The New England Collegiate Conference announces the addition of Southern Vermont as the ninth full member to the new NCAA Division III conference. Southern Vermont, located in Bennington, has been a NCAA Division III member since 1996 and was a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference before becoming an independent.

The conference was formerly known as the New England Athletic Conference, but changed its name. Southern Vermont joins Bay Path, Becker, Daniel Webster, Elms, Lesley, Mitchell, Newbury and Wheelock.

The Mountaineers will compete in nine of the 12 NECC sports that are slated for conference championships starting in the fall of 2008; baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, softball, and volleyball. SVC also sponsors men's volleyball as a varsity sport.

“I'm ecstatic to be entering into an NCAA conference with the competitive reputation of the schools that we will be playing against. � Our athletes are looking forward to once again competing for conference championships and the opportunity to go to the NCAA playoffs,” said first-year Athletic Director Ben Kozik. “It's a good feeling to know that other schools in the conference believe in what we are doing here at SVC, and I'm looking forward to working with them and having our teams compete against them.”

“Southern Vermont College's recent renewed commitment to athletics is evident with their recent hiring of a full-time athletic director and several new full-time coaching positions. The College is also a natural fit to the NECC as a small, private, four-year college with similar athletic and academic philosophies. SVC is located within two and a half hours of all of our conference members -- maintaining a close geographic proximity for all members,” said NECC commissioner Louise McCleary.