The men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams from Oklahoma Christian University have withdrawn from the remainder of the RMAC Conference Championship meet after a COVID-19 outbreak within the program.
Oklahoma Christian is an NCAA Division II school located in Edmond, Oklahoma. After one day of competition (6 events), the Oklahoma Christian men were in 3rd place out of 5 teams at the RMAC Championships behind leaders Colorado Mesa. The Oklahoma Christian women were in 4th place out of 8 teams, with Colorado Mesa already in a runaway on that side of the pool.
The Oklahoma Christian men finished 3rd out of 5 teams and the Oklahoma Christian women 4th out of 9 teams at last year’s Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.
The school did not give details beyond saying that the team has withdrawn (and did not acknowledge that the reason for the withdraw was because of coronavirus concerns), but did say the teams are in the process of returning to campus. Sources are telling SwimSwam that some members of the team are remaining in Colorado to quarantine while the rest of the program is on a bus back to Oklahoma.
The school sent one swimmer, freshman Cheyenne Parks, to last year’s NCAA Divsion II National Championship meet, though that meet was canceled before Parks was able to swim her one entry. Her 4:33.24 in the 400 IM placed 2nd on Thursday night, before the team was pulled from the meet,