Central Islip, N.Y. - The East Coast Conference has announced the conference will reintroduce both Men’s and Women’s Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field as championship sports, effective immediately. This will mark the first time since the 2003-04 school year that the ECC will host Track and Field Championships. The addition of the four championships brings the total number of championships sponsored by the ECC to 15.

 “We are very pleased to bring Men’s and Women’s Track and Field back as championship sports. The conference, when it was known as the NYCAC several years ago, did hold track and field championships but eliminated those when sponsorship of the sports were reduced due to schools leaving the league or deciding to no longer offer the sport,” said ECC Commissioner, Dr. Robert Dranoff. “We are committed to recognizing our student-athlete’s achievements in the classroom as well as in competition, and bringing back these sports is another chance for us to expand this recognition.”

Current ECC members fielding teams that will participate in the championships include University of the District of Columbia, Molloy College, Queens College, Roberts Wesleyan College, and St. Thomas Aquinas College. The championships will also include associate members Daemen College and Georgian Court University.

Daemen will be an associate member for the 2013 championships before becoming a full member of the conference in the 2013-14 season.  Georgian Court and University of the District of Columbia will only field a team in the women’s championships.

“With the addition of UDC, Roberts Wesleyan and Daemen College, which just entered the DII membership process this year, we realized we had the opportunity to bring Track and Field back as a championship sport,” said Dranoff. “We were very pleased, also, to have Georgian Court of the CACC join us as an associate member, this year for women’s track and field and next year for men’s as well.”

The Indoor Track and Field Championship will be held on February 23 at St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington, N.Y., while the Outdoor Track and Field Championship will be hosted by Queens College on April 27 and 28.