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MEC

A New Conference Called Mountain East

Nine teams from the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference will be playing in a new conference, called the Mountain East Conference, starting next year.

Joining those teams in that conference for 2013-2014 will be Notre Dame College, Urbana University and The University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

"At this point, 12 institutions have all signed membership agreements to be a part of the newly formed Mountain East Conference," Conference Spokesperson Reid Amos said on Monday’s MetroNews Talkline.

The nine teams departing the WVIAC are the University of Charleston, Concord, Fairmont State, Glenville State, Shepherd, West Virginia State, West Virginia Wesleyan, West Liberty and Wheeling Jesuit.

There will be 12 basketball teams in the Mountain East and eleven football teams.  Only Wheeling Jesuit will not field a football team. 

"We were pursuing institutions that were like minded, with similar budgets and goals," Amos said.

WVIAC officials have said the move will likely lead to the end of the one the oldest conferences in the United States.  The WVIAC schools that are not part of Mountain East Conference are Alderson-Broaddus, Bluefield State, Davis & Elkins and Ohio Valley.

The WVIAC was first formed in 1924 and included West Virginia University and Marshall University as charter members.







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