Tuesday, April 2, Elizabethtown College announced its plan to join the Landmark Conference, leaving the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC), officially becoming a member on July 1, 2014. Etown will be the conference’s ninth member and the first institution to join the Landmark Conference since it began in 2007. Etown will be accompanying Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; Drew University in Madison, N.J.; Goucher College in Baltimore, Md.; Juniata College in Huntington, Pa.; the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pa.; Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa.; Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. and the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.

“We look forward to continuing our long tradition of athletic success in a new conference,” President Carl J. Strikwerda said in a Campus News announcement. “Elizabethtown College and the institutions in the Landmark Conference already know each other well, and we look forward to spirited competition on the field and good working relationships in overseeing the conference.”

This conference sponsors championships in 20 different sports, despite the fact that Etown sponsors 22, leaving golf and wrestling without championship matches. Etown’s current conference, the MAC, offers a championship for golf but not wrestling.

“The change to the Landmark conference came as a surprise to many of our staff and student athletes at Elizabethtown,” Head Golf Coach Robert Pyrz said. “While it is unfortunate that our golf program will not be able to compete for a conference championship within the Landmark alongside our 20 other recognized sports teams, we look forward to the opportunity to continue to grow as a program to succeed wherever our new home (conference) may be. I have full confidence that the athletic staff and administration dealing with the conference move will do whatever they can to support our program and to have us compete where we have the best chance to prosper.”

This new affiliation will also end Etown’s 63-year membership in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). In the campus news announcement, Director of Athletics Nancy Latimore said, “Leaving the Middle Atlantic Conference will be bittersweet. Quite a few members of our athletics staff have been associated with the MAC for a very long time, and hold many games, championships and people close to our hearts. We hope to continue our rivalries with some of our MAC friends in the years ahead.”