For a second year, University of Indianapolis will defend the men’s title at the Great Lakes Valley Swimming and Diving Championship, as Drury University looks to dominate the women’s races for a fourth consecutive year at the Crawfordsville Aquatics Center.
A team of local volunteers powers the event, which returns for four days of competition beginning Wednesday. The workers put in more than 600 hours timing races, selling tickets, serving hospitality room meals and ringing up apparel.
“We wouldn’t be able to have the event if we didn’t have volunteers,” said Heather Shirk, executive director of the Montgomery County Visitors and Convention Bureau, one of the tournament’s local partners.
Event timers are in short supply again this year. New stopwatch holders get training and are paired with an experienced volunteer. Timers also receive free admission, a T-shirt and access to the hospitality room.
Volunteers from the Sugar Creek Swim Club join middle and high school students, city employees and veteran swim parents on deck.
“We have people who are familiar with the swimming world and we have people who are not. It really works,” Shirk said.
Volunteers can view available shifts and sign up throughout the competition at www.visitmoco.com/events.
Athletes from more than 20 teams will compete for the championship titles. A new team, Lindenwood University of Saint Charles, Missouri, joins the roster this year.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for seniors, students with a college ID and children ages 6-12. Children five and younger are admitted free. The events can also be streamed online at www.glvcsn.com.
The championship, which is marking a seventh year in Crawfordsville, delivers a boost to the local economy with teams booking hotel rooms, catering meals from restaurants and shopping in between heats.
The event was projected to bring in more than $1 million to the local economy over a five-year period ending in 2022, according to a Wabash College study.
