DATE: Tuesday, June 3, 1997                 TAG: 9706030469

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   31 lines

IT'S OFFICIAL: THE MEAC WELCOMES NSU ABOARD

As expected, Norfolk State's athletic teams will have a new home next year: the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The MEAC officially approved Norfolk State's application at its spring meeting in St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., the conference announced Monday.

Unofficial approval came months ago. The MEAC, which has courted NSU for years, promised to admit the Spartans once their application to move to Division I was approved.

The NCAA gave that approval on May 22.

``They lived up to their promise,'' Norfolk State athletic director Dick Price said. ``We're very happy.''

Norfolk State will join the MEAC in September. The Spartans will be eligible for conference championships in all sports expect men's basketball. NSU won't play a full MEAC men's basketball schedule until the 1998-99 season.

The move reunites NSU with its closet rival, Hampton University, which has been a MEAC member for two years. It also reunites the Spartans with former CIAA rivals North Carolina A&T, Morgan State and Howard.

``There's a lot of natural rivalries,'' Price said. ``I think the fans will enjoy it.''

MEAC commissioner Charles Harris said Norfolk State is the ``next logical component'' in the conference's expansion. The MEAC, based in Greensboro, comprises 11 schools from Delaware to Florida.

``It's a natural extension of where we were,'' Harris said.

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