Big 12 Affiliate Members News ReleaseIRVING, Texas – The Big 12 Conference today announced affiliate membership for six schools that formerly comprised the Western Wrestling Conference.
North Dakota State along with Air Force, Northern Colorado, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming will join Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia in the Big 12.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for our university and our wrestling program," said NDSU head coach
Roger Kish. "We are excited and ready to move forward in what is recognized as a premier conference."
NDSU and the other affiliate members are eligible immediately and will compete for the Big 12 postseason championship and the league's automatic qualification to NCAA postseason competition.
The 10-team Big 12 wrestling championship will shift to a neutral site and expand to a two-day event with the 2016 championship set for March 5-6 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
"We have an opportunity to get more qualifiers into the NCAA tournament, and ultimately this will raise our level of competition in preparing for the NCAA tournament," Kish said.
North Dakota State had a school-record six national qualifiers and two All-Americans at the NCAA Division I championship last year. The Bison are coming off back-to-back NCAA West Regional championships and won two of the last three Western Wrestling Conference regular-season titles.
The Big 12 also added Denver as a new affiliate member for women's gymnastics. Alabama, Old Dominion and Tennessee are affiliate members in women's rowing.
