Mountain West to Add Men’s Swimming Championships in 2026-27
The Mountain West Conference is adding men’s swimming and diving (as well as men’s soccer) as a sponsored sport in the 2026-27 academic year.
The conference made the announcement Wednesday. It’s a reinstatement of the sport, which the conference had offered championships in until 2011. Men’s soccer and men’s swimming are the 20th and 21st sponsored sports for the conference.
“The addition of men’s soccer and men’s swimming and diving to the Mountain West represents a bold step forward in our commitment to broad-based excellence,” Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a press release. “These sports not only elevate our competitive profile but also reflect the growing interest and investment from our member institutions. We’re proud to support student-athletes in these disciplines and excited to see the impact they’ll have on our Conference’s future.”
The Mountain West is the first Division I conference to add men’s swimming and diving since the Ohio Valley Conference in 2023. The inaugural field will include the United States Air Force Academy, Grand Canyon University, University of Hawaii at Manoa, UNLV and Wyoming.
Air Force, Wyoming and UNLV joined the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) this year as affiliate members. Grand Canyon competes in the Big West Conference, as does Hawaii, among a number of programs that seem to slosh around between conferences at regular intervals.
The final Mountain West men’s swimming and diving championships in 2011 included UNLV, Wyoming and Air Force in a six-team conference (as well as BYU, Utah and TCU). UNLV won the last seven league titles, from 2005-11, more than half of his 12-year stint with the conference. UNLV enters the MPSF as the winner of the last five Western Athletic Conference titles.
The Mountain West women’s swimming and diving championships featured 10 institutions last year, the title won by San Diego State for the fourth straight year.
