BIDDEFORD – University of New England Director of Athletics Heather Davis announced Friday that women’s outdoor track and field will be added as a varsity sport, beginning in the 2020-21 academic year.

UNE sponsors 17 varsity sports, with the most recent additions being football in 2018 and women’s rugby in 2016. Women’s outdoor track and field will join men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball and women’s rugby as varsity sports which compete during the spring sports season.

“We are pleased to announce the future addition of women’s outdoor track and field to complement our current varsity sport offerings,” Davis commented. “This will afford additional participation opportunities for female student-athletes in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship sport. I would like to thank UNE’s senior administrators for their support of this important initiative.”

The Nor’easters finished as runners-up for the 2018-19 CCC Women’s All-Sport Trophy. UNE’s club women’s track and field squad competed as a non-scoring team at the 2019 CCC Women’s Track & Field Championship.

A national search for a head coach and a program implementation plan will be announced in the upcoming months.