After revealing the addition of Women’s Swimming to its slate of 17 athletic teams in May 2015, the Chowan University athletic department announced today that it had been accepted into the Bluegrass Mountain Conference beginning with its inaugural 2016-17 season. Vice President/Director of Athletics Ozzie McFarland stated, “This is an exciting day with us joining such a prestigious conference. We look forward to growing our program under [head coach] Matt Hood‘s leadership within the umbrella of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference. We hope to form friendly rivalries for years to come.”
Coach Hood, a NAIA National Champion in the 200 free and runner-up in the 500 free while he was a student-athlete at Asbury University, commented, “Joining the Bluegrass Mountain Conference is a huge step for our swim team. I am excited to have such a high quality championship meet for our ladies to compete in. Having such fast competition will help inspire us to race at our maximum potential on both the individual level and competing as a team.”
The Bluegrass Mountain Conference, founded in 2002, is a one-sport conference comprised of thirteen schools from six different states (Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia), who compete in NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA. The coach-run BMC is currently presided over by Jeff Dugdale, head swim coach and aquatics director at Queens University of Charlotte. Dugdale welcomed Chowan, saying, “We are very excited to have [Chowan] join our conference. The BMC has been recognized as one of the fastest and deepest conferences in the country. Johns Hopkins has been a title contender for years in the DIII setting and SCAD has been a contender in the NAIA setting…most recently Queens University of Charlotte is the reigning NCAA Division II National Champions for both the men’s and women’s [teams] while Wingate finished third. The BMC is rich in tradition and invests in champions both in the pool and in life. Our coaches are excited to share the deck with Coach Hood and his student-athletes.”
The Hawks will join Carson-Newman University, Catawba College, Converse College, Davis & Elkins College, Fairmont State University, Johns Hopkins University, Lenior-Rhyne University, Limestone College, Queens University of Charlotte, Savannah College of Art and Design, West Virginia Wesleyan College and Wingate University at the 2017 BMC Championships.
Modified from a Chowan University press release sent to SwimSwam.