LANCER ATHLETICS
Wrestling, swimming and diving, water polo claim new affiliations
Not only did California Baptist University gain NCAA Division II active member status this summer, but five individual sports also secured conference homes, beginning this upcoming season. Wrestling and men’s and women’s swimming and diving both landed in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) while men’s water polo accepted an invitation for the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) and women’s water polo will be an inaugural member of the Golden Coast Conference (GCC). In its brief history as an intercollegiate sport, CBU wrestling has never had a conference affiliation. The Lancers will be one of two associate members in the nine-team conference that already included seven original RMAC members. The conference includes five schools from Colorado (Adams State, Mesa State, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State-Pueblo and Western State), one each from Nebraska (Chadron State) and New Mexico (New Mexico Highlands) along with fellow associate-member San Francisco State.
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Meanwhile, the RMAC currently has four men’s swimming and diving programs and will gain a fifth (Lindenwood) in 2014-15. Women’s swimming and diving currently has five programs with Lindenwood also set to join as the sixth member in 2014-15. Adams State, Mesa State, Colorado School of Mines each have men’s and women’s programs, while Western State participates in women’s swimming and diving only.
and San Diego. The winner of the annual WWPA Men’s Water Polo Championships earns one of three automatic bids to the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championships. “Having the ability to compete for a conference championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament is very exciting,” said Parker. “We are very thankful to the commissioner and the membership for allowing CBU this opportunity.”
“We are thrilled to join the RMAC,” said Dr. Micah Parker, director of athletics “We look forward to competing against the best in the west region for both of those sports. I know this conference will help prepare our student athletes for national competition.”
In its 14-year existence, the Lancers, despite being consistently ranked in the Top 25 of the national coaches’ poll, have never been a part of a men’s water polo conference. The same goes for the Lancers’ nationally renowned women’s water polo program.
Back in February, CBU men’s water polo became the ninth program in the Western Water Polo Association. The WWPA is a combination of NCAA Division I, II and III teams throughout Southern California, Northern California and Colorado.
On June 3, it was announced that CBU will be one of seven universities in California that will form the Golden Coast Conference, a new collegiate women’s water polo conference set to begin play in the spring of 2014.
In the fall of 2013, the WWPA will consist of Air Force, CBU, Claremont-MuddScripps, Loyola Marymount, PomonaPitzer, Redlands, Santa Clara, UC Davis
The GCC features Azusa Pacific, Fresno Pacific, Loyola Marymount, San Diego State, Santa Clara and Pacific as well as CBU.