Posted: Apr 24, 2019

SLIAC Welcomes Five Affiliate Golf Members

The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference would like to welcome five new schools that will join the league as affiliate members in both men's and women's golf competition. Grinnell College, Illinois College, Knox College, Lake Forest College, and Monmouth College will join the league beginning in the fall of 2019 and give the SLIAC a total of 13 men's golf programs and 12 women's golf programs.

"On behalf of the SLIAC Council of President's Chair, Jamel Wright of Eureka College and the remaining nine members of the SLIAC President's Council, I am extremely pleased to announce the addition of our five affiliate members," said SLIAC Commissioner Dr. Dick Kaiser.

All five members join the SLIAC from the Midwest Conference. Grinnell College is located in Grinnell, Iowa with an undergraduate enrollment of just over 1,600 students. Illinois College is located in Jacksonville, Illinois with an enrollment of nearly 1,000 students. Knox College, located in Galesburg, Illinois, carries an enrollment of over 1,300 students. while Lake Forest College is in Lake Forest, Illinois with an enrollment of nearly 1,600 students and Monmouth College is located in Monmouth, Illinois and has over 1,100 students.

With the addition of the five new golf programs, the SLIAC is able to solidify the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships. The five new members join existing women's teams from Eureka College, Fontbonne University, Iowa Wesleyan University, MacMurray College, Spalding University, and Westminster College as well as a proposed new program from Blackburn College. On the men's side, the new members will join Blackburn College, Eureka College, Fontbonne University, Iowa Wesleyan University, MacMurray College, Spalding University, Webster University, and Westminster College.

"This is a really good day for the overall benefit of both the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Midwest Conference," said Kaiser. "The ability for both the SLIAC and the Midwest conferences to work cooperatively to make this come together will benefit the student-athletes and coaches of the men's and women's golf programs within these regionally close institutions. It gives each institution a chance to compete in an outstanding true conference championship venue with the winner moving on to the NCAA national championship."

"I want to thank Midwest Conference Heather Benning for all her assistance in making this combination of both conferences happen. It was definitely a plus to have her as an advocate in trying to put this whole thing together," said Kaiser.

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