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Will Utah Add Lacrosse?

By Adam McKee
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Rumors have been swirling the past few days that the University of Utah was considering adding Men's Lacrosse as an official NCAA  division I sport. Utah already has a men's lacrosse team, however it is not an official division I sanctioned team at this time.

Then today reports began to surface that Utah had indeed decided to add Men's Lacrosse in either 2019 or 2020.

However almost as soon a Lax Sports Net sent out that tweet, the University's official athletic department twitter account refuted the report.

So what's going on? Is Utah really considering men's lacrosse as an official sport? While the twitter can be less than reliable at times for factual information, it is strange that so many reports about Utah adding lacrosse would come out of thin air if there was indeed nothing in the works.

Adding to the speculation was the recent news that Seth Neelman, a former Loyola Maryland recruit would be joining Utah as member of the 2020 class and August Colonna was transferring to Utah from Wagner, a division I program back east. The thought was why would these players choose to give up playing division I lacrosse to play for a club team at Utah?

If the speculation is true, Utah would be the first Pac-12 school with division I lacrosse and also the western most division I program in the country. Currently the University of Denver and Air Force are the western most division I programs.

Currently division I lacrosse is primarily an east coast sport, with 85% of the programs being located on the eastern seaboard between New Hampshire and Maryland. Obviously the sport is becoming more popular every year out west and the sport would love to see expansion into the Pac-12 market.

As of now the University has denied they are adding lacrosse, so this is all speculation at this point. We will keep an eye on this topic and update if anything changes.

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