A pair of student-athletes from San Diego with swimming scholarships to Cal Poly says they’re going through a range of emotions after the university’s swimming program was abruptly cut. NBC 7’s Omari Fleming explains how they’re racing to save the program.
Some San Diego-area high school students say they were blindsided after the college sports program they committed to suddenly got canceled. Several state school programs are now on the chopping block because of budget cuts and a recent sports legal settlement.
Competitive swimming is life for high school athletes Kale Lozano and Chloe Quarles. So when they earned college scholarships to compete on Cal Poly's Division I swim team that set school records this year, they were ecstatic.
“I loved it. It was one of my dream schools," Quarles, a senior at Coronado High, told NBC 7.
“I'd spent like these past months just really amping myself up, you know, to pursue like my dream to swim in college," said Lozano, a senior at Torrey Pines.
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Those childhood dreams are now deferred.
Though they say they questioned whether the swimming program would be cut because of the current landscape in college sports, the two say they were blindsided by a letter they received from Cal Poly's athletic director, alerting them to the "discontinuation" of the university's men's and women's swimming program.
“It does feel a lot like, you know, getting broken up, it really feels like, you know, especially when they're the ones leaving you. It's a lot of, 'What did I do wrong? What happened?" Lozano said.
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In a letter, the university’s president says the immediate elimination of the nearly 60-student swimming program is attributed to what's known as the House vs. NCAA settlement. It addresses past and future compensation for students related to their name, image and likeness (NIL) rights. The decision has forced universities to focus on revenue-making sports.
Cal Poly’s president says it means a $450,000 loss per year for their programs.
“It's kind of weird thinking about if next year, I don't get to do it. It's like a part of me is missing,” Quarles said.
Quarles and her fellow teammates are now hoping they can race to the program's rescue. They're soliciting donations through social media posts, online fundraisers and urging alumni to help.
“We're trying everything we can to reinstate it because it is too late for a lot of us to switch our commitments," Quarles said. "We're putting everything we have to getting ourselves reinstated."
“To just cut a winning program someone so a team that's brought so much success to the school just doesn't make sense. I don't see why it's necessary, especially if you would allow us to fund our team," Lozano said.
They’re swimming against a tide, so far, with no assurances they'll be able to win their reinstatement. Despite the swimming program being cut, the athletic director's letter says Cal Poly will honor the agreement.
The university’s president says, at this time, no other Cal Poly sports programs are at risk of being cut.
