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For the first time in 75 years, Wilkes is heading to a new frontier in athletics.
The university announced Thursday that it will leave the Middle Atlantic Conference and join the Landmark Conference for 2023-24.
The move will reunite the Colonels with Scranton in athletics but move them away from MAC members King’s and Misericordia.
“Joining the Landmark Conference places Wilkes University in the company of institutions that are similar in size, scope and philosophy and that offer research intensive programs from bachelor’s through doctoral levels,” Wilkes President Greg Cant said through the school.
“The Landmark Conference includes schools that span from Pennsylvania to Washington D.C., presenting us with an excellent opportunity to enhance the Wilkes brand in these areas while continuing to attract the highest caliber students to our university. Above all else, the move will provide our student-athletes with exceptional academic and athletic experiences.”
Making the jump along with the Colonels from the MAC is Lycoming, a move that will enable the Landmark Conference to add football for the 2023 season.
The Landmark will have 10 total members by then, with six fielding football teams. A recent vote by Division III schools at the NCAA convention ensures that conferences across all sports that have at least six teams will receive automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.
In football, Wilkes would compete with Lycoming, Catholic, Juniata, Moravian and Susquehanna. The other four members of the conference — Scranton, Drew, Elizabethtown and Goucher — do not have football programs.
“This is an exciting time for the Landmark Conference, and I am humbled to lead such a strong group of institutions through this historic change,” league commissioner Katie Boldvich said. “The additions of Wilkes University and Lycoming College builds on the already strong Landmark brand while also creating new competitive opportunities and strategic goals for the league.”
Wilkes has 23 teams, 19 of which will be able to compete in the Landmark — baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis and women’s volleyball.
The men’s and women’s ice hockey teams will continue to play in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference. Wilkes’ storied wrestling program “will continue to participate in regional competition and postseason tournaments to qualify for national championships,” the university said.
That leaves the men’s volleyball team without a home, and Wilkes called it a “priority” to spend this year finding a league for the squad.
This isn’t the first time the Landmark Conference has shaken up the local college sports scene. Originally founded in 2005, the league began play in 2007, enticing Scranton to leave the MAC and become one of the Landmark’s first eight members.
The creation of the Landmark triggered movement across the region in Division III sports and eventually led to Misericordia joining the MAC, making the move from the former Pennsylvania Athletic Conference.
Wilkes will have time to figure out how the jump affects rivalries in different sports, most notably with King’s.
In football, for example, the Colonels would have plenty of room on the schedule with just five conference opponents to still play the Monarchs in the annual Mayors Cup game.
“This will conclude our 75-year membership with the MAC which has provided thousands of student-athletes with opportunities to enrich their undergraduate careers through regional competition,” Cant said. “The experiences and memories created through our MAC membership will be forever emblazoned in the lore of Colonel athletics and Wilkes history.
“We look forward to this new opportunity with incredible gratitude to the MAC and its member institutions and with the goal of continuing regional non-conference competition and collaboration.”