SFU & THE NCAAeh!
Simon Fraser University is the first and only international university to be a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in any division. The Clan competes in NCAA Division II.The goal at Simon Fraser University is to keep Canadian student-athletes in Canada by providing them access to the NCAA athletic experience and a Canadian education at one of the most prestigious academic institutions in Canada, consistently ranked by MacLean's magazine as the top comprehensive university in the country.
Since joining the NCAA in 2010, Simon Fraser has experienced early success. In the SFU's first year of championship competition, the men's soccer team made the NCAA tournament "Final 4" twice, and the women's basketball team has advanced to the "Sweet 16". The first NCAA titles won were in women's swimming and diving and track and field.
Swimmer Mariya Chekanovych and middle distance runner Helen Crofts were SFU's first-ever NCAA champions. Chekanovych won the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships and Crofts won the 800-metres in both the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
NCAA COMPETITION
The Swimming and Diving Program competes against other NCAA universities on the west coast of the United States, primarily in Washington and California, and it competes against Canadian universities, so student-athletes get the best of both competitive worlds. Student-athletes who qualify for the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships compete against the top swimmers from over 300 schools. Check out how our swimmers perform at NCAA Championships every year
here.
OUR ROOTS
Since its inception in 1965, the SFU Swimming & Diving program has been the most successful athletics program at the university. Originally competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the SFU men's swimming program won 17 NAIA National Championships, including a decade of excellence where the program won nine titles between 1972 and 1980. The women's program won 11 NAIA National Championships, including five in a row from 2000-2004.
Over the years the SFU Swimming & Diving Program has become synonymous with building the consummate student-athlete. With an unwavering commitment to excellence, the program has produced countless individual champions, All-Americans, Rhodes Scholars and Olympians, including two Olympic medalists. SFU swimmer Bruce Robertson won both Olympic silver and bronze medals at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, and Gary MacDonald won an Olympic silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
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