12-9-15
SPARTANBURG, S.C. | The University of North Georgia has accepted membership as an associate member of the Southern Conference in the sport of rifle beginning in the 2016-17 academic year, as the SoCon announced on Wednesday that it is adding rifle as its 21st varsity sport.
Full members The Citadel, VMI and Wofford will be joined by associate members UAB, Georgia Southern and North Georgia to form a six-member league for the co-educational sport.
“The opportunity for associate membership with the Southern Conference is a significant step forward for our rifle program,” stated UNG athletic director Lindsay Reeves. “In addition to aligning ourselves with the storied tradition of the SoCon, it affords our rifle student-athletes access to championship competition and annual awards.”
The SoCon will become just the second Division I league to sponsor rifle, joining the Ohio Valley Conference, and will conduct an annual conference championship including the air rifle and smallbore disciplines to determine the league champion. The SoCon previously sponsored rifle from 1956-85, with The Citadel winning a league-best 10 team titles and VMI claiming two.
“We’re very pleased to provide the benefits of conference affiliation to these six programs,” Commissioner John Iamarino said. “Rifle is a unique sport and the SoCon looks forward to providing a championship experience for the skilled young men and women who participate.”
The NCAA conducts a combined men’s and women’s championship with no regard for NCAA division each March. Participating schools may enter an all-men’s team, an all-women’s team or a mixed team of men and women. As of the 2015-16 season, 29 schools sponsor rifle at the NCAA level.
The Citadel, Georgia Southern, North Georgia and Wofford each comes to the SoCon from the Southeastern Air Rifle Conference (SEARC), a collective of schools and club teams that conducts regular-season competition and a championship each year. VMI comes to the SoCon after competing in the Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference (MAC), a 14-member league composed of five NCAA squads and nine non-NCAA teams, and UAB is currently unaffiliated with a conference.
North Georgia is ranked No. 20 nationally in the latest edition of the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association rankings, while VMI’s mixed team appeared at No. 19 in the Nov. 2 poll, breaking into the top 20 for the first time in school history. All six incoming squads have completed competition for the fall and will resume in January.
UNG History Rifle
An NCAA Division II school located in Dahlonega, Ga., North Georgia traces its rifle roots back to 1873, when the former North Georgia College and State University was founded. Now known as the University of North Georgia after a 2013 merger with Gainesville State College, UNG is one of six senior military colleges in the United States, along with The Citadel and VMI. Head coach Tori Kostecki, in her fifth year at the helm of the program, competed for UNG from 2007-11 and won individual air rifle and team national titles as a senior when UNG was a club team. She became the program’s first full-time coach when it achieved permanent NCAA standing in 2011 and has guided the squad to top-20 rankings in five of the nine national polls so far this season. The Nighthawks won five SEARC titles as a club team, doing so each year from 1996-1999 and again in 2001, and have been runners-up at the SEARC Championship in each of the last two seasons.
About The Southern Conference
The Southern Conference, in its 95th season of intercollegiate competition, is a national leader in emphasizing the development of the student-athlete and helping build lifelong leaders and role models. The conference has been on the forefront of innovation and originality in developing creative solutions to address issues facing intercollegiate athletics. From establishing the first conference basketball tournament (1921) to tackling the issues of freshman eligibility (1922) to developing women’s championships (1984) to becoming the first conference to install the 3-point goal in basketball (1980), the Southern Conference has been a pioneer. The Southern Conference is the nation’s fifth-oldest NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association.
The conference currently consists of 10 full-time members in six states throughout the Southeast and sponsors 20 varsity sports and championships that produce participants for NCAA Division I Championships.
