by Kirby Boehm
If you ask most students around campus how Capital University and a swimming pool are related, many would point to Fort Rapids Water Park which housed Capital Students at the beginning of the year. In fact, most students are unaware of the fact that Capital has added an Intramural Club Swim Team to the list of sports offered to students.
Emma Chadd founded the swim team this past fall after she gauged interest from those who would be interested in joining. This marked the first time in the history of Capital that a swim team was formed for the Crusaders.
Due to the fact that Capital doesn’t have a competition pool on campus, the team turned to the Jewish Community Center. The JCC opened its doors to the team offering them a place to practice.
The swim team got off to a slow start according to freshman team member, Kelsey Pinckard.
“Nothing really came of it after the start and not very many people came to practices,” Pinckard said.
This may be due to the fact that students have to find their own form of transportation to get to the off-campus location. Even though the JCC is located on College Avenue right across Livingston Avenue, finding participants for the team was difficult.
The lack of participation doesn’t deter members of the team from hoping to make swimming a varsity sport for Capital.
“We would love to make it a varsity sport in the future if possible,” Pinckard said.
At the present time the team hasn’t been able to plan any meets for participants to compete in.
If the swim team were able to become a varsity sport, they would join many more Division III schools in the state of Ohio. Kenyon College and Denison University are powerhouses in the respected sports both ranked in the top three nationally.
The Ohio Athletic Conference also offers a great deal of competition if the Crusaders become a varsity team. Capital would be the sixth team to join the OAC along with Baldwin Wallace, John Carroll, Mount Union, Ohio Northern, and Wilmington.
For Capital students interested in joining, the team is available for both male and female students. Practices are held at the JCC from 7-9:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday.
by kboehm789@capital.edu
