CHARLOTTE, N.C. ? The Big South Conference announced on Thursday that beginning with competition in the 2008-09 school year Presbyterian College will be officially eligible for regular season championships and All-Conference honors and awards.

The Blue Hose will also be included in all official statistical reports developed by the league office.

The new mandate by the Big South Conference will allow PC to be entitled to earn any of these accolades in 13 varsity sports.  The Big South Conference does not sponsor men's and women's lacrosse.  The Blue Hose will be eligible to claim the regular season football championship and postseason athletic awards in football as soon as the team plays a full conference schedule. 

Beginning in the 2008 season, the Blue Hose football team will play every Big South Conference member except for new member Stony Brook. Stony Brook is a football-only affiliate member of the Big South Conference beginning this fall. PC is currently not scheduled to face Stony Brook on the gridiron until the fall of 2011.

PC men's tennis and softball are being placed on the “fast-track” allowed by NCAA regulations that permit two Olympic sports to be eligible for championships after only two transitional seasons. The PC men's tennis and softball programs will both be eligible to play in the Big South Conference Tournament and advance to the NCAA Championships in the spring of 2010.

The 2008-09 school year will be the second year of PC's transition into NCAA Division I athletics. The Blue Hose are scheduled to receive full NCAA Division I status in 2011-12. All PC teams at the time will become eligible for Conference and NCAA postseason play and awards. Also in the 2011-12 school year, PC will become officially included in all NCAA Division I statistical categories.

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