GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — When MSU called a mandatory swimming and diving meeting last Thursday evening, Jenison alum and current Spartans senior Taylor Arnold didn’t know exactly what it was for, but she had a hunch it wasn’t going to be good.
“We were like, ‘this has got to be important if they are bringing us all together in a room, all 60 of us,’’” Arnold recalls. “It was a weird, weird feeling.”
Ultimately, Arnold’s instincts were correct, as MSU announced it was going to eliminate the school’s swimming and diving program at the end of the 20-21 season. Understandably, the announcement shook the team to the core.
“There were so many tears in that room,” she says. “I mean, I was devastated.”
Arnold especially felt for the underclassman on her team. Though this is her last hurrah with the Spartans either way, many of her younger teammates are now struggling to decide whether to stay at MSU and remain under scholarship and not swim, or head elsewhere and continue to chase their athletic dreams.
“We have such, such talented swimmers and divers on this team,” she explains. “And I think that was discredited in this situation here.”
Despite the perceived finality behind Athletic Director Bill Beekman’s decision, Arnold says the team isn’t giving up the fight just yet. Several save the program pages have popped up on social media recently and now many prominent alumni are offering to help. Organizers don’t have a definitive plan just yet but Arnold is hopeful they can figure something out.
“I think part of the Spartan spirit is persevering and pushing through and you know, Spartans will,” she boasts.
As for Arnold, amazingly, the 21-year-old holds no ill will against the school. While the program may still ultimately be eliminated, her fond memories of life in East Lansing can never be erased.
“No matter what, this is our school and we love it here,” she says.
She’s a true Spartan through and through, even when MSU gives her no reason to be one.
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