Arkansas Tech University’s Gulf South Conference era is over.
The 2010-11 athletics season officially ended on Sunday night when the Wonder Boys baseball team did not receive an at-large bid to the 2011 NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament.
The end of the 2010-11 season also concludes Arkansas Tech’s 15-year association with the NCAA Division II Gulf South Conference.
All 10 of the university’s intercollegiate athletics programs (baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, softball, tennis and volleyball) will move forward to compete in the new NCAA Division II Great American Conference beginning with the 2011-12 academic year.
Arkansas Tech ended its run in the GSC on a high note. The seven sports in which Tech competes that have head-to-head won-lost records (baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, football, softball, tennis and volleyball) combined to win a school-record 166 games during the 2010-11 season.
The previous school record was set just one year ago when the Wonder Boys and the Golden Suns combined for 161 wins during the 2009-10 academic year.
Arkansas Tech won GSC West Division titles in men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball and volleyball during its final year in the Gulf South Conference. The Golden Suns basketball and golf teams captured overall GSC championships during the 2010-11 academic year.
Arkansas Tech also went 6-for-6 in qualifying for GSC postseason play during the recently completed athletics season.
The conference required a top-four regular season finish in GSC West Division play in baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball, tennis and volleyball in order to qualify for the Gulf South Conference Tournament, and Arkansas Tech qualified for postseason play in each of those sports in the same academic year for the first time ever.
Arkansas Tech joined the Gulf South Conference before the beginning of the 1995-96 season. Previous to that, the university competed in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference.
Arkansas Tech is a charter member of the new Great American Conference. Other charter members include the University of Arkansas at Monticello, East Central University (Okla.), Harding University, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Southern Arkansas University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
The Great American Conference announced last week that Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) will join the league in 2012-13.
Click here to view the Great American Conference Facebook page.
Click here to learn more about the Arkansas Tech Athletics Department.
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