized under its athletics department. One of their water polo alumni, Hann Muller, represented South Africa at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
With no real pool close to campus it will be hard to recruit top swimming prospects. However, the campus is very nice and they do have a lot of space to build a nice athletic facility that would be swimmer and student friendly.