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BHSU will add women's
softball, not soccer as originally planned - top
Black Hills State University will add women’s softball, not women’s
soccer as previously announced.
According to Steve Meeker, athletic director at BHSU, the university
decided to switch sports because recent changes in the Dakota Athletic
Conference (DAC) would make scheduling soccer games more difficult.
Last spring when BHSU announced plans to begin a women’s soccer
program, four other universities, Si Tanka-Huron University, University
of Mary, Jamestown University and Mayville State University, in the
conference had women’s soccer teams. In addition, Dakota State
University had plans to add soccer which would have made BHSU the sixth
team in the conference to offer women’s soccer.
Since then, Si Tanka-Huron University has closed amid financial
difficulties, and the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., left the DAC
for the NCAA Division II Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Dakota
State is no longer considering adding women’s soccer which would mean
only two schools in the current eight team conference would offer
women’s soccer.
According to Meeker, it is now more feasible for BHSU to form a
women’s softball team because other conference schools have the sport
and will provide nearby competition. BHSU will be one of seven
universities in the conference to offer women’s softball.
“From a scheduling standpoint, women’s softball is a better choice
for us,” Meeker says. He also noted that softball, as a spring sport,
will allow for more dual sport athletes such as volleyball-softball
players. Softball competition is scheduled to begin in the spring of
2007.
The DAC remains a strong eight-team league that is pursuing
additional institutions to join the league or even considering options
including a move to NCAA Division II or Division III affiliation.
The addition of women’s softball is one of several changes planned
following a statewide Title IX review. BHSU will begin their first year
of women’s golf competition this fall. The university prepared a
three-year Title IX plan following a review conducted at the request of
the South Dakota Board of Regents. Other state universities are working
on Title IX compliance plans as well.
Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 is the landmark
legislation that bans sex discrimination in schools both in academics
and athletics. Since it was passed, Title IX has influenced athletic
programs at the high school and college level.
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