Marshall Swimming & Diving Program Ends Its Final Season with Victory, Pride
By Michael Minnich on March 01, 2026
GREENSBORO, N.C. – When Marshall’s Molly Warner hit the water to begin the 400 yard freestyle relay at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, it was a race she and her teammates wanted to finish as quickly as possible.
But it was also one they hoped would never end.
I was there for the final day of the American Conference swimming & diving championships when the Thundering Herd competed for the final time, less than a week after it was announced that the school was cutting the program and replacing it with a STUNT competitive cheerleading team.
“I know this hurts,” Marshall president Brad D. Smith said in a statement on Feb. 17, just a day before the Thundering Herd’s first event in Greensboro and a few days after the news leaked that this decision was coming.
Painful, yes, but the pride didn’t go anywhere.
On Friday night, I watched online as sophomore Lauren McNamara won the 200 yard butterfly, Marshall’s only event victory in the conference meet.
“It means the world,” McNamara told reporter/diving analyst Natalie Kalibat Witten. “We know where our team is at right now. We’ve all done this together. We’ve got so much news in this past week, and to come to this meet and perform at our best was really difficult.”
After that final relay on Saturday, the conference’s nine teams united to sing “Country Roads” and, along with a traveling fan group that was the largest of any school at the meet, the Marshall fight song, one final time.
“Our team is the strongest one I’ve ever encountered. I’d be nowhere without them or my coach,” McNamara said.
Smith pointed to potential cost savings ($819,000 annually for swim & dive vs. $330,000 estimated annually for the STUNT program) and Title IX alignment (going from 27-30 athletes to up to 65) as main reasons for the decision.
The timing was never going to be ideal, Smith said, but said this was the optimal time for the athletes who still had eligibility to allow them to get into the transfer portal and find a new competitive home.
“This is not a performance decision,” Smith said in his statement. “Our swim & dive program has represented Marshall with pride, competing with strength and achieving greatness in the classroom.”
That didn’t change on the final day as freshman Elyse Wood took second in the 100 yard freestyle and proudly took to the awards podium with a Marco-the-Bison head on, her teammates going crazy on the pool deck.
What was the message to McNamara and the Herd during this week of change?
“Just to be where your feet are and do what you can. Do this together,” McNamara said. “We’re not done. We’re going to fight. We’re not just a team. These are my sisters.”
That’s good advice no matter the circumstances.
Although for some, those feet will have to go elsewhere to continue to swim, their hearts will always be in Huntington.
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