Staten Island, NY – Wagner College Director of Athletics Walt Hameline announced the addition of men's swimming & diving as Wagner's 26th intercollegiate sport on Wednesday. In a corresponding move, current women's swimming & diving head coach Colin Shannahan will take over the head coaching duties for the newly formed program. 

The Seahawks' men's swimming & diving program will begin competition in the 2021-22 season as a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC). The NEC announced on September 8th the addition of men's swimming & diving as a league sponsored sport beginning this academic year. The program will be Wagner's 11th men's varsity sport.

"We are thrilled to add men's swimming & diving into the fold" said Hameline. "With an experienced coach such as Colin Shannahan already on staff and the official announcement from the NEC, the time was now to move forward. This was something we had been looking into for an extended period of time and everything aligned for us to add to our Seahawk family."

Men's swimming and diving has held NCAA Division I championship sport status since 1937. Currently, there are 143 NCAA DI institutions who sponsor the sport. In the absence of automatic team qualifiers, access to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships is based on individual qualifying standards.

"Today's announcement is exciting for Wagner College and the Northeast Conference, but also for the sport of men's swimming and diving," said Shannahan.  "As a former men's coach at URI, I experienced firsthand our program being discontinued and am proud that Wagner is taking a proactive approach to disavow this national trend.  We will continue to build upon our aquatic success at Wagner Athletics, and I am confident that the combined swimming and diving program here at Wagner will provide an unmatched opportunity to compete at the division 1 level in New York City.  I cannot wait to get started."

A two-time NEC Coach of the Year, Shannahan guided the Seahawks to the 2014 NEC Championship and four NEC sportsmanship awards, as voted on by fellow NEC coaches and competitors.
 
Shannahan was the orchestrator for the 2013-2014 women's swimming and diving team's first ever Northeast Conference Championship. At the championship meet, Wagner set 16 school records, three conference records and won by the largest point differential in over 10 years, as the Seahawks scored 844 team points in the championship tournament.
Under Shannahan, Anu Nihipali became the program's first NCAA qualifier with a 52.97 in the 100 backstroke.  A record 4 Wagner swimmers qualified for and competed at the AT&T Winter Nationals in 2014-15, while Nihipali also competed at the Summer Nationals that year. 
 
The 2015-16 season saw Nihipali qualify for and compete at the US Olympic Trails, while former standout Dorian McMenemy qualified for and competed at the Rio Olympics in the 50 freestyle for the Dominican Republic. The year was also a successful one in the classroom as the Seahawks finished with the third-highest GPA in the country amongst D1 swim programs. 
 
Shannahan's experience as a standout athlete himself will help his transition to the men's side of the sport. The Lincoln, RI native was a three-time all-state swimmer at Lincoln High School, where he won the 200 and 500 freestyle titles in both his junior and senior years. His record times stayed intact for 10 years until they were broken in 2008. Following his high school success, Shannahan brought his talents to nearby Columbia University, where Shannahan was a four year letter-winner, school record holder and two-year team captain with the Lions.