Sunrise Athletic Conference

The Sunrise Athletic Conference was a college athletic conference founded in 2002 and affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Its member institutions were in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont.

WWW Official Site

History

The SAC was founded when both the Maine Athletic Conference and the Mayflower Conference disbanded in the spring of 2002. Both of these conferences were NAIA conferences of long standing. The conference formed with eight inaugural members: the College of St. Joseph, Fisher College, Lyndon State College, the University of [Maine at Fort Kent], the University of Maine at Machias, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Paul Smith's College and Vermont Technical College.
Royal Goheen became the commissioner of the Sunrise Conference and continued to serve as the only commissioner in the history of the SAC until it disbanded. In 1997, Goheen took on the role as the commissioner of the Maine Athletic Conference before its disbandment. In 2010 he was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame.
In 2004, the Sunrise Conference added the State University of New York at Canton after the university joined the NAIA as part of a transition from two-year to four-year institution. The conference held steady with nine members until Paul Smith's College and Lyndon State College left in 2010, dropping SAC membership to seven.
The conference disbanded in 2011 when the College of St. Joseph, Vermont Technical College and the University of Maine at Machias left the conference and the NAIA for the United States Collegiate Athletic Association and the Yankee Small College Conference. The University of Maine at Fort Kent, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, and the State University of New York at Canton then left with no regional NAIA competition to become independents in the USCAA.
In addition, Maine–Presque Isle is transitioning to an independent member of NCAA Division III, while SUNY Canton was accepted into the transition process to move from the NAIA to NCAA D-III. Fisher College joined the American Mideast Conference.

Chronological timeline

2002 – In the spring of 2002, the Sunrise Athletic Conference was founded due to dissolutions of the Maine Athletic Conference and the Mayflower Conference. Charter members included the College of St. Joseph, Fisher College, Lyndon State College, the University of Maine at Fort Kent, the University of Maine at Machias, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Paul Smith's College and Vermont Technical College, beginning the 2002–03 academic year.
2004 – The State University of New York at Canton joined the Sunrise in the 2004–05 academic year.
2006 – Lyndon State left the Sunrise to join the Division III ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association after the 2005–06 academic year.
2010 – Paul Smith's left the Sunrise and the NAIA to join the United States Collegiate Athletic Association and the Yankee Small College Conference after the 2009–10 academic year.
2011 – The Sunrise would cease operations as an athletic conference after the 2010–11 academic year; as many schools left to join their respective new home primary conferences, beginning the 2011–12 academic year: Fisher to join the American Mideast Conference, while the rest would leave the NAIA and join the USCAA: St. Joseph, Vermont Tech, Maine–Machias to join the YSCC; and Maine–Fort Kent, Maine–Presque Isle and SUNY Canton to join as USCAA Independents.

Member schools

Final members

The Sunrise had seven full members in the conference's final season, only two were private schools:
;Notes:

Former members

The Sunrise had two other full members during the conference's tenure, one was a private school:
;Notes:

Membership timeline

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id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used
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bar:1 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text:Fisher
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2012 text:AmME
bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:end text:NAIA Ind.
bar:2 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2006 text:Lyndon State
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2006 till:2008 text:D-III Ind.
bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:2008 till:end text:North Atlantic
bar:3 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text:Maine–Fort Kent
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:end text:USCAA
bar:4 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text:Maine–Machias
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2020 text:USCAA
bar:5 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text:Maine–Presque Isle
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2017 text:USCAA/D-III Ind.
bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2017 till:2018 text:ACAA
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:end text:North Atlantic
bar:6 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2010 text:Paul Smith's
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2010 till:end text:Yankee
bar:7 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text:St. Joseph (Vt.)
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2019 text:Yankee
bar:8 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2011 text:Vermont Tech
bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:end text:Yankee
bar:9 color:FullxF from:2004 till:2011 text:SUNY Canton
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2017 text:USCAA/D-III Ind.
bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2017 till:2018 text:ACAA
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:2024 text:North Atlantic
bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2024 till:end text:SUNYAC
bar:N color:skyblue from:2002 till:2011 text:Sunrise Athletic Conference
bar:N color:blue from:2011 till:end text:Post-Sunrise
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text:^"Sunrise Athletic Conference membership history"

> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space.

Conference championships

Women Volleyball

2010 UMaine Fort Kent
2009 UMaine Presque Isle
2008 UMaine Presque Isle
2007 SUNY Canton
2006 UMaine Machias
2005 UMaine Machias

Men Cross Country

2010 SUNY Canton

Women Cross Country

2010 UMaine Presque Isle

Men Soccer

2010 UMaine Fort Kent
2009 UMaine Fort Kent
2008 UMaine Fort Kent
2007 UMaine Fort Kent
2006 UMaine Fort Kent

Women Soccer

2010 UMaine Fort Kent
2009 UMaine Fort Kent
2008 UMaine Fort Kent
2007 SUNY Canton
2006 UMaine Fort Kent

Men Basketball

2011 Fisher College
2010 UMaine Fort Kent
2009 Fisher College
2008 College of St. Joseph
2007 Fisher College
2006 Fisher College

Women Basketball

2011 UMain Machias
2010 UMaine Fort Kent
2009 UMaine Fort Kent
2008 UMaine Fort Kent
2007 College of St. Joseph
2006 UMaine Fort Kent

Men Golf

2010 UMaine Presque Isle
2008 UMaine Presque Isle

Baseball

2011 Fisher College
2010 Fisher College
2009 Fisher College
2008 Fisher College
2007 Fisher College
2006 Fisher College

Softball

2011 SUNY Canton
2010 SUNY Canton
2009 UMaine Presque Isle
2008 College of St. Joseph
2007 College of St. Joseph