When the word “athlete” is taken out of the title “student-athlete,” one former Bowling Green swimmer has discovered that it puts a lot of time in your hands.

Over the past two weeks, junior swimmer Ray Bartel has experienced a drastic change in his lifestyle as a student at Bowling Green.

Bartel will no longer have swimming practice every other morning and every afternoon. He will not travel with his teammates and coaches to the Mid-American Conference Championships. He will never have a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Bartel will not be swimming competitively next year.

Three weeks ago Bartel and the other members of the men’s swimming and diving team were informed that they were to attend an emergency meeting.

Bartel and his teammates approached the meeting assuming that their coach would discuss spring and summer training. However, when BG Athletic Director Paul Krebs walked in, Bartel knew the prognosis of the meeting would not be good.

“When Paul Krebs walked in right then and there I said to myself, oh no this is not good,” Bartel said. “I’ve never seen the guy at one of our swim meets. When he showed up, I was like what the hell happened.”

Krebs then announced that the men’s swim team would be cut from the athletic program and the reaction around the room was uniform. The swimmers were in shock.

“Everybody was just shocked, no doubt about it,” Bartel said. “It was so quiet in there you could hear a needle drop. I honestly cried when he told us what was going to happen.”

After the initial shock, some of the swimmers asked questions, and then it was over. The team spoke with coach Randy Julian after the meeting.

“Our coach was extremely upset,” Bartel said. “He was in tears and he couldn’t even speak. It was really hard to see him like that and to see the whole team just down.”

During the next 24 hours Bartel remained in a state of shock.

“At the time I didn’t know what I was doing because I was put in a really bad position like a lot of the other junior athletes.”

He could transfer to a new school to swim for one more season, but would it be worth it for him to leave his friends and a school he loves? Bartel does not think so.

Bartel spoke with athletes from the teams of the other sports that were cut and decided that transferring was not the best option for him.

“The thought of going and starting all over again for one more year of swimming is a hard decision to make with making all new friends and being in a totally new environment with new coaches, new teammates,” Bartel continued. “In a way I’m content with the situation I have here, aside from the swimming aspect.”

On Thursday following the announcement, Bartel and the other athletes planned to attend a press conference to ask more questions about their situation. Without notifying the athletes, the time of the press conference was changed, and the athletes were unable to attend to ask questions.

“I’ve been swimming since I was six years old, and I was just really looking forward to having one more year, and then just not being able to do that at Bowling Green is hard to deal with,” Bartel said. “I came to Bowling Green to represent the University and my team and myself. There’s so much here for me.

“I guess when I step back and look at the grand scheme of things, my friends are a lot more important to me, and the thought of going somewhere else is just not appealing to me.”

Next year, while athletes from other Division I and MAC schools are training for another swim season, Bartel will miss the common bond of being with his teammates every day at the pool. Instead, he will get his first experience as a student without athletics.

“It’s going to be a whole different way of life next year not being a student-athlete just being a plain student,” Bartel said. “It opens up a lot of time. I find myself right now not knowing what to do.”