As announced on Thursday (Oct. 6), the Aquinas men's and women's swimming and diving teams have been accepted into the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) for the 2022-23 season and beyond.

The Saints, as a new associate member, will be invited to compete in the KCAC Conference Championship meet being held February 2-4, 2023, in Fremont, Neb. 

"We are looking forward to being a valued swimming and diving member of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and participating in their conference championship meet," noted Nick Davidson, Aquinas College Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics. "We appreciate the opportunity for our teams to be part of a league that takes conference championships so seriously and places a great emphasis on those competitions. I'd like to offer a special thanks to Scott Crawford and Hans Nickel for their thoughtful discussions during the process to evaluate how our missions aligned." 

The women's team joins eight other schools currently competing in the KCAC: Bethel (Ind.), College of Saint Mary (Neb.), Midland (Neb.), Morningside (Iowa), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Sterling (Kan.), Jamestown (N.D.) and Saint Mary (Kan.). 

The men's team will be one of seven teams in the conference alongside Bethel (Ind.), Midland (Neb.), Morningside (Iowa), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Sterling (Kan.) and Saint Mary (Kan.).

"I am thrilled for our team to become an affiliate member of the KCAC," explained Kristy Hepp, AQ head men's and women's swim and dive coach. "The opportunity they provide to compete at a high level with such phenomenal teams and coaches will greatly enrich our team's overall experience. After meeting with Commissioner Crawford and other representatives from the conference, the decision was easy because they put the student-athlete experience first. Our swimmers and divers have high goals and can't wait to compete at the KCAC Championships in February!"

The Aquinas swim & dive teams are both in action this weekend with a meet Saturday (Oct. 8) against Olivet Nazarene and Bethel (Tenn.) in Bourbonnais, Ill. The tri-meet will be held at Olivet Nazarene's Perry SLRC starting at 10 a.m.