SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Like many others in her position, Coronado High School senior Chloe Quarles was unsure what her future looked like back in March when Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo cut its swim program after she committed to the school. Two months later, she managed to find a way to keep her career alive.
“Pretty devastated," Chloe told ABC 10News, recalling how she felt during our initial conversation when Cal Poly made its announcement. "Just kind of confused on what path I was going to take just because it's a big decision for my future.”
On March 7, the school released a letter notifying student-athletes of its decision to discontinue the men's and women's swimming and diving programs.
"Unfortunately, Cal Poly is not immune to the rapidly evolving and changing NCAA Division I landscape, which presents many challenges and uncertainties for collegiate athletics programs," the letter stated. "The House vs. NCAA settlement, which addresses past and future compensation for student athletes related to name, image and likeness (NIL) rights, will have a significant financial impact – resulting in a loss of at least $450,000 per year for our programs."
Bottom line, "the financial realities made the decision unavoidable," it added.
That left swimmers, like Chloe, with a decision to make — attend the school only as a student, or rush to recommit elsewhere, all during her senior season.
“It was pretty difficult just trying to juggle obviously recruiting calls and all the emotional stress of just trying to figure out if this is going to be my last season ever swimming," Chloe said.
As she explored other options, a grassroots effort emerged to try and save the program, fittingly called Save Cal Poly Swim & Dive. According to the group's website, there are two ways to donate — either through GoFundMe or by making a pledge to its Buy a Block, Save a Team campaign.
Initially, they were told by Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong they would need to raise $25 million. That endowment goal has since been reduced to $20 million according to the group's latest Instagram update.
The deadline has also been pushed back to June 5th, according to a text sent by the group organizer to Chloe's mother Monday.
While they have surpassed the $7 million mark so far, as mentioned in the same text message, Chloe didn't want to take any chances.
“Although I did love Cal Poly, and it felt like home, I just knew that my goal was to swim in college," Chloe said. "That was my dream, and it had been my dream since I was five when I started swimming year round. I didn't want to disappoint that version of myself.”
Well, five-year-old Chloe would be proud to know that dream is still alive after switching her commitment to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“It feels really good," she said. "UNLV is a team that does training trips in Coronado, so I had talked to the coaches a few times. I was pretty familiar with their team, and they're not too far from home, so I'm super excited to still be swimming in a D1 program.”
Adding to the exciting update, Chloe placed in the top three of both her events (100-yard butterfly & 200-yard Individual Medley) at the CIF San Diego Section Division II tournament this past weekend, which means she'll cap off her high school career competing at the state level for both this Friday in Clovis.
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