Sarah Lawrence College - Athletics

Athletics

The College sponsors intercollegiate teams in crew (aka rowing), equestrian, men's basketball, men and women’s tennis, women’s volleyball, women’s softball, and women's swimming. In a surprising development, the College announced in March 2011 that it would seek membership as a Division III member of the NCAA. The earliest the College could compete as a full member of Division III would be the 2016–17 academic year as a four-year 'provisional' period is required.

The College's official mascot is the Gryphon. It was chosen in the 1990s to represent the College's athletics teams after a long period of fielding sports teams without an official mascot. Unofficially the student body had long adopted the large resident population of 'Black Squirrels' as a de facto mascot to the college. The position of silent mascot that the 'Black Squirrel' occupied was financially endorsed by the college itself with the production of various Black Squirrel merchandise (including Sarah Lawrence clothing branded with the Black Squirrel image) and plush toys. It is only recently (post 2003) that efforts on the behalf of the college to establish the Gryphon as the icon of Sarah Lawrence have begun to take root.

In 2008/09, the school re-established the men's soccer team that plays in the Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference.

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