Incarnate Word joins the LSC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Contact: Melanie Robotham, (972) 234-0033 Ext. 103

RICHARDSON, Texas –The Lone Star Conference membership has changed for the first time in a decade as the University of the Incarnate Word officially joined the league today.

“This is a great day for the Lone Star Conference. We are pleased to welcome such a fine institution. The entire conference will benefit by being associated with the Cardinal athletic department,” said LSC Commissioner Stan Wagnon. “The quality of UIW athletics is evident with their overall finish (36th) in the 2009-10 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings.”

UIW sponsors 19 sports (nine men’s and 10 women’s) including the recent addition of football in 2009. The Cardinals will play their first LSC game on the gridiron, when they travel to Southeastern Oklahoma on Sept. 11 for a crossover contest. Shortly after that the UIW volleyball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer teams will play their first conference games.

The Cardinals will compete in the South Division in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and softball.

In January 2009, the LSC Council of Presidents unanimously voted to extend an invitation to UIW. The expansion to include UIW represents the LSC’s first membership change since 2000, when Harding (Ark.) and Ouachita Baptist ( Ark. ) departed the league. UIW will be the 28th institution to compete as a member of the 79-year-old LSC, and the second San Antonio school to play in the league. Trinity was a member from 1931-34 and 1946-49.

A former NAIA program, UIW joined the NCAA Division II ranks as a member of the Heartland Conference in June 1999. The Cardinals have seen 36 teams advance to NCAA postseason play since then.

The LSC, founded on April 25, 1931, started as a five-team conference of Texas-based schools and with UIW will become a 16-member league with nine members in Texas, six in Oklahoma and one in New Mexico.