Cal Baptist to join the conference in July 2018

California Baptist University has accepted an invitation to join the Western Athletic Conference effective July 1, 2018, the school and league officials announced Friday.

The invitation is contingent upon CBU completing the reclassification process from NCAA Division II to Division I. The Lancers will begin WAC regular season competition during the 2018-19 school year.

New Mexico State is a member of the WAC in all of its NCAA-affiliated sports except football. The Aggies play their final season in the Sun Belt this fall, then will play independent football.

Other current WAC members include Cal State Bakersfield; Chicago State; Grand Canyon; Missouri-Kansas City; Seattle University; Texas Rio Grande Valley; and Utah Valley.

Cal Baptist is a private, religious-based school in Riverside, Calif. The Lancers, which last year placed fourth in the NCAA Division II Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, recently earned the Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence for four-year Academic Success Rates of 90 percent or higher.

In their first academic year in the league, Cal Baptist will not be eligible for WAC postseason competition in any sport in which the winner is the league’s automatic qualifier for an NCAA championship (baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, softball, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and volleyball), but will be eligible to win regular season titles.

CBU will be eligible for cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field conference championships beginning in 2018-19.

CBU may participate individually in the WAC golf championships in 2019, but only as unattached entries. In golf, CBU will not be eligible for the league’s automatic team or individual qualifier to the NCAA Division I men’s or women’s championships.