MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (September 18, 2024) – The West Virginia University women’s swimming and diving team will celebrate the program’s 50th anniversary throughout the 2024-25 season.
It’s safe to say, the Mountaineers have come a long way in 50 years. The program has remained a consistent force in the Big 12 Conference while reaching exceptional heights.
A state-of-the-art aquatic center with a 50-meter pool and exquisite diving well at The Aquatic Center at Mylan Park provides the Mountaineers with the best atmosphere in which to train and compete.
The women’s swimming and diving team has been led by tremendous swimmers for decades. Two former swimmers have been inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, and one will be inducted on Saturday, Sept. 21.
Kim Kaufman and Renee Riccio have already been inducted and Bette Hushla will be the newest addition from the swim and dive team to the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.
Hushla competed for the men’s swimming and diving team in 1965. She never swam for the women’s team, as Title IX did not take effect until 1972, but she remains one of the pioneers who set the stage for women’s swimming at WVU.
Hushla was dominant for the Mountaineers as she qualified for the Southern Conference Championships held in Williamsburg, Virginia, on March 3, 1965. However, Hushla did not swim at the conference championship as the Southern Conference ruled her ineligible because she was a female.
Hushla passed away from complications from COVID-19 in 2020.
Kaufman was a three-time All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier for the women’s swimming and diving team. She was the first female athlete at WVU to earn NCAA All-America status and was the first swimmer, male or female, to earn four trips to the NCAA Championships.
Kaufman also competed in the 100 backstroke at the 1984 United States Olympic Trials. She finished with a final time of 1:07.42 in the prelims.
Riccio is arguably one of the best swimmers in the history of the WVU swimming and diving program. Riccio swam for the Mountaineers from 1989-93 and was a three-time All-American. She was the first WVU swimmer to earn two All-America honors in the same season.
Riccio graduated with four school records in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 200 IM and 400 IM. Riccio was a team captain and conference MVP from her sophomore to her senior years. Riccio also competed at the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Sadly, Riccio passed away in 2021 after a battle with melanoma.
Riccio is survived by her husband, Frank, who she met while both were swimming for WVU and her two children, Jacqueline and Frankie.
Jacqueline McCutchan swam for the Mountaineers from 2019-23, earning a gold medal in the 100 backstroke at the 2023 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships. Frankie is in his second season with the Mountaineers after spending one year at West Chester.
These Mountaineers are just some of the few who have made the women’s swimming and diving program a historic one since its inception in 1974. In the program’s history,
many Mountaineers have represented the gold and blue at the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving National Championships.
Most recently, sophomores Mia Cheatwood and Abigail Sullivan competed at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Cheatwood and Sullivan were the first Mountaineers from the women’s swimming and diving team to compete at the NCAA Championships since 2019.
Sullivan qualified for the 2024 NCAA Championships after placing fifth in the platform event (465.45) at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships. She became the first female WVU diver to qualify for the NCAA Championships in any event since 1984, and the first female diver in program history to qualify on the women’s platform.
The women’s swimming and diving team also has five Big 12 champions since West Virginia joined the conference in 2012.
Now, the WVU swimming and diving program enters a new era as head coach Brent MacDonald enters his first season at the helm. After spending the last few years (2009-24) as the head coach at Xavier, MacDonald joins the Mountaineers facing a highly competitive Big 12 Conference.
The 2024-25 season officially begins on Oct. 4-5, when the Mountaineers play host to the West Virginia State Games at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in Morgantown.
Press Release and Photo Courtesy of WVU Athletics
