Students, Supporters Look to Future After UW Swimming

Amy Radil
05/15/2009

Since the University of Washington eliminated its swim teams this month, swimming fans have been voicing dismay. They've also been organizing to save the program. They're forming a foundation and may build their own pool. Meanwhile student athletes say the timing of the decision has brought some swimming careers to a premature end.

University of Washington swimmers didn't get any advance notice that their program was being eliminated. They heard on May 1, along with the public, that the university is cutting their program to save $1.2 million.

Petra Radovic is over six feet tall, Croatian, with long brown hair in a ponytail. She's an Olympic hopeful who's been swimming for the U.W. for three years while majoring in business.

Radovic: "First I was crying, then I was angry and disappointed. I don't know, it was really hard to see all my teammates cry. Some of them can't continue. They can't get a scholarship so they have to be done with swimming and it's really hard because swimming's been a big part of our lives."

Radovic says within hours, some shell–shocked students were getting queries from other schools. But the news came too late for many students, just a day after the signing deadline for Division I schools. That means most big schools have already given out their scholarships for next year.

Radovic is stressed out. This past year was good for her. In March she won second place in the Pac 10 conference in the mile swim. Next year was going to be the year she decided whether to try for the Olympics, or leave swimming and go on to grad school.

Radovic: "I just started to improve this year, figuring stuff out. I was so excited about next year, I wasn't expecting that they were going to cut the team. No one was, actually."

Radovic hopes to transfer to another school to swim next year, then return to finish her degree at the U.W. the year after.

Meanwhile, alumni and supporters of U.W. swimming protested the cuts, and hope to resurrect the program. They've filed the paperwork to form a nonprofit, the Husky Swimming Foundation. The goal is to raise money to create a self–sustained swimming program, perhaps by building their own pool.

Catherine Clark is a Seattle attorney and former UW swimmer. She's on the new foundation's board of directors.

Clark: "What needs to be done to bring this program back in the long term. There's always a short–term question and a long–term question. We're going to reach out to not only the athletic department but to the university administration as a whole and say, what is it that can be done about this; this is a tragedy and a shame."

Clark says the U.W. golf program could serve as a model. The school doesn't have its own golf course – instead, the program is hosted by the Washington National Golf Course in the town of Auburn. Swimming boosters hope a new facility could get the university back into the water in a few years.

Amy Radil, KUOW News.

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