Bourne hints James Madison swim and dive program could compete in Sun Belt as soon as 2023-24 season

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - James Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne recently hinted at the possibility of the Sun Belt conference sponsoring Swim and Dive for the 2023-24 season.

The news is significant for a school like JMU that features a swim and dive program.

While the dukes just wrapped up their first season transitioning into the Sun Belt Conference, three sports had to call other conference’s home.

Those sports were field hockey, women’s lacrosse, and swim and dive.

According to Bourne, Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill spearheaded the idea for the Sun Belt to sponsor swim and dive. Besides JMU, Georgia Southern, Marshall, and Old Dominion are the other schools with swim and dive programs.

Bourne is optimistic about JMU’s swim team competing in the Bun Belt this upcoming season.

“I do feel like given the effort that we’ve put into it that the league is still committed to doing it for the fall, season 23-24, but we’ll know here in the coming month the exact timeline on it,” said Bourne.

Bourne added the Sun Belt has been working on finding affiliate members in hopes of having six teams competing this fall.

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