The NCAA News - News and Features

August 3, 1998

Division II notes

Conferences: The Great Lakes Valley Conference men's and women's basketball postseason tournaments for 1999, 2000 and 2001 will be played at Roberts Stadium in Evansville, Indiana. Roberts Stadium has a seating capacity of 12,252. "The city of Evansville has had a long and fantastic tradition of hosting sporting events, especially with Roberts Stadium serving as the site of many NCAA basketball championships," said commissioner Carl McAloose. "I cannot think of a better basketball environment for our players and their fans." ... Tusculum College has been elected as the ninth member of the South Atlantic Conference. Tusculum, which became a member effective July 1, will be eligible for championships and awards in all 13 South Atlantic Conference sports beginning in the 1999-2000 academic year. Other conference members are Carson-Newman College, Catawba College, Gardner-Webb University, Lenoir-Rhyne College, Mars Hill College, Newberry College, Presbyterian College and Wingate University.

A new football conference has been established in the Pacific Northwest. The new conference will be known as the Columbia Football Association and will include the following institutions: Simon Fraser College, Western Washington University, Central Washington University, Western Oregon University, Southern Oregon University and Humboldt. State University. Most of the members currently are provisional members of Division II or have applied for provisional membership. The commissioner of the conference will be James P. Jorgensen.

Facilities: The Mercyhurst College board of trustees has approved $1.3 million in capital athletics expenditures, including funding for AstroTurf for Tullion Field, the university's stadium. The expenditure also includes $300,000 for a locker room expansion at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The new artificial surface is scheduled to be installed before Mercyhurst's football opener with Michigan Technological University September 12. The surface also will be used for men's and women's lacrosse, women's field hockey, and baseball and softball practice.

Sports sponsorship: Bentley College will sponsor women's lacrosse in 1999. The institution has sponsored the sport at the club level for the last three years. The team will compete in the Northeast-10 Conference, which also will begin conference play in the sport in 1999 ... The University of North Dakota has dropped its intercollegiate wrestling program as part of the athletics department's plan to lower its operating budget by $95,000. "Nobody likes to make these kinds of decisions," said North Dakota athletics director Terry Wanless. "A lot of thought went into the decision, but ultimately it was a decision we felt we had to make." The student-athletes involved with the wrestling program can stay at North Dakota and maintain their scholarships or transfer to another institution and be immediately eligible.

Milestones: Glenn Gallagher, Millersville University of Pennsylvania, 100 wins in baseball.

-- Compiled by David Pickle