The Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA did its part, but the decision wasn’t the Y’s to make.

On Monday morning, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) announced its decision to move the Iowa Girls High School State Swimming and Diving Championships to Iowa City after 21 years in Marshalltown.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association in 2017 moved the Boys State Swimming Championships to the University of Iowa’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Center (CRWC), and now eight years later the IGHSAU has made the same decision.

The IGHSAU announced the girls’ meet’s relocation in a press release.

“We are excited to have the University of Iowa’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Center hosting the Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships,” said IGHSAU Executive Director Erin Gerlich. “Iowa City, Coralville and the Iowa City Sports Commission provide outstanding support for all the state events they host for us. They will paint the town pink for our swimmers and divers next November.”

When the two-day girls’ state event convenes on November 14-15, it will end a run of 21 consecutive seasons at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA. The latest contract between the IGHSAU and the Y expired with last November’s state meet, and Monday’s announcement ended the feeling of trepidation locally.

“For me it’s incredibly disappointing,” said Dylan Does, the Tourism Director at the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce. “I’m not disappointed in the fact that I thought our proposal was incredibly strong.

“I think our facility is the best spectator experience. We had everything on our side: the great volunteer community, the great Y staff, our community collaboration. Honestly it came down to, I think, just wanting to do something different after two decades.”

Does said the decision from the IGHSAU came in through the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA on Monday morning with no advanced notice. Marshalltown made its pitch, but the IGHSAU went another direction.

“We’re not in charge of those decisions, but we’re very proud of the two decades we put in,” said Does. “We put on a premier sporting event that we would put up against any other swimming meet. We’re still going to be holding high-level sporting events and we’re still looking for other things to come in. We’ve got a rich history in Marshalltown.”

The IGHSAU’s new contract with the University of Iowa’s CRWC will begin in the fall of 2025 and run through the 2028 state meet.

Iowa’s natatorium, which opened in 2010, has hosted the 2015 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, USA Diving regionals, and the boys’ state swimming meet since 2018.

“While we are thrilled about moving the State Meet to Iowa City, this is a bittersweet day because Marshalltown has been an outstanding State Meet host for 21 years,” said Gerlich. “We are grateful for all of the hard work that the Marshalltown Y staff and its many volunteers have provided throughout the years.”