MPSF original release: http://www.mpsports.org/genrel/072110aaa.html
The Seattle University women’s swimming team has accepted a position in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for the 2010-11 season, transitioning from the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference, announced Wednesday by the MPSF.
Along with Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Loyola Marymount, Northern Colorado, Pacific, University of San Diego, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara, Seattle U’s membership marks the inaugural year for the tenth sport in the NCAA Division I conference. The women’s swim team is the second Redhawk sport to join the MPSF, along with men’s soccer, which is entering into its second season in the conference.
Headed into the third year of the Division I reclassification process, the women’s swim team won three PCSC titles and set 12 new school records in the 2009-10 season. The team lost only two student-athletes to graduation and should bring back an experienced squad for competition.
“As Seattle University Athletics transitions to Division I, joining the MPSF is a natural choice and ideal fit for our women to compete in an all-inclusive Division I based conference. Multiple confluences contribute to team success and having a championship environment where peer schools align within the same domain creates greater competitive challenges and therefore greater opportunities to optimize success potential,” said head swim coach Craig Mallery, who was named the 2010 PCSC Coach of the Year for both men’s and women’s teams.
Seattle U will travel to the Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, Calif. on February 23-26, 2011 in order to compete in the first MPSF Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship Meet.
The MPSF specializes in Olympic sports, including men’s soccer, men’s and women’s water polo, men’s and women’s indoor track, men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s volleyball, and women’s lacrosse. A total of 37 institutions and 82 teams from the Pac-10, Big West, West Coast, Mountain West, WAC, Big-12, and Sun Belt Conferences compete in the MPSF.