By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
University of Alberta alumni are planning on setting up an independent swimming program after the school announced it would be cutting the men’s and women’s swim teams at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season.
This past October, the school said it was eliminating the swim programs at the end of the season due to both financial issues and complications stemming from the lack of a competitive facility on campus.
According to The Gateway, the University of Alberta’s student newspaper, the school requested a $6 million endowment in order to keep the program running next season, which was off-putting to the University of Alberta Swim Team Alumni Society (UASTAS).
Instead, the UASTAS has started looking towards developing an independent varsity-like program that would be governed by the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club (EKSC), which has been subsidizing part of Alberta’s swim program since 2020.
“The primary thing that drove us away from that effort was [that] the university made it clear to us that the endowment would have to be controlled by the university,” UASTAS president Connor Bayne told The Gateway.
Bayne, who competed for the Golden Bears from 2014 until 2019, told The Gateway that the university didn’t guarantee that the funds would go towards maintaining and supporting the swim team in the long term, leading to them taking a different route.
Under this new program, the athletes would be registered as club swimmers.
“If we can demonstrate to the university that we can fund and run a successful program, then if the university wants to approach us again … we’re open to a discussion as we’ve always been,” Bayne said.
Bayne said the school has largely been dismissive in talks about potentially saving the program.
“For a long time, we felt that the swim team has kind of been a low priority for the university,” he said. “But it wasn’t until now that it was actually demonstrated how low a priority we are for the university.”
The next step in developing the new program is putting administration in place, with funding being the biggest hurdle.
“I’ve been in touch with some other alumni, and I’ve told them to keep their alumni close, to get a community together, and some funding. We don’t know what the future is going to hold,” Bayne said.
The University of Alberta men’s and women’s teams are coming off 5th-place finishes at the 2025 U SPORTS Championships, with three swimmers winning individual medals.
Paul McKenzie won gold in the men’s 200 free, Garrett Brendzan earned silver in the men’s 50 breast, and Olivia Brendzan claimed silver in the women’s 400 IM.
Additionally, Alberta head coach Paul Birmingham was named the U SPORTS Men’s Coach of the Year.
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