Information Provided By Merrimack Sports Information
NORTH ANDOVER, MA –Merrimack College has announced that it will add indoor and outdoor track pushing the total of intercollegiate sports at Merrimack from 16 to 20, beginning in the 2010-11 academic year.
“During economic times in which many institutions and athletic departments are being forced to cut sports, we are excited about the model we have put together in working with our admissions department which allows us to add indoor and outdoor distance track,” Director of Athletics Glenn Hofmann said. “The addition of track will increase enrollment at Merrimack, improve the overall quality of our cross country program and afford current members of our cross country program to compete in both the winter and spring seasons.”
Indoor track and outdoor track will be offered to male and female student-athletes and will compete primarily in distance events. Matt Pimentel, the assistant cross country coach at Merrimack, will serve as the head coach for the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track teams.
“This is a great step for our program,” said Pimentel. “Promoting indoor and outdoor track to varsity sports creates an outstanding opportunity for our student-athletes, now and in the future. Growing a successful track team will help us to become more competitive in cross country and allow us to continue to recruit a talented student-athlete."
"The addition of indoor and outdoor track as varsity sports at Merrimack is fantastic news,” said Chris Cameron, the head cross country coach for 17 years at Merrimack. “This will improve what is an already successful cross country program to get to the next level. The excitement it has already created amongst current team members, future recruits, and alumni is clearly noticeable and cannot be overstated."
Indoor track competes in the Northeast-10 in the winter and outdoor track in the spring. Merrimack will only participate in the distance events.
Merrimack, which captured the Northeast-10 President’s Cup in 1999-00, has won two NCAA Division II titles, with the hockey team claiming the national championship in 1978 and the softball team winning the title in 1994. This year Merrimack earned the Northeast-10’s football championship.
About Merrimack College
Merrimack College is a selective, independent, four-year Augustinian Catholic college offering liberal arts, business, science and engineering programs in a residential campus setting. Located on 220-acres in North Andover, Mass. just 25 miles north of Boston, Merrimack has a student body of 2,000 full-time students.
TRANSACTIONS:
Merrimack: Announced the addition of men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and will begin competition in 2010-11.
