On April 15, the Great Waters Women’s Rugby Conference announced that it was moving all of its teams to the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) and its new branch, the National College Rugby Organization (NCRO). Today, the Northern Lights Conference confirmed that it, too, is aligning with NSCRO/NCRO. The migration is in response to USA Rugby’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the uncertainty of the national governing body’s future.
“Our task force was committed to doing our due diligence and presenting all options to our teams as objectively as possible. In the end, NSCRO stood out as the organization with the most comprehensive plan that would allow our teams to play on a competitive national pathway without significant disruption in our seasonality or hybrid format,” Men’s Commissioner Greg White told NSCRO.
“The move to NSCRO is the best fit for all of our teams at this time”, Women’s Commissioner Rachel Hill added. “We are excited where this move will take us.”
Like Great Waters, Northern Lights is a DII-NSCRO hybrid conference, and thus a portion of its membership was already familiar with the small college organization. Hybrid leagues allow their teams to play regular-season matches across divisions, whether in the name of geographic convenience or competition level, and then separate for the post-season. The women’s half of the conference includes six DII teams, which will now compete in the NCRO Open Division, and eight small colleges that will remain in NSCRO:
NORTHERN LIGHTS CONFERENCE
DIVISION II
Minnesota State Univ Mankato
Univ Minnesota Duluth
North Dakota State Univ
St Cloud State Univ
Univ North Dakota
Winona State Univ *
SMALL COLLEGE
Bemidji State Univ
Carleton College
Gustavus Adolphus College
Macalester College
College of St Benedict
St Olaf College
College of St Scholastica
Minnesota State Univ Moorhead
The Open Division is a work in progress in terms of what it will look like, as a commissioner and committee must first be named, and membership is still building. Stay tuned for more information as it’s made available.