The Sage Colleges Athletics program recently received NCAA Division III approval to expand its varsity sports program to include male as well as female students. (Traditionally, the Sage Gators teams were based at Russell Sage College for women.) Now, teams will pull from both Russell Sage and the coed Sage College of Albany.

Female students can participate in any of five intercollegiate athletic teams: basketball, softball, tennis, soccer, volleyball, and coming soon -- lacrosse.

Male students from Sage College of Albany will be eligible to play on six men’s teams to be established over a three-year period: tennis and golf in 2008-’09; basketball and volleyball in 2009-’10; and soccer and cross-country in 2010-’11.

The Sage Gators will continue to compete in the Skyline Conference, comprised of 11 colleges in the greater New York City area. The conference includes Bard College; Farmingdale State College; SUNY campuses at Old Westbury and Purchase and the Maritime College; Polytechnic and Yeshiva universities; and St. Joseph’s, Mount Saint Mary, and Mount Saint Vincent colleges.

Division III rules prohibit athletic scholarships, but many athletes qualify for academic scholarships. “The scholar-athlete tradition of Division III is very important,” said Sage President Jeanne Neff. “Team members often boast GPAs higher than the average for all students.”

Sports facilities at Sage include the Kahl Campus Center gymnasium at SCA, the Robison Athletics Center at RSC, and the newly acquired Center for Recreation and Field Sports in the Little Italy neighborhood of Troy, which adds two more gymnasiums and a new strength and conditioning facility to accommodate Sage’s sports expansion. A softball field also is under construction and a soccer/lacrosse field is planned for the future.