On Wednesday, Southern Indiana announced that the university has accepted an invitation to join the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), a Division One league. As a result, the Screaming Eagles will move out of the Division Two ranks to join the D1 level.
Southern Indiana's transition to the OVC will begin at the start of the 2022-2023 academic calendar, as will their reclassification from D2 to D1. The reclassification process takes four years to complete.
During that four-year period, USI will be able to compete for conference championships. However, they will not be eligible for any NCAA Championships.
Southern Indiana currently competes in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), one of the nation's better D2 conferences as far as distance running is concerned. The GLVC features teams such as Illinois-Springfield, Drury, Indianapolis, Southwest Baptist and Lewis (amongst others), all of which have produced nationally competitive individuals and/or teams over the last few years.
The Southern Indiana men and women have quietly emerged as one of the strongest D2 distance programs in the midwest region. The Screaming Eagles have qualified both their men's and women's teams for the D2 NCAA XC Championships multiple times over the last few years.