Davis and Elkins has announced plans to establish intercollegiate men’s and women’s swimming and men’s and women’s tennis teams to start competition in the 2009-10 academic year.

School officials say the new squads are designed to increase enrollment by making Davis and Elkins more attractive to a diverse population of athletes.

“We’re going to be competitive right away,” said Director of Athletics and head men’s basketball coach Amrit Rayfield. “We want to make sure we start the season with a roster that can compete in the conference.”

Otis Cutshaw, former all-West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tennis student-athlete at Davis and Elkins, will coach both tennis teams. The administration is currently in the process of interviewing candidates for the swimming position.

The school plans to enhance existing tennis courts to meet NCAA standards before the start of the season. The swimming pool was last renovated in the late 1990s to include a new scoreboard, touch-pad scoring and starting devices, and new starting blocks.

The addition of tennis reinstates a sport that was discontinued at Davis and Elkins in 2004. Both tennis teams will compete in the WVIAC and will boost the league’s tennis sponsorship to 11 men’s and 10 women’s teams. 

Currently, the WVIAC does not recognize swimming as a championship sport. The Davis and Elkins teams will join the Blue Grass Mountain Conference, composed of Division II and NAIA schools in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Rayfield said the swim teams may join the WVIAC as more conference schools add the sport.