Bad News in Macomb

Crappy news in the swimming world today. Western Illinois cut their swimming team. In the grand scheme of college swimming Western wasn't exactly a power. Their times were slower than ours even though they even though they had almost four full scholarships.

What's worse is that the trend could be accelerating. States are cutting higher education budgets in a big way. This means courses are cut (making it even tougher to graduate in five years), professors are layed off, and yes, swim teams are eliminated.

We're actually pretty fortunate here at Carthage. We began building an endowment for the team a couple of years ago (which is up to $23,000 now). Our administration doesn't overspend when building beautiful new facilities (like our pool) and we've kept our costs in check. For the record, our budget - while it won't go up - isn't likely to take much of a hit - and even if it does, the interest from the endowment will cover it.

While we're probably going to pick up a recruit or two from Western's cut, it still hurts us in the long run. It means there's one less good team to race against. It makes it easier for other schools to cut swimming. It denies more kids the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of college swimming. Worst of all, it breaks the hearts of the 23 swimmers that called Western Illinois home.

We Asked and You Responded!

So far this year four men's swimming teams have been eliminated. While that won't be happening at Carthage, it bothers me because in at least a couple of those cases, the cuts could have been avoided if the teams had established endowments to support their budget. If an endowment can save a threatened team, just think of what it can do for one that's on the rise!

That's why I was excited to announce the creation of the Carthage Men's Swimming Endowment at last month's banquet. We're building a fund that will eventually provide the team an eternal source of funding that will enhance our swimmers’ experience and help Carthage compete at a national championship level. With the revenues produced by the endowment we'll be able to do some "extras" like new record boards, off-campus team-building activities and the addition of more support staff (massage therapist, sports psychologist, video coordinator).

It takes $10,000 to start an endowment. As you may know, patience is not one of my virtues. I challenged our alumni and friends to establish the endowment by next September’s Captain’s Biathlon reach the $20,000 mark by next Spring's banquet. I even agreed to personally match each donation until the endowment has been established. The response has been overwhelming and I'm excited to announce that it didn't take six months to establish the endowment - it took one.

That doesn't mean the campaign is over. The challenge of building a successful program never ends. We are still on our way to the $20,000 mark. Many schools request donations to buy suits, pay for training trip or purchase new equipment. Not us, I'm hoping you will help us build something that will further set Carthage apart from the rest of the swimming world and benefit Carthage swimmers for years to come. To donate, e-mail Greg