With the loss of Bard and Polytechnic to the Skyline, the North Eastern Athletic Conference is digging further down to fill the gap. The league announced this week it was adding Penn State-Harrisburg, Wells and Wilson.

Penn State-Harrisburg will apparently begin its provisional four-year period in Division III in the fall of 2007. Wells and Wilson are already Division III members and are refugees of the Atlantic Women’s Colleges Conference. Wells has started admitting men and will add basketball in 2008-09, for both genders. Wells was one of the few schools in Division III without basketball. Wilson remains women-only.

The NEAC will be losing Bard, Chestnut Hill, Polytechnic, SUNY-Purchase and Villa Julie at the conclusion of this academic year. So for those who have lost track (and let’s be honest, that’s gotta be most of us), here’s the NEAC 2007-08 lineup:
Baptist Bible, Cazenovia, D’Youville, Keuka, Keystone, Penn State-Berks, Penn State-Harrisbug, Philadelphia Biblical, Wells and Wilson.

Unfortunately, this group will get an automatic bid.

It’s hard to imagine this group won’t change again. They’re all over the map, geographically and philosophically.