SWCDivisions Since it was founded in 1995, the South West Conference established two divisions for its sports programs. The Colonial Division members represent the larger schools; the Patriot Division members represent the smaller schools. We have made it a practice of reviewing our structure every two years, based on the October 1st enrollment figures provided to the State of Connecticut.
Not every member school provides every sport we offer. As a result, we had a different division structure for Football, and Field Hockey and Wrestling, to name a few. This past year, it was agreed that to maintain our division structure based on the size of the school, we would redefine the divisions for each sport. For example, in the sport of Field Hockey that fields only 10 teams, the two divisions reflect only that number. In sports such as Basketball, we again divide the Conference into two divisions. When we do make these shifts, it is possible for a “swing” school to be in the Colonial Division for some sports and the Patriot Division for other sports, depending on the number of teams participating.
The Division structure for each sport is contained in the SWC Sport Rules for each sport and is updated when we review our enrollment figures. Doing this will give us an up-to-the minute enrollment count and provides a level of equity not previously attained. Please consult your individual sport rules to determine the division in which that sport team competes.
Please note that for Tournament seeding, we still select the top team in each division (Division Champion) plus the next 4 or 6 teams with the best record that would participate. We would then rank order all 6 or 8 teams (depending on the number of teams selected for each sport), seed these teams accordingly, and proceed with the tournament. The exception is football, where the two teams with the best records at the end of week #9, would meet in the championship game.
