BEREA, OHIO -- Baldwin-Wallace will add lacrosse as a varsity sport for men and women in 2012-13.
The BW Leadership Council also approved immediate national searches to identify full-time coaches for each team.
"For many of our students, a central part of their college experience involves being a member of a varsity athletic team, said B-W President Richard Durst. "For those students, the opportunities for teamwork and leadership as well as the relationships that are forged with their coaches readily make the field of competition a natural extension of the classroom. We are delighted to be expanding an already-robust intercollegiate program with the new additions."
"We are excited to be expanding the opportunities here for our student-athletes," said Kris A. Diaz, director of athletics. "Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing high school sports in our region and across the country. "
"The Ohio Athletic Conference is having preliminary discussions about adding lacrosse as a sponsored sport," Diaz added. "We think it is appropriate for Baldwin Wallace University to also be at the forefront of those deliberations."
The addition of the teams will bring the total number of varsity athletic teams at Baldwin-Wallace to 23, including 12 sports for men and 11 sports for women. In addition to lacrosse, B-W will continue to sponsor intercollegiate athletic teams for men and women in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis and track and field (indoor and outdoor). B-W also has teams for men in baseball, football and wrestling and for women in softball and volleyball.
FOR MORE BW Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics.