ALAMOSA, Colo. - The Adams State College Board of Trustees unanimously approved a plan Friday that will add five additional “enrollment-based” sports to the institution’s well-rounded athletic program over the next two years. The plan calls for the addition of men’s golf, men’s soccer and women’s swimming & diving for the 2009-2010 academic year and further expansion with the sports of women’s lacrosse and men’s swimming & diving, starting in the fall of 2010.

The college’s cheerleading program will also be expanded and made into a co-ed squad as part of the plan that is intended to increase enrollment, graduation rates and retention rates for the college as a whole while maintaining the competitive resources of Adams State’s existing sports despite tough economic times that are hitting funding levels for higher education

Adams State, a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) at the Division II level, currently fields 14 athletic programs- eight women’s and six men’s. This plan, which maintains ASC’s gender-equity balance, will increase the college’s total numbering of athletic offerings to 19 — 10 women’s and nine men’s — and immediately reintroduces a sport (men’s golf) that has a proud history at Adams State until it was dropped less than three years ago.

Adams State currently has approximately 375 student-athletes. The department will grow to serve more than 500 by the time is fully implemented, more than a quarter of the entire student-body population. “Studies, both internal and external, have shown that student-athletes perform, remain and graduate at a significantly higher level than their non-athletic peers,” Adams State Athletic Director Larry Mortensen said. “Why wouldn’t we want more students like that?”

Mortensen was quick to point out that the new programs will not take away resources from existing sports and will be funded with revenues generated from the 154 new students expected to enroll at Adams State as a result of the new sports. The scholarships that the new sports will offer to student-athletes will be in the form of partial room waivers in Adams State’s residential facilities, currently filled at an about 80 percent capacity, according to Director of Auxiliary Services Bruce DelTondo.

“It also will help fill beds in our under-used dormitories and bring more geographically, racially and economic diverse students to our campus. Studies have also shown that the addition of athletic programs at other institutions have resulted in increased enrollment as new students often bring friends, boyfriends or girlfriends and spouses with them, an additional group of new students. The possibilities and benefits of this plan are endless,” Mortensen said.

“The new sports are intended to give even more students a chance at a positive collegiate experience through athletics. That’s what many of today’s potential college students are looking for and is exactly what small-college athletics and Division II are all about,” Mortensen added. “Although part of Adams State’s mission has been and is to provide a high-quality education at an affordable cost, students need and want the extra opportunities and feeling of belonging to something beyond the classroom. This plan creates that exact type of opportunity.”

Lacrosse is one of the country’s most popular and rapidly growing sports. Touted as the oldest team sport in North America, if not the entire world, the original sport was developed by Native Americans as early as the 12th century.

The modern game is widely played both collegiately and professionally, indoors and outdoors. The Colorado Mammoth, who play the indoor version as part of the National Lacrosse League, regularly sell-out Denver’s Pepsi Center for home games and are one of the league’s elite teams. The Denver Outlaws are an outdoor team who competes in Major League Lacrosse games at the Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium. They won the Western Conference title in 2008 and led the league in attendance last season drawing nearly 11,000 fans per game.

On the collegiate level, Adams State will become the third RMAC institution to sponsor a women’s program. Regis has had a varsity program for around a decade while Fort Lewis added a squad this year. Other institutions in the state such as Colorado College and Denver University also sponsor the sport at the varsity level.

The sport is also rapidly developing in the Colorado high school ranks, especially in the Denver Metro area and throughout the Front Range, areas that Adams State recruits a large number of students. The RMAC does not currently sponsor a championship in the sport but would do so if at least five institutions participate, something that is a distinct possibility as several other RMAC schools have also expressed unofficial and preliminary interest in starting a program.

The NCAA does have a Division II Championship, held in the spring. Teams may also play against outside competition on a limited basis during the fall non-championship segment of the season, something other Adams State programs such as softball and volleyball also do. A search for a coach would begin in the fall of 2009.