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YSU adds men’s swimming, women’s lacrosse
By DAN HINER
Youngstown
Two new sports are coming to Youngstown State in the near future.
On Tuesday, YSU announced the addition of men’s swimming and diving and women’s lacrosse. The men’s swimming and diving program will begin next year with lacrosse launching in 2021.
YSU began looking into a women’s lacrosse program and a women’s rowing program in 2015 following the addition of women’s bowling. At the time, YSU athletic director Ron Strollo believed the viability and financial estimates would take approximately five years.
“We’ve been talking about the addition of some sports to help attract more students to campus — probably ever since [YSU president Jim Tressel] got on campus,” Strollo said. “We wanted to make sure our facility was ready.
“We obviously went through the renovations to the pool, but we also needed to make sure the sport of lacrosse was ready.”
YSU had a men’s swimming program from 1949-51 and 1964-84. Strollo said the university wanted to renovate the Beeghly Natatorium before making a decision.
Strollo believes adding men’s swimming will help the women’s program and will balance out the Horizon League.
YSU will join Cleveland State, Milwaukee, Green Bay, IUPUI, Oakland and UIC as schools with men’s swimming. Of the seven schools who currently sponsor women’s swimming, YSU is only school that does not have a men’s program.
“When you go to championships, you see the men and the women cheering each other on and the camaraderie amongst the two,” Strollo said. “We think that team spirit and having other people to practice with is gonna be helpful also for the women’s program.”
The women’s lacrosse team will play on Farmers National Bank Field at the Covelli Sports Complex during their spring season.
The lacrosse program will begin offering scholarships in Fall 2020. Strollo said the addition of lacrosse was due to Title IX compliance and an emphasis on student enrollment.
YSU and Detroit will be the only Horizon League schools with a women’s lacrosse program. The Titans field men’s and women’s teams.
The Penguins’ lacrosse team will operate as an independent, but as the sport continues to grow, YSU will look into forming a conference.
“Now Akron has it, Kent State has it, Central Michigan has women’s lacrosse and Detroit has women’s lacrosse,” Strollo said. “Maybe somewhere down the road, we’ll be able to kinda create a conference amongst that group.
“We haven’t talked to that group about it. But I think the more schools that add it, the better chance we can get a little more regional in the conference that we’ll eventually end up in.”
The new sports will each add approximately 25 student-athletes. In addition to the new programs, another program will see a roster increase.
“It probably wasn’t part of the press release, but we’re also gonna try to expand our cross country roster,” Strollo said. “You’re looking at probably 80 more students on our campus come the 2020-21 school year.”