FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The #NSU50 "Top Moments in NSU Athletics History" continues with the 31st moment on the list: Nova Southeastern University announces the addition of men's and women's swimming and diving.
  
The final two teams of the Sharks' current total of 17 were added in the spring of 2009. NSU made the announcement a year and a half before they would begin competition during the 2010-11 season.
 
"We are very excited to announce the addition of an intercollegiate swimming program," said Director of Athletics Michael Mominey at the time of the announcement. "University president Ray Ferrero, Jr. continues to support the athletic program and our student-athletes, coaches and staff. Our main focus currently at the university is to build the undergraduate student body with emphasis on undergraduate programs that are student centered. The addition of swimming certainly is in line with this philosophy."

Three months after Mominey announced the launching of swimming and diving at NSU, he would announce the hiring of Hollie Bonewit-Cron as head coach for both the men's and women's teams. "We are very excited and fortunate to have Hollie join our team at NSU," Mominey said at the time of her hiring. "She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the athletic department from an NCAA perspective, having been both a student-athlete and a coach at the highest level. I am confident that she will lead the swimming program to great levels of success."
 
"It is rare for a coach to have the opportunity to start up a program and I was excited to be part of what NSU was beginning," reflected Bonewit-Cron. "There were equal challenges and rewards to starting up the program and the learning curve was steep, but I was thrilled to have a foundation in my coaching career to take on these challenges."

Mominey's confidence in Bonewit-Cron would pay dividends for the Sharks. She brought in nine years of coaching experience at Georgia Southern, Florida and Miami, and established a culture of hard work right away for both teams. In four seasons at NSU, Bonewit-Cron has coached NSU to three individual NCAA National Championships and has guided 27 All-American honorees.
 
"I have always been happy about the support that I have received and it began my very first year when I didn't have athletes on campus yet," stated Bonewit-Cron. "I got to know all the other staff members and different departments at a steady pace and could do the research I needed to have the best student-athletes be part of our program. The support that I was given allowed me to recruit an incredible class of student-athletes that could be competitive their very first competitive year. I also learned how NSU procedures benefit the student-athletes and encourages them to excel."

The addition of swimming and diving at NSU made a huge impact on NSU's campus and in the Sunshine State Conference. Here on the main campus, the launched programs came in conjunction with the finishing of NSU's $5 million dollar NSU Aquatic Complex. The 50 meter pool and dive well was the largest competition pool in the state of Florida at its construction, with well over a million gallons of water. Since it opened, NSU has added a dry land portion to the complex, keeping the aquatic complex at the forefront of collegiate swimming facilities.
 
The addition of swimming and diving at NSU also put the total amount of SSC institutions with swimming and diving at five, allowing the conference to host swimming and diving championships. Since the first SSC Championship meet in 2011, NSU has taken home three titles.

Check back with NSUSharks.com next Tuesday for the next #NSU50 "Top Moments in NSU Athletics History."

Moment No. 1: NSU Athletics is Born
Moment No. 2: Knights Chosen as School Mascot
Moment No. 3: Hansley Hired as Director of Athletics
Moment No. 4: Nova Adds Four Sports
Moment No. 5: Nova Joins NAIA
Moment No. 6: Nova Adds Three More Teams
Moment No. 7: Nova Helps Form FIAC
Moment No. 8: Nova Wins First Conference Championship
Moment No. 9: Baseball and Volleyball Win First Conference Titles
Moment No. 10: NSU Adds Softball
Moment No. 11: NSU Adds Women's Soccer and Wins FSC Tournament Championship
Moment No. 12: NSU Names Ray Ferrero Jr. as School's Fifth President
Moment No. 13: NSU Adds Women's Basketball and Wins Conference Title in First Season
Moment No. 14: NSU Jumps to NCAA Division II and Sunshine State Conference
Moment No. 15: Kyle Ruwe Becomes NSU's First NCAA All-American
Moment No. 16: NSU adds Rowing, Tennis and Men's Cross Country
Moment No. 17: NSU Breaks Ground on University Center
Moment No. 18: Rembe Becomes NSU's First Female NCAA All-American
Moment No. 19: NSU Men's Golf Wins First SSC Championship
Moment No. 20: NSU Unveils Sharks as New Mascot
Moment No. 21: NSU Enshrines Inaugural Hall of Fame Class
Moment No. 22: Women's Golfer Garcia Austt Becomes NSU's First-Ever NCAA Player and Freshman of Year
Moment No. 23: NSU Tennis Goes Program-Best 22-3
Moment No. 24: NSU Volleyball Hosts the Inaugural Sharks Classic
Moment No. 25: NSU Begins Outdoor Track and Field Programs
Moment No. 26: NSU Volleyball Earns First-Ever NCAA Postseason BidMoment No. 28: NSU Wins Women's Division of 2007-08 SSC Mayors' Cup
Moment No. 29: Abdalla Earns Cross Country Program's First SSC Runner of the Year Award
Moment No. 30: NSU Volleyball Wins South Region and Advances to Elite Eight

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