Sunrise Athletic Conference

Sunrise Athletic Conference
Established	2002
Dissolved	2011
Association	NAIA
Division	Division II
Sports fielded	10 (men's: 5; women's: 5)
Region	Region X of the NAIA Northeastern United States
Commissioner	Dr. Royal Goheen
Website	http://www.sunriseconference.com
Locations

The Sunrise Athletic Conference was a college athletic conference founded in 2002 and affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Its member institutions were in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont.

History

The SAC was founded when both the Maine Athletic Conference and the Mayflower Conference disbanded in the spring of 2002. Both of these conferences were NAIA conferences of long standing.^[1] The conference formed with eight inaugural members: the College of St. Joseph, Fisher College, Lyndon State College, University of Maine at Fort Kent, University of Maine at Machias, University of Maine at Presque Isle, Paul Smith's College, Vermont Technical College. Royal Goheen became the commissioner of the Sunrise Conference and continued to serve as the only commissioner in the history of the SAC until it disbanded. In 1997, Goheen took on the role as the commissioner of the Maine Athletic Conference before its disbandment. In 2010 he was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame.^[2]

In 2004, the Sunrise Conference added State University of New York at Canton after the university joined the NAIA as part of a transition from two-year to four-year institution. The conference held steady with nine members until Paul Smith's College and Lyndon State College left in 2010, dropping SAC membership to seven.

The conference disbanded in 2011 when the College of St. Joseph, Vermont Technical College and University of Maine at Machias left the conference and NAIA for the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and the Yankee Small College Conference.^[3][4] The University of Maine at Fort Kent, University of Maine at Presque Isle, and SUNY-Canton then left with no regional NAIA competition to become independents in the USCAA.^[4] In addition, UM-Presque Isle is transitioning to an independent member of NCAA Division III, while SUNY Canton was accepted into the transition process to move from NAIA to NCAA DIII.^[5] Fisher College joined the American Mideast Conference.^[4]

Former members

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Team Nickname	Year Joined	Year Left	Conference Joined
Lyndon State College	Lyndon, Vermont	1911	Public	1,350	Hornets	2002	2006	North Atlantic Conference (NCAA Division III)
Paul Smith's College	Paul Smiths, New York	1946	Private	1,000	Falcons	2002	2010	Yankee Conference (USCAA)
College of St. Joseph	Rutland, Vermont	1956	Private	500	Saints	2002	2011	Yankee Conference (USCAA)
Fisher College	Boston, Massachusetts	1903	Private	1,121	Falcons	2002	2011	American Mideast Conference (NAIA)
University of Maine at Fort Kent	Fort Kent, Maine	1878	Public	1,339	Bengals	2002	2011	Independent (USCAA)
University of Maine at Machias	Machias, Maine	1909	Public	1,200	Clippers	2002	2011	Yankee Conference (USCAA)
University of Maine at Presque Isle	Presque Isle, Maine	1903	Public	1,600	Owls	2002	2011	Independent (USCAA)
Vermont Technical College	Randolph, Vermont	1866	Public technical college	1,453	Knights	2002	2011	Yankee Conference (USCAA)
State University of New York at Canton	Canton, New York	1906	Public	3,320	Kangaroos	2004	2011	Independent (USCAA)

Membership timeline

Map of the Sunrise Athletic Conference, circa 2011

Conference sports

Conference sports

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball
Basketball
Cross Country
Golf
Soccer
Softball
Volleyball

Conference championships

Women Volleyball 2010 UMaine Fort Kent 2009 UMaine Presque Isle 2008 UMaine Presque Isle 2007 SUNY Canton 2006 UMaine Machias 2005 UMaine Machias Men Cross Country 2010 SUNY Canton Women Cross Country 2010 UMaine Presque Isle Men Soccer 2010 UMaine Fort Kent 2009 UMaine Fort Kent 2008 UMaine Fort Kent 2007 UMaine Fort Kent 2006 UMaine Fort Kent

Women Soccer 2010 UMaine Fort Kent 2009 UMaine Fort Kent 2008 UMaine Fort Kent 2007 SUNY Canton 2006 UMaine Fort Kent Men Basketball 2011 Fisher College 2010 UMaine Fort Kent 2009 Fisher College 2008 College of St. Joseph 2007 Fisher College 2006 Fisher College Women Basketball 2011 UMain Machias 2010 UMaine Fort Kent 2009 UMaine Fort Kent 2008 UMaine Fort Kent 2007 College of St. Joseph 2006 UMaine Fort Kent

Men Golf 2010 UMaine Presque Isle 2008 UMaine Presque Isle Baseball 2011 Fisher College 2010 Fisher College 2009 Fisher College 2008 Fisher College 2007 Fisher College 2006 Fisher College Softball 2011 SUNY Canton 2010 SUNY Canton 2009 UMaine Presque Isle 2008 College of St. Joseph 2007 College of St. Joseph

References

1. http://naia.cstv.com/member-services/conferences/profiles/NAIA_ConferenceProfile_Sunrise.pdf
2. Staff (Aug 24, 2010). "NAIA Announces 2010-11 Hall of Fame Class". Victory Sports Network. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
3. Hawkins, Gary (June 30, 2011). "COLLEGE: UMA adds 3 sports". Kennebec Journal. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
4. Mahoney, Larry (June 17, 2011). "UMFK, UMPI, UMM leave NAIA for new association". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
5. Brown, Gary (June 30, 2011). "DIII Membership Committee recommends four new active members". NCAA. Retrieved July 2, 2011.

External links

• Official website