A student-led swim team resurfaced after almost 50 years. Harding's first swim team originated in the 1970s, but participation was exclusive to male students. Almost 50 years later, junior Ashley Johnson and sophomore Alyssa Kohl established the University's second iteration of the swim team for both men and women. Johnson and Kohl, who swam competitively together before coming to Harding, signed up for a swimming class, Beginning & Intermediate Swim, in fall 2019. The course instructor, Kimberly Yingling, adjunct professor of kinesiology, encouraged the pair to form a club after they recognized the absence of an official swim team. "It's a question that I've heard every semester, but no students have ever followed through with trying to get a college team started until Ashley and Alyssa came along," Yingling said. According to Kohl, the deans fully supported a student-led swim club that incorporated equal participation of both genders. She said the club was officially recognized as a Harding sports activity but did not comply with NCAA requirements. "[The swim club] is a very new concept at Harding, and it was a huge step when we got to move forward with the creation of it," Kohl said. "I think a lot of people were scared to make a move like this in the past with a boys' and girls' team, but the deans thought it was a great idea." After finalizing the official constitution for the new swim club, Johnson and Kohl made their first recruitment announcement in chapel. Senior Trevor Jarrett, who swam competitively in high school, heard the announcement and wanted to join. Jarrett said he turned down swimming scholarships from other schools to attend Harding, and he was immediately interested in the opportunity to join the club. "As soon as I heard about it, I knew that I was going to be all in," Jarrett said. According to Jarrett, Johnson and Kohl used their previous coaching experience to guide the club through its first season of training and competed as co-captains. "It had been four years since I swam competitively on a team, and I knew it would be difficult to get back into shape, but my swim captains and team went through it all with me, so I loved it," Jarrett said. Kohl said she and Johnson wanted the club to be a place where anyone could unite in their passion and compete together. "You didn't have to be an Olympic swimmer to join the club," Kohl said. "We just wanted it to be a fun and welcoming opportunity for the student body in general." story by Caroline Lea organizations 265
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