The Sunrise Athletic Conference was a college athletic conference founded in 2002 and affiliated with the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA). Its member institutions were in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

History

The SAC was founded when both the Maine Athletic Conference and the Mayflower Conference disbanded in the spring of 2002. Both of these conferences were NAIA conferences of long standing. The conference formed with eight inaugural members: the

College of St. Joseph College of St. Joseph was a Private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Rutland County, Vermont. It occupies a wooded campus. Although the college was accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, it was placed on proba ...

Fisher College Fisher College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts. The college is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE). History Fisher College was founded in 1903 by Myron C. Fisher and Edmund H. Fisher under the nam ...

Lyndon State College Lyndon State College was a public liberal arts college at Lyndon, Vermont. In 2018, it merged with Johnson State College to create Northern Vermont University; the former campus of Lyndon State College is now the university's Lyndon campus ...

, the

University of Maine at Fort Kent The University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMaine Fort Kent or UMFK) (French: ''Université du Maine à Fort Kent)'' is a public college in Fort Kent, Maine. It is the northernmost campus of the University of Maine System. It is an academic center ...

, the

University of Maine at Machias The University of Maine at Machias (UMaine Machias or UMM) is a public college in Machias, Maine. It is part of the University of Maine System. The institution was founded in 1909 as a normal school for educating teachers, and offers studies i ...

, the University of Maine at Presque Isle,

Paul Smith's College Paul Smith's College is a private college in Paul Smiths, New York. Paul Smith's College offers associate and bachelor's degrees. Its 14,000-acre campus is one of the largest college campuses in the world. Approximately 1,000 students attend ...

and Vermont Technical College. Royal Goheen became the commissioner of the Sunrise Conference and continued to serve as the only commissioner in the history of the SAC until it disbanded. In 1997, Goheen took on the role as the commissioner of the Maine Athletic Conference before its disbandment. In 2010 he was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame. In 2004, the Sunrise Conference added the

State University of New York at Canton The State University of New York at Canton (SUNY Canton) is a public college in Canton, New York. It is part of the State University of New York. The college offers 31 bachelor's degrees, 20 associate degrees, three one-year certificate programs, ...

after the university joined the NAIA as part of a transition from two-year to four-year institution. The conference held steady with nine members until Paul Smith's College and Lyndon State College left in 2010, dropping SAC membership to seven. The conference disbanded in 2011 when the

, Vermont Technical College and the

left the conference and the NAIA for the

United States Collegiate Athletic Association The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization for the intercollegiate athletic programs of 72 mostly small colleges, including community/ junior colleges, across the United States. The USCAA holds 15 natio ...

(USCAA) and the

Yankee Small College Conference Yankee Small College Conference is a Division II conference in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). The conference consists of two-year and four-year schools from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York State. The con ...

(YSCC). The

, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, and the

then left with no regional NAIA competition to become independents in the USCAA. In addition, Maine–Presque Isle is transitioning to an independent member of

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

, while SUNY Canton was accepted into the transition process to move from the NAIA to NCAA D-III.

joined the American Mideast Conference.

Chronlogical timeline

* 2002 - In the spring of 2002, the Sunrise Athletic Conference (a.k.a. the Sunrise) was founded due to dissolutions of the Maine Athletic Conference and the Mayflower Conference. Charter members included the

(now Northern Vermont University at Lyndon),

, University of Maine at Presque Isle,

and Vermont Technical College, effective beginning the 2002-03 academic year. * 2004 - The

(a.k.a. SUNY Canton) joined the Sunrise, effective in the 2004-05 academic year. * 2006 - Lyndon State (now Northern Vermont–Lyndon) left the Sunrise to join the Division III ranks of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA), effective after the 2005-06 academic year. * 2010 - Paul Smith's left the Sunrise and the NAIA to join the

(USCAA) and the

(YSCC), effective after the 2009-10 academic year. * 2011 - The Sunrise would cease operations as an athletic conference, effective after the 2010-11 academic year; as many schools left to join their respective new home primary conferences, effective beginning the 2011-12 academic year: Fisher to join the American Mideast Conference, while the rest would leave the NAIA and join the USCAA: St. Joseph, Vermont Tech, Maine–Machias to join the YSCC; and Maine–Fort Kent, Maine–Presque Isle and SUNY Canton to join as USCAA Independents (the latter two are either accepted or in the process into transition from the NAIA to NCAA Division III).

Member schools

Final members

The Sunrise had seven full members in the conference's final season, only two were private schools: ;Notes:

Former members

The Sunrise had two other full members during the conference's tenure, one was a private school: ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2002 till:2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.9,0.8,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.8,0.9,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text:

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

(2002–2011) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2012 text: AmME bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:end text: NAIA Ind. bar:2 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2006 text: Lyndon State (2002–2006) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2006 till:2008 text: D-III Ind. bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:2008 till:end text:

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe a ...

bar:3 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text: Maine–Fort Kent (2002–2011) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:end text: USCAA bar:4 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text: Maine–Machias (2002–2011) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2020 text: USCAA bar:5 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text: Maine–Presque Isle (2002–2011) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2017 text: USCAA/D-III Ind. bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2017 till:2018 text: ACAA bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:end text:

bar:6 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2010 text: Paul Smith's (2002–2010) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2010 till:end text:

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United S ...

bar:7 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text: St. Joseph (Vt.) (2002–2011) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2019 text: Yankee_ The_term_''Yankee''_and_its_contracted_form_''Yank''_have_several_interrelated_meanings,_all_referring_to_people_from_the_United_States._Its_various_senses_depend_on_the_context,_and_may_refer_to_New_Englanders,_residents_of_the__Northern_United_S_...

History

Chronlogical timeline

Member schools

Final members

Former members

Membership timeline

Sports

Conference championships

References

External links