SIU women’s swimming and diving will have more Missouri Valley Conference competition two seasons from now.

The Indiana State Sycamores announced the addition of a women’s swimming and diving team, which will begin competing in the 2016-2017 season.

“I think it’s a terrific opportunity for us to add women’s swimming to our list of sports,” said Ron Prettyman, director of athletics at ISU. “Swimming is so prevalent in the Midwest and certainly popular in the state of Indiana.”

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Prettyman said the university is currently building a new aquatics center, which will be completed in June of 2015.

“It’s going to be a state of the art facility used by some of the local high schools as well as us,” Prettyman said.

ISU has not yet hired a coach. Prettyman said the Sycamores are hoping to find someone who has experience with recruiting.

Saluki coach Rick Walker said he is happy of the addition to the conference.

“It’s always exciting when you have got a conference school that’s adding something rather than taking something away,” Walker said. “That will be a nice addition to our schedule.”

Walker said he thinks the Sycamores will be a competitive team, but he does not know how long it will take.

“Once a pool is there, if they staff it right, if they fund it right, I think they’ve got, eventually, a pretty good chance to be a good team,” Walker said.

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Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], on Twitter @Aarongraff_DE or 536-3311 ex