Marymount University will increase its intercollegiate sports offerings to 15 with the addition of men’s volleyball and men’s and women’s triathlon beginning in the 2012-13 seasons. A national search is currently underway for both head coaching positions.

Dr. Chris Domes, Marymount’s vice president for student development and enrollment management, says, “We’re very excited because these will be the first sports added at Marymount since 2003, when we launched men’s and women’s cross country.” He adds, “More sports mean more opportunity for student-athletes; in our experience, these are students who tend to do well academically and who serve as leaders and role models on campus. As an NCAA Division III school, Marymount values athletics as part of a well-rounded educational experience; we also recognize the important role that sports can play in building community and promoting school spirit.”

Men’s volleyball
Division III men’s volleyball is the newest NCAA championship sport and the first to be added since 1985; the inaugural tournament is set for 2012. Previously, volleyball had all Division I, II, and III programs grouped into the same tournament.

Marymount will be the 58th Division III program to field a varsity roster for the 2013 campaign.  Other schools that have recently added programs include Elmira, Kean, Rust, Stevenson, and Thiel. Division III men’s volleyball will be considered a spring sport and operate with a 19-week playing and practice season, like all other spring sports.

Triathlon
Collegiate triathlon is currently governed by the USA Triathlon Organization (USATO), with efforts underway to add the sport to the NCAA Emerging Sport for Women list. The USATO is subdivided by region; Marymount will compete in the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Triathlon Conference (MACTC), an association of colleges and universities from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC, and West Virginia. The MACTC is recognized as the governing body for collegiate triathlon for all schools within these states.

Virginia schools that field triathlon programs in the MACTC include George Mason, James Madison, Liberty, Richmond, UVA, Virginia Tech, and William & Mary. Other local programs include Georgetown and the University of Maryland, while there are six programs in North Carolina and West Virginia.

Triathlon events generally run from August to May, with a national collegiate championship every year. Collegiate participants are given points based on where they place in races throughout the year. Most divisions include individual awards for the top five male and females, as well as team awards based on the total number of participants for male, female, and co-ed.