SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Bellarmine University will join the Southern Conference as an associate member in wrestling beginning with the 2020-21 season, Commissioner Jim Schaus announced Tuesday. Bellarmine’s addition brings the league membership to nine teams.
 
The Knights, based in Louisville, Kentucky, will see all 22 of their programs compete at the NCAA Division I level for the first time this academic year. Bellarmine, whose men’s lacrosse program has been a DI member since 2006, has been a SoCon associate member in that sport since the league added it in 2015 and becomes the first school to serve as a SoCon associate member in multiple sports.
 
“We are excited to add Bellarmine University as an associate member in the sport of wrestling,” Schaus said. “We look forward to this new aspect of our relationship with this quality institution.”
 
Bellarmine’s wrestling program, which was launched in 2016, spent the last four years at the Division II level. After totaling four dual wins in its first two seasons, the program sent a pair of wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in 2019 and spent time inside the national top 25 team rankings last season. The Knights won the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award in wrestling in each of the last two seasons and have improved their team GPA each season of the program’s existence.
 
“We couldn’t be more pleased that our wrestling team has become an associate member of the Southern Conference,” Bellarmine Director of Athletics Scott Wiegandt said. “We already have a built-in relationship with the SoCon through lacrosse, and that bond has now strengthened through wrestling. The SoCon is a first-class league that shares Bellarmine’s values toward the student-athlete experience.”
 
The SoCon wrestling membership will now include Appalachian State, Bellarmine, Campbell, The Citadel, Davidson, Gardner-Webb, Presbyterian, Chattanooga and VMI.
 
“It feels great to have a new home for our program,” Bellarmine wrestling coach Spencer Adams said. “As everyone knows, you are who you surround yourself with, and I think we are surrounding ourselves with other great programs by joining the SoCon. It seems like a perfect fit for us in every way.”