MINNEAPOLIS -- The St. Thomas athletic program could be going Division I. University President Julie Sullivan announced Friday the school has received an invitation to join the Summit League, which is a Division I athletics conference.

Four months ago it was announced that St. Thomas would be involuntarily removed from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which it had been a part of for nearly 100 years.

Membership into the Summit League will require approval from the NCAA. Sullivan says they have already submitted a request for a waiver from the current rules which state that Division III schools can only reclassify to Division II.

If the NCAA grants the waiver request, St. Thomas will begin competing in the Summit League in the fall of 2021.

The Summit League has eight men's sports and nine women's sports.  One sport they don't have is football, so it is unclear what the Tommie's football team would do.  Schools included in the league include North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, and South Dakota State.  There is a total of nine schools currently in the league.

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