The Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters are the athletic teams that represent

Lincoln Memorial University Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) is a private university in Harrogate, Tennessee and Knoxville, Tennessee. Its Harrogate main campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. , it had 1,605 undergraduate and 4,200 graduate and profe ...

, located in

Harrogate, Tennessee Harrogate is the largest city in Claiborne County, Tennessee, United States. It is adjacent to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The community has been known as "Harrogate" since the 19th century, but did not incorporate by that name un ...

, in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division II intercollegiate sports. The Railsplitters compete as members of the

South Atlantic Conference The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the southeastern United States. The SAC was founded in 1975 as ...

(SAC) for most varsity sports, although the bowling team competes in the

Conference Carolinas Conference Carolinas, formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) or the Carolinas Conference, is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

(CC) and the men's volleyball program plays as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. Field hockey and men's wrestling, two of three sports to be added in 2021–22, will compete in South Atlantic Conference Carolinas, an alliance between the SAC and CC that operates in those two sports, with the SAC operating the field hockey championship and CC operating the men's wrestling championship. LMU will thus become a de facto CC men's wrestling affiliate at that time. The third sport to be added in 2021–22 is women's wrestling, newly added to the

NCAA Emerging Sports for Women NCAA Emerging Sports for Women are intercollegiate women's sports that are recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, but do not have sanctioned NCAA Championships. History In 1994, the NCAA adopted th ...

program for 2020–21.

History

Athletics have been a part of LMU since 1907, when baseball was first organized on campus. The first intercollegiate contest was a baseball game against Cumberland College in 1910. From 1991 to 2006 LMU was a member of the

Gulf South Conference The Gulf South Conference (GSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Southeastern United States. History Originally known as the ...

. Prior to that, the school was a member of the

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

and competed in the Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference (1929–1961) and Volunteer State/Tennessee Valley Athletic Conference (1946–1989). Over the years the teams have enjoyed great success on the field and in the classroom. Academically, the 2000–01 women's basketball team led the NCAA Division II in team GPA and both soccer teams' 3.0 or better cumulative GPA have won them recognition from the

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

for the past few years. In November 2019, LMU hired its first ever African American Athletics Director in Jasher Cox.

Conference affiliations

NAIA *

Smoky Mountain Conference The Smoky Mountain Conference – officially the Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference – was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from December 1926 to October 1966. Most teams in the league were located in Tennessee, and there were ...

(1929–1961) *

Volunteer State Athletic Conference The Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC) was a college athletic conference which was predominantly for smaller colleges in the U.S. state of Tennessee.Gulf South Conference The Gulf South Conference (GSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Southeastern United States. History Originally known as the ...

(1991–2006) *

(2006–present)

Varsity teams

List of teams

Men's sports *Baseball *Basketball *Bowling *Cross country *Golf *Lacrosse *Soccer *Tennis *Track and field *Volleyball * Wrestling Women's sports *Basketball *Beach volleyball *Bowling *Cross country * Field hockey *Golf *Lacrosse *Soccer *Softball *Tennis *Track and field *Volleyball * Wrestling

Former teams

LMU does not have a football program, though it did have one in the past. Other sports formerly offered at LMU include fencing and tumbling.

Facilities

Facilities include the Turner Arena, Mars Gymnasium, Neely Field and Hennon Field. The golf teams are based out of Woodlake Golf Club in Tazewell, Tennessee. New soccer and tennis complexes are currently under construction.

Individual teams

The men's and women's basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, cross-country and soccer teams have all made appearances in their respective national tournaments over the years. The men's soccer team reached the NCAA Division II Championship Match in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, losing to

Franklin Pierce College Franklin Pierce University is a private university in Rindge, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded as Franklin Pierce College in 1962, combining a liberal arts foundation with coursework for professional preparation. The school gained un ...

1–0. In 2016, the men's basketball team reached the NCAA Division II National Championship game, losing 90–81 to

Augustana University Augustana University is a private Lutheran university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The university identifies 1860 as the year of its founding, the same as its Rock Island, Illinois, Swedish-heritage sister school, Augustana College. It deri ...

. In 2019, the Men’s Golf Team reached the NCAA Division II National Championship game, losing to

Lynn University Lynn University is a private university in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. Founded in 1962, the university awards Associate degree, associate, Bachelor's degree, baccalaureate, Master's degree, master's, and Doctorate, doctoral Academic degr ...

3–2.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters