CVAC changing name to Conference Carolinas beginning in 2007

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on October 24, 2006 2:11 PM

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THOMASVILLE -- Beginning in 2007-08, the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference will become Conference Carolinas, and to help commemorate the new era for the conference, All-Time Teams will be selected for each of the conference's 14 championship sports. All-Time Teams will be comprised of student-athletes who competed for conference-member schools during the "CVAC era" from 1995-96 through 2006-07.

All-Time Teams will be announced during each sport's conference championship, beginning this weekend at the 2006 CVAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships. The All-Time Men's and Women's Soccer Teams will be announced during next week's CVAC Soccer Championships, followed by the announcement of the All-Time Volleyball Team during the CVAC Volleyball Championship Nov. 3-4.

All-Time Teams will also be announced throughout the year for baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, women's lacrosse, softball, and men's and women's tennis.

"Conference members are excited to honor the best athletes of an era when competition has been intense," said Commissioner Dr. Alan Patterson. "And that level of competition will only increase in the Conference Carolinas.

"The change in the conference name better reflects the location of members based in a geographical area that is highly regarded throughout the country."

Student-athletes will be nominated by and voted on by CVAC institutions. Only those student-athletes who competed or have competed in the CVAC for a minimum of two seasons are eligible for inclusion. Active student-athletes who meet the criteria are eligible.

Student-athletes will be selected from current member schools Anderson, Barton, Belmont Abbey, Coker, Converse, Erskine, Lees-McRae, Limestone, Mount Olive, Pfeiffer, Queens, and St. Andrews, as well as former members High Point and Longwood.

The Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference traces its roots to the North State Intercollegiate Conference, which was founded in 1930 with seven conference members, all from North Carolina. Also known as the Old North State Conference, the name was changed to the Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1960 after a South Carolina institution was added.

The CIAC was more commonly known as the Carolinas Conference.

The Carolinas Conference was affiliated with the NAIA, then added dual affiliation with NCAA Division II in 1994.

The following year, three NCAA Division II schools -- Erskine, Longwood and Queens -- joined the conference, which became a full NCAA II member and underwent a name change to Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference.

Charter member High Point left the conference in 1997 to pursue NCAA Division I membership. Anderson and Limestone joined the CVAC in 1998. Longwood, the only institution from Virginia to have been a conference member, left in 2003 to pursue Division I membership. Barton is the lone remaining charter member of the conference.

The name change to Conference Carolinas will take effect next summer. The conference name will remain Conference Carolinas, even if future membership is extended to institutions from outside of North and South Carolina.