Lenoir-Rhyne in with Anderson, Catawba.
Coker, Newberry, Queens and Wingate
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
ROCK HILL, S.C. – The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) announced Monday it is moving to divisions in volleyball, baseball and men’s and women’s basketball in 2022-2023.
At its annual meeting, the league said it is making the switch with the addition of Emory & Henry College.
The move is designed to help with travel and missed class time and will also allow schools to schedule more non-conference opponents.
The divisions have not yet been named. They will be divided geographically:
— Anderson (S.C.), Catawba, Coker, Lenoir-Rhyne, Newberry (S.C.), Queens and Wingate will be a division.
— Carson-Newman (Tenn.), Emory & Henry, Limestone, Lincoln Memorial, Mars Hill, Tusculum and UVA Wise will be in a division.
In other moves decided at the annual meeting:
— The conference will have men’s and women’s swimming championships starting in 2022-23, upping the conference’s total of titles to 24.
— Barton College and Erskine College will join the SAC for the 2022 and 2023 football seasons as affiliate members in football only.
— The league decided its intra-conference transfer bylaw will require student-athletes to serve a year of residence if they transfer directly from one SAC school to another.
Also, a student-athlete who has graduated with an undergraduate degree but still has eligibility remaining, may transfer within the league one time and be immediately eligible.
— The SAC Hall of Fame inducted five new members: Stacy Mark Fisk, Mars Hill (women’s cross country), Dr. Jarrell NeSmith, Tusculum (football), Paige Haverty Stalcup, Catawba (women’s golf), Kerrie Porter Unger, Wingate (softball) and Wendell Davis, Newberry (football).