As the year begins and athletics become a natural habit again for some, there are changes that will influence the seasons for most sports teams.
Two of Baker University’s rivals are leaving the Heart of America Athletic Conference. William Jewell College and Lindenwood University are moving up to play at the NCAA Division II level.
While WJC and LU will no longer be a part of the HAAC, Peru State College from Peru, Neb. will be playing its first season in the conference.
“When we lost both of those particular institutions, that put us at nine schools total for a conference, and it is really important to have 10 schools in a conference for a lot of reasons,” Director of Athletics Theresa Yetmar said. “One is in terms of national rankings and divisional play, it’s a lot easier when you have an even number of teams and so for strength of conference perspective, we were looking for a 10th member, and Peru State was looking for a new home, and so it was just a nice match.”