Heartland adds four sports to Athletics program lineup

[March 22, 2019] 

Heartland Community College will be add four sports to the Athletics Department beginning in Fall of 2020.

The Heartland Board of Trustees has approved a staff recommendation to add Women’s Volleyball, Men’s Golf and Men’s and Women’s Cross Country to the lineup of sports programs in the College’s Athletics Department.

If approved, the programs would begin competition in the Fall semester of 2020.

“We have graduating high school student athletes in our district who now will have the opportunity to continue with their sport at Heartland,” said Athletics Director Ryan Knox. “Adding these sports will increase the visibility of Heartland Athletics and help us attract even more highly-motivated and high-achieving students.”

Heartland’s current Athletics programs began in 2006 with Baseball, Softball and Men’s and Women’s Soccer programs. Three of four of Heartland’s teams were nationally ranked in 2018.

Last year the teams cumulatively reached a new high point in academic performance. With a collective Fall GPA of 3.07, Heartland’s student athletes have posted the highest marks in the program’s history, and the highest of any semester in 10 years.

Heartland’s Athletics programs show strong transfer rates, with over 90 percent of student athletes transferring to four-year schools over the last three year period. The overwhelming majority of those students have received scholarships or financial support at their transferring schools.

Last fall the school declared an intent to expand athletics and received approval from the NJCAA. Heartland will be able to add the programs with use of current facilities. Fiscal responsibility for the programs are built into the College budget through existing student fees and not with operational funds.

“When we took a deep look at other regional two-year institutions, we saw an opportunity to create athletics programs to better serve our community and strengthen the College,” said Heartland President Keith Cornille. “This will allow us to more fully utilize our great facilities and will be able to expand enrollment and opportunity at the College while maintaining our commitment to the College’s financial health.”

The Board of Trustees voted to approve the Athletics expansion recommendation at their meeting held at 6:00 p.m. on March 19.

[Steve Fast
Associate Director of Public Information
Heartland Community College]