2020 LYCOMING COLLEGE SPRING MAGAZINE

intervention and consent training, as well as student-athletes participating in the NCAA APPLE Institute.” Alexander named head strength and conditioning coach After two seasons as a strength and conditioning assistant at Division I Towson University, Joe Alexander joined Lycoming College as its first head strength and conditioning coach in early August 2019. “We are extremely pleased to have Joe at Lycoming College as our first full-time strength and conditioning coach,” Clark said. “This position is designed to not only help make our athletes stronger and faster with more endurance, but to help make our athletes more durable. Our strength and conditioning coach is expected to be a key part of our athletes’ rehabilitation process.” Alexander quickly got up and running, working with the football and volleyball teams during their seasons in the fall, while preparing the swimming, basketball, softball, and lacrosse programs for their upcoming seasons with voluntary off-season workouts. Alexander has worked to build relationships with exercise science majors from nearby colleges and welcomed three interns to assist with workouts during the Spring 2020 semester. He has also begun to assess the equipment in the weight room and has worked with the department to identify needs for his department in order to make workouts more efficient and effective. The athletic department has already begun planning for the equipment upgrades, which include several new racks for the weight room on the lower level of the Recreation Center. “The biggest thing that new equipment will do for us is create more training time and opportunities for our athletes,” Alexander said. “It’ll give us a better schedule to offer athletes, which means they can take care of their classes and everything else that they have to do more efficiently. It will create a better experience for our student-athletes and our whole student body as well. That gives more training options for everyone when they use the weight room. Of course, it gives us better set-up options and better flow within lifts for bigger teams.” UPMC Susquehanna partners with Lycoming College to support athletics facilities The all-purpose artificial turf field on the western edge of the Shangraw Athletic Complex has its own name for the first time, as Lycoming College announced in June 2019 that UPMC Susquehanna has secured the naming rights of the field for the next 10 years, with the College’s goal of making it a premier facility in the MAC. As an All- American Corporate Partner of the College, UPMC Susquehanna has given the field the moniker UPMC Field. “Lycoming College is grateful for the commitment that UPMC Susquehanna has made to support improvements to the soccer/lacrosse field, and we are delighted to recognize their support by naming UPMC Field,” said President Kent Trachte, Ph.D. UPMC Susquehanna’s commitment, along with additional financial support, will be used to construct a new seating area, upgrade the press and media facility, and provide additional facility enhancements including lighting. During the summer of 2018, the project began with the replacement of the original turf surface and the widening of the field by seven yards to make it a recommended playing size for NCAA soccer and an ideal host site for NCAA post-season events. It continued in 2019 with the addition of a new scoreboard and sound system. Going back to the future In May 2019, the Middle Atlantic Conference Presidents Council agreed to a realignment that will see Lycoming College move from the MAC Commonwealth to the MAC Freedom. With 18 members, the MAC is the largest conference in Division III, and both the MAC Commonwealth and the MAC Freedom receive automatic qualifiers in many of the sports sponsored by the con- ference. This realignment followed recent decisions by the Council to admit both the Stevens Institute of Technology and York College to the MAC. Beginning with the 2020-21 academic year, Lycoming will compete in the MAC Freedom in the sports of soccer, volleyball, basketball, lacrosse, softball, tennis, and golf. With this move, the Warriors will now compete for championships against the three geographically closest schools — Misericordia University, King’s College, and Wilkes University — as well as Dela- ware Valley University, DeSales University, FDU-Florham, and Arcadia University (also moving to the MAC Freedom). New to the schedule will be the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. IS By Joe Guistina 21 www.lycoming.edu