September 4, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ECWA to Merge with CAA

Forms new 12-team wrestling league

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ--The East Coast Wrestling Association will merge with the Colonial Athletic Association to form a 12-team wrestling conference, beginning competition in the 2001-2002 season.

The 12-team conference will consist of current CAA members Drexel University, Hofstra University, George Mason University, James Madison University and Old Dominion University, and former ECWA members Binghamton University, Boston College, Boston University, Rider University, Sacred Heart University, and Wagner College.

The 12-team conference will send 27 wrestlers to the NCAA Division I Championships, held this season at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, NY, co-hosted by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Rider and Siena College.

"Merging with the ECWA adds some of the top wrestling programs in the East to the CAA and provides a stable membership, which protects the programs and our national qualifiers" said Thomas Yeager, Commissioner of the CAA. "The CAA will now be regarded as one of the elite wrestling conferences in the nation."

The ECWA developed from the East Coast Conference in 1990-91. The ECC began operation in 1974, and grew into a 21-sport league before folding in 1990. Hofstra dominated the ECC wrestling early years, winning the first six ECC titles, and eight of the first nine. Rider won four conference titles in the 1980s, eight more in the 1990s, and again in 2000, before Hofstra won the conference championship last year. Boston College, Boston University, and Wagner College joined the ECWA in 1995-96, with Binghamton and Sacred Heart joining in 1999.

The CAA has conducted a wrestling championship since 1992, with 2001 champion George Mason having won five of the past 10 titles. James Madison captured back-to-back CAA crowns in 1999 and 2000, while Old Dominion took home the 1994 championship.

-RU-