NJCAA Awards Grant to ASU Mid-South to Expand Sports Opportunities

The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Foundation has awarded Arkansas State University Mid-South a $2,000 grant to assist the college in expanding collegiate sports opportunities. ASU Mid-South is growing its sports programs beginning in fall 2023, to include baseball and softball programs.

Baseball and softball programs, expected to play in spring of 2024, join ASU Mid-South Greyhound athletics' programs in men's and women's basketball. The basketball programs have been highly successful in NJCAA Division II. ASU Mid-South men's teams have won six of the last ten Region Championships and finished Region Runner-Up the other four seasons and advanced to the NJCAA National Tournament twice in the last six years, finishing 5th in the nation in 2018 and 8th in the nation in 2022-23. The Lady Greyhounds have won four NJCAA Region tournaments and in the 2021-22 season finished 5th in the nation.

Greyhound student-athletes compete well on the court and in the classroom, according to Jeremy Reece, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and recently named interim Athletic Director. Just recently, the NJCAA named five Greyhound athletes to its All-Academic teams for the 2022-23 season naming three Lady Greyhounds, and two players on the men's team.

"With the success of our current Greyhound athletics, both competitively and academically, expanding to additional sports seems a perfect opportunity to grow the success," said Dr. Debra West, Chancellor of ASU Mid-South. "We have been so pleased in the way our student-athletes represent this institution, and look forward to increasing opportunities for students to pursue their college education while playing a sport that they love. We are proud members of the NJCAA, and are grateful to its Foundation for awarding us the grant."
Since 2018, the NJCAA Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization, has funded scholarships, community programs, and national awards for the association's student-athletes, member colleges, and administrators. "Two-year collegiate sports provide student-athletes with the opportunity to further both their athletic and academic careers," said Brian Luckett, NJCAA Foundation Executive Director. "The NJCAA Sport Opportunity Grant affords the NJCAA Foundation a pathway to continue supporting student-athletes and the member colleges who provide them with these incredible opportunities while also promoting continued growth and development throughout the organization."

For more information on ASU Mid-South collegiate sports programs, visit asumidsouthsports.com