On the rise: Cougars’ swimming and diving faring well

Early to bed, early to rise. That’s the life of a college swimmer.

Matt Sherrier, a senior at the College of Charleston, sets his alarm clock for 5:30 a.m. Thirty minutes after the alarm sounds, he is at the school’s Stern Center for a 90-minute workout in the pool.

Then it’s on to the school cafeteria for breakfast and back to his room for a nap before classes. Following lunch, he heads back to the pool, then goes to weight training before an evening of study.

Exhausted at day’s end, he falls into bed only to repeat the process the next morning.

Sherrier, a psychology major who carries a lofty 3.88 GPA, holds school records in the 200, 500, 1,000 and 1,650-meter freestyle races, and is part of another four school-record relay teams.

“You have to be in the best possible shape. Fortunately, I like working out,” said Sherrier, who hopes to attend medical school after graduation. “It requires discipline, but it’s definitely doable.”

‘Kids find us’

The College of Charleston’s pool is a six-lane, 25-meter facility in the Stern Center. The women’s swimming and diving program has the equivalent of 3½ scholarships, 11½ under the Cougs’ swimming, diving teams on rise NCAA maximum. The NCAA allows 9.9 scholarships for men’s swimming and diving, but the College of Charleston has only 2½ scholarships. No swimmer, male or female, gets a full ride. But the lack of financial aid does not hamper the school in recruiting.

“Kids find us,” said College of Charleston swimming and diving coach Bruce Zimmerman, who came to the school from the swimming program at Indiana University.

“I was looking for a Division I school to swim at, on the coast,” said Sherrier, who grew up in Boulder, Colo. “When I visited the College of Charleston, I basically fell in love with the city and the school. The second I came here, I knew it was where I wanted to be.”

Senior diver Alyssa Maschi of New Hartford, Conn., said she chose the College of Charleston for academic reasons, and initially didn’t know if she wanted to continue competing. Her athletic career began in gymnastics, but a shattered ankle that resulted in surgery slowed her, which is when she discovered diving.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” Maschi said of diving for the College of Charleston.

“I don’t have any regrets.”

Shrinking sport

The number of collegiate swimming and diving teams in South Carolina is small and getting smaller. Only four schools have swimming programs, and that number will decrease to three at the end of the current year when Clemson disbands its program. Clemson officials have said the school can’t afford to keep the program, especially with costly facility upgrades that are necessary.

Remaining will be the College of Charleston, the University of South Carolina and Limestone.

The Citadel ended its swimming program after the 1980 season. Charleston Southern has looked at the sport but rejected the idea because of the cost.

“The biggest problem with swimming and diving is you need an Olympic-sized pool, or at least one that is bigger than ours,” said CSU athletic director Hank Small. “We have a nice campus pool for recreation, but turning that into a Division I athletics venue would not be an easy thing,”

Only three of the 12 schools in the Southern Conference — Charleston, Davidson and Georgia Southern — field swimming and diving teams. Georgia Southern only offers it as a women’s sport. The College of Charleston competed as an independent for many years, then the Cougars and Davidson spent four years as associate swimming and diving members in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). But the CAA, a powerhouse mid-major conference in swimming and diving, decided it had too many associate members.

Zimmerman said the three Southern Conference schools began researching the issue and found three other conferences in the same predicament — the MEAC, the Big South and the Atlantic Sun. That resulted in the formation of the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association, which has five men’s and 13 women’s teams.

According to the NCAA, there are 134 men’s teams competing in Division I and 192 women’s programs.

Competitive teams

The Cougars have only two meets, both on the road, remaining before the CCSA Championships, which will be held Feb. 16-18 at the University of Georgia. And Zimmerman said he feels good about the men’s chances.

“The first year (in the CCSA), our men’s team won the conference championship. We repeated in 2009, were third in 2010 and third last year. On paper right now, it looks like we can be a favorite to win this year. If not, we’ll certainly be in the hunt,” Zimmerman said.

“Our women in the first four years have finished sixth, sixth, seventh and seventh, right in the middle.”

Zimmerman said after two outstanding recruiting classes, the women’s team is poised to make a move in the conference.

“I can see us climbing out of the middle and inching toward the top of the conference,” Zimmerman said. “But it’s difficult to compete with schools that are fully funded.”