Collegiate Water Polo Association
The Collegiate Water Polo Association is a conference of colleges and universities in the Eastern United States that compete in varsity water polo.[1] The winners of the conference tournaments earn one of the four spots in the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship and one of the eight spots in the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship.
In addition, the CWPA sponsors club team competition in 17 men's divisions and 13 women's divisions across the nation.
History
The conference was founded in the early 1970s as the Mid Atlantic Conference by Dick Russell, the swimming and water polo coach at Bucknell university with member schools from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. The first conference championship was held in 1972, with and one of the eight spots in the women's Yale defeating Harvard.
The organization was run by the conferences coaches until a commissioner was hired in 1990. In 1993, the Mid Atlantic Conference admitted the full memberships of the New England and Southern Conferences, changing its name to the Mid Atlantic Conference with 39 varsity and club member schools. The following year, the conference went co-ed, raising the number of member teams to 55. As the organization expanded into the Midwest in 1995, the referees from the Eastern Water Polo Referees Association opted to go on strike, so the conference established its own refereeing bureau. With 95 teams from the northeast, midwest, and south, the conference took its present name in 1996.
The CWPA continued expanding, entering the northwest in 1998, the Great Plains and California in 1999, and now has membership in 43 of the contiguous 48 States. For the 2013-14 school year, the CWPA lists 18 men's and 21 women's varsity teams and 135 men's and 89 women's club teams.
Varsity teams competing in the CWPA
Men's teams
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Women's teams
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Club teams competing in the CWPA
Men's Teams
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Atlantic Division Big Ten Division Florida Division Great Lakes Division
Great Plains Division Heartland Division |
Mid Atlantic Division Eastern Region
Mid Atlantic Division Western Region Missouri Valley Division New England Division New York Division North Atlantic Division |
Northwest Division Pacific Coast Division Northern Region
Pacific Coast Division Southern Region Rocky Mountain Division Southeast Division Southwest/Texas Division
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Women's Teams
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Big Ten Division Heartland Division Mid Atlantic Division Northern Region Mid Atlantic Division Southern Region Midwest Division |
New England Division New York Division North Atlantic Division Northwest Division
Pacific Coast Division |
Sierra Pacific Division
Southeast Division Southwest Division
Texas Division |