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February 20, 1997

UPB, UPG join new NCAA Division III conference

Pitt's Greensburg campus (UPG) and Bradford campus (UPB) are two of six charter members of the newly formed National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III conference.

Other members of what has been dubbed the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference include La Roche College, Penn State-Behrend, Frostburg State in Maryland and Lake Erie College in Ohio.

The conference will begin its first season of divisional competition with the 1997-98 academic year. Initially, teams will compete in men's and women's basketball, soccer and cross-country, men's baseball and golf, and women's tennis, softball and volleyball.

UPG does not have a soccer team, so will not compete in that sport, according to UPG program coordinator Dan Swalga. "We have to add that sport," he said.

"While gaining full-status membership in the NCAA remains our main priority, our inclusion in this new conference represents the fulfillment of a major goal," UPB Athletic Director Daniel Audette said. "We now will continue to strengthen the quality of all of our sports to ensure that we will be admitted to the NCAA." "We're very excited to be in it," UPG's Swalga added. "We're developing a new athletic program. Our goal is to get to the NCAA Division III." Pitt's Bradford campus currently is on provisional status with the NCAA. When a school applies for membership in the NCAA it must serve a four-year provisional period. UPB will be eligible for full-status NCAA membership in the 1998-99 academic year.

UPG is joining the Allegheny Mountain Conference as an independent because the NCAA currently has a moratorium on accepting new members. Swalga said the moratorium is expected to be lifted in fall 1998 and that UPG will then apply for membership in the group.

Frostburg State and Penn State-Behrend already are members of the NCAA. Like UPB, Lake Erie and La Roche are in the provisional membership stage.

The NCAA placed a moratorium on new members two years ago when it launched a reorganization plan.

"They made a monumental change in their structure," Swalga said. "Instead of the whole body taking legislative action, each division will be governing itself. Until they figure out how that is going to work, they don't want to accept any other members." Swalga said the NCAA wants to complete its reorganization before it admits new members because it is concerned about an influx of applications from schools in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. In western Pennsylvania, that includes Point Park, Geneva and St. Vincent.

–Mike Sajna


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