The University of Michigan and Indiana University, Bloomington, are linked by more than Big Ten Conference ties and state lines. The two institutions also share an investment in women's water polo in the Midwest.

Although the duo might make a surprising alliance for water polo geographically, both coaches claim water polo is alive and growing in the region.

"As a group of institutions, the (Big Ten) club system is as strong as it gets. On the men's side, the competition has been good for 20 years, and the women started and grew quickly," said Indiana head coach Barry King. "There were three teams in 1988, and by 1994 there were seven teams. Now, every Big Ten school has a club team."

Michigan State University has won two straight collegiate club championships and Purdue University has made its way to the top 10 in recent years.

"Because Indiana and Michigan have elevated to varsity, the other club teams have upped the ante and are being more aggressive in fund-raising and recruiting players who have experience with the sport," King said. "They are competitive and play at a high level, positioning themselves in hopes of being promoted to varsity."

Indiana made the jump to varsity in 1998 and Michigan followed in 2001, the same season in which the NCAA began providing a national championship.

"The fact that Indiana added the sport without having local high-school programs was an incentive for Michigan, which prides itself with being one of the top schools for Title IX compliance and great aquatics," said Wolverines coach Matt Anderson, who also is a former assistant at Indiana. "It made sense to add water polo here."

Indiana's elevation can't be considered anything but bold considering the state does not have high-school water polo, and it was the first institution in the conference -- or the Midwest for that matter -- to go varsity. Michigan can draw from a high-school system that has jumped from 28 sponsoring schools to almost 50 in the last 10 years.

The Wolverines may not have blazed the trail to the varsity level but they did become the first Midwestern institution to reach the NCAA championship. Michigan received the automatic bid after winning the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) tournament last year and will host the 2005 championship in Ann Arbor.

"As soon as word gets out that we're bringing a championship of that caliber and quality teams to the Midwest, it will make an impact," said King, who also is a member of the NCAA Women's Water Polo Committee. "High-school athletes seeing the ceremony and the ritual involved with the tournament, as well as the high level of play, will excite them and raise the level of play at their school."

Although bringing the championship to the Midwest doesn't ensure a champion from the CWPA, which stretches all the way to the Northeast, the region is beginning to reach the level of play seen in water-polo-strong California. Two years ago, Indiana lost to San Jose State University, 9-2, but this year the two teams split regular-season games. The Hoosiers also downed the University of California, Santa Barbara. Michigan has beaten the University of California, Davis.

Southbound as well

High-level competition remains a goal along with more local competition in the Midwest.

"I have hopes that the other Big Ten schools will add the sport," King said. "The athletics directors and senior woman administrators know that because I write them a letter every year reminding them."

Beyond the potential for growth in the Midwest, women's water polo will debut in Florida in 2004. Florida Atlantic University will become the first in the Sunshine State to have a varsity team.

"When we started evaluating women's sports to add along with football, we really looked at three different sports," said Melissa Dawson, senior woman administrator at Florida Atlantic. "There were a lot of factors, but water polo was a good financial decision because we had a good facility that wasn't too old, locker rooms and a coaches' office, which gave us a good start."

Dawson also said she was encouraged to learn that the Florida High School Activities Association had sanctioned the sport and that 44 high schools south of Orlando already were offering women's water polo.

"We thought we could draw pretty well from the local high-school programs in south Florida," she said. "If you look at the rosters of other water polo programs across the country, there are student-athletes from this area playing the game who could stay home and play here."

The drawback for the Owls when they join the CWPA next season will be the time and expense of traveling to games in the Midwest and East Coast, since they have no local opponents.

"Florida Atlantic needed a place to play," said Jim Yeamans, head coach at CWPA-member Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. "Our hope is that they will play with us for a few years and then there will be enough teams to form a division or conference in the southeast for them. Our big concern at Slippery Rock was the expensive travel, but Florida Atlantic is going to bear the burden of that."

Still growing

Dawson said the Owls are excited about the chance to play for the automatic bid to the national championship as they phase in a full complement of scholarships for the sport over the next three years.

"Michigan and Indiana proved that it is possible to achieve early success with water polo," Dawson said. "Last year, Michigan made the championship. We don't expect that our program will jump to that level right away, but we have high hopes of being competitive."

While Florida and the Midwest seem to be the logical next step for new teams to appear for women's water polo, untapped areas for the sport remain.

"I think the Southwest is an opportunity for growth," said Kaia Hedlund, chair of the NCAA Women's Water Polo committee and director of special events at the Big West Conference. "Texas high schools have had water polo for years. Arizona State University has added, which I think will lead to growth in that area."

While regional areas remain for growth, varsity programs already have increased from 20 in 1995-96 to 56 competing for this year's championship. According to U.S. Water Polo, the number of high-school teams for girls has jumped from 120 in 1994 to 734 in 2001.

As more and more fully funded programs are added, Divisions II and III teams without scholarships see the growth as bittersweet.

"We always promote growth, and I think it is necessary for our sport," Slippery Rock's Yeamans said. "As an athlete, we won Division II Easterns a couple of years in a row, and (our coach) Doc Hunkler asked if we wanted to go Division I, and we all voted yes. We wanted to play the best, and I think our athletes now would say the same. I love that we get that chance now, but (nonscholarship programs) are a little in no-man's land without our own championship."

Yet, like Michigan and Indiana, all women's water polo institutions and coaches realize they share an investment in the sport, which so far transcends individual goals.