Lone Star Conference becomes D2's largest

RICHARDSON, Texas — On Monday, Eastern New Mexico officially became part of the largest conference in Division II.

The Lone Star Conference officially added eight new members, pushing the conference to 19 members with some level of participation in 18 different sports — nine men’s and nine women’s.

Added to the fold were Dallas Baptist University, Lubbock Christian University, Oklahoma Christian University, St. Edward’s University, St. Mary’s University, Texas A&M International University, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, and University of Texas at Tyler.

Membership spans four states, with 14 of the schools in Texas. There are two New Mexico schools, two Oklahoma schools and one Oklahoma member.

“This is a historic day for the Lone Star Conference as we welcome eight new members and become the largest and most dynamic conference in NCAA Division II,” LSC Commissioner Jay Poerner said in a release from the conference. “Individually and collectively, our 19 member institutions embody the very best in Division II with a shared commitment to community, academics and athletics excellence.”

Previously, the conference included Eastern New Mexico, Western New Mexico, Cameron, Angelo State, West Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Commerce, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas-Permian Basin, Midwestern State, Tarleton State and Texas Woman’s.

Eastern New Mexico participates in 14 sports, seven men’s and seven women’s. Men’s-only sports are football and baseball, while women’s-only sports are volleyball and softball. The Greyhounds have men’s and women’s teams in soccer, cross country, basketball, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field.

In many cases, final approval of the regular season and/or conference championship format is still pending approval of member school presidents, Assistant Commissioner Melanie Robotham said.

There will be no change to the regular season format for football, as none of the LSC’s new members offer football. The conference will continue to field nine football teams, with each team playing every other school annually. Teams swap home sites each season.

There are no changes to cross country or track and field, except that the season-ending conference championships will have more schools participating.

Here are some of the changes impacting Greyhound teams:

• Basketball: The conference has 18 men’s teams and 18 women’s teams. Dallas Baptist only offers a men’s team, and Texas Woman’s only offers a women’s team. Teams will be aligned into three six-team divisions. Everybody plays their division opponents twice, and faces non-division opponents once each season with rotating home sites. The postseason tournament is not officially approved.

• Men’s soccer: The 11 teams will play 10 conference games, five home and five road. The conference tournament will feature six teams.

• Women’s soccer: The 14 teams will play 13 conference games, with seven schools getting seven home games and seven schools getting six home games. The conference tournament will feature seven teams.

• Baseball: The 14 schools will play a 50-game schedule, with each school getting seven home series and seven road series. The first two weeks will feature three-game series, while the next 11 weeks feature four-game series. All games will count towards the postseason. The postseason format is still being determined.

• Softball: There are 17 teams playing softball. Neither the regular season nor playoff formats have been determined.

• Volleyball: The 18 teams will be separated into three six-team divisions. Teams will play two matches against each division opponent, and eight crossover games against non-division opponents. All games will count toward the postseason, and the top 12 teams will be seeded regardless of division. While it’s mathematically possible for one of the divisions to receive no tournament berths, Robotham said such a scenario is extremely unlikely.