Wittenberg University to Add Women’s Water Polo

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Wittenberg University will add a new team next year with the addition of women’s water polo to the Tigers’ athletics program. Wittenberg becomes the second women’s varsity program added in two weeks, as the team intends to compete as a member of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) pending a vote of the league’s Board of Directors.

Women’s water polo will be the 25th sport offered at Wittenberg, as the Tigers most recently added men’s volleyball as an NCAA sport in 2016. The team will compete as an NCAA Division III varsity program in the Spring of 2018.

“We are really excited to be able to increase our sport offerings and provide this new opportunity for students,” said Wittenberg Director of Athletics Gary Williams. “As we did with men’s volleyball two years ago, this is a very strategic addition by Wittenberg to invest in another swim sport that will both complement our current team and help Wittenberg attract new students from across the country.

“The Collegiate Water Polo Association has been an invaluable resource in helping us determine how water polo is a fit for our campus, and we are very much looking forward to joining this group of schools.”

The athletic department is currently developing a schedule and exploring options for conference affiliation. Wittenberg administration has begun a national search for a head coach for the water polo program, who will also serve as an assistant to head coach Will Bernhardt for both Tigers’ swimming and diving programs.

“I am extremely excited to welcome water polo into our aquatic family here on campus,” Bernhardt said.  “We can now offer a unique experience for our student-athletes that isn’t present at many Division III institutions. I look for the women in both water polo and swimming and diving to have the ability to make seamless transitions from season to season. This addition will help raise our national profile rapidly with both programs.

“Any day you can add opportunities for students to participate in a varsity sport is a great day, and today we are lucky and honored to have it be in the water,” he added. “I want to thank our AD Gary Williams and the Board of Directors for providing us the resources to make Wittenberg University the next great aquatic campus in all of Division III.”

The Tigers become the second institution in two weeks to add varsity water polo as Austin College in Sherman, Texas, announced the addition of men’s and women’s water polo to Kangaroos’ athletics. Austin will compete as a club in 2017-18, with the intent to become National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) varsity programs in 2018-19 as the number of women’s varsity Division III programs grows to 19 with the inclusion of the Kangroos and the Tigers.

Due to the future addition of both Austin and Wittenberg, the CWPA Division III women’s group grows to 10 programs as the duo join Carthage College, Connecticut College, Grove City College, Macalester College, Monmouth College, Penn State Behrend, Utica College and Washington & Jefferson College. The additions of Austin and Wittenberg will make the CWPA the largest women’s Division III water polo group in the country, one program larger than the nine-team Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC).

Thanks to the addition of both Ohio and Texas to the ranks, Division III women’s water polo will now be contested in eight of the 50 states as Connecticut (Connecticut College), Illinois (Monmouth), New York (Utica College), Ohio (Wittenberg), Pennsylvania (Penn State Behrend, Grove City, Washington & Jefferson), Texas (Austin) and Wisconsin (Carthage) join with the nine SCIAC institutions in California (California Institute of Technology, California Lutheran University, Chapman University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, Occidental College, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, University of La Verne, University of Redlands, Whittier College).

Information courtesy Wittenberg University Athletics Communications