GREENVILLE, S.C. – Conference Carolinas is excited to announce the dates of seven developmental championships to be held during the 2026-27 academic year.

Conference Carolinas has conducted developmental championships since 2021 with at least four championships held each year. For 2026-27, a developmental championship is scheduled to be held in men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s wrestling, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball. The developmental teams will be composed of student-athletes that have either not competed at the varsity level in 2026-27 or have competed sparingly at the varsity level by the time of the championship.

“This is a unique concept in the NCAA that provides an opportunity for our developmental teams to compete at the conference level,” Commissioner Chris Colvin said. “These one-of-a-kind events allow us to provide more of our student-athletes with a championship experience and enhance the overall competitive experience for this group of student-athletes. We are thrilled to be able to sponsor these championships and are excited about the slate for this year.”

Men’s soccer will feature nine institutions competing at two sites in a preliminary round on Monday, October 12, 2026, hosted by Francis Marion University and Young Harris College. The championship final will be contested between the two preliminary round winners on Monday, October 19 at Francis Marion. The Francis Marion bracket will include the host Patriots, Barton College, Belmont Abbey College and the University of Mount Olive while Young Harris will host Converse University, King University, Lees-McRae College and North Greenville University. Complete tournament information is available here.

Women’s soccer will feature four institutions competing at the University of Mount Olive on Monday, October 19, 2026. Barton will face Mount Olive while Belmont Abbey will face King. Complete tournament information is available here.

The women’s volleyball developmental championship will be played at Erskine College on Monday, October 26, 2026. The crown will be contested between the host Flying Fleet, Chowan University, Ferrum College, Mount Olive and Shorter University. Complete tournament information is available here.

The men’s wrestling developmental championship is slated for Monday, January 25, 2027, at Lander University and will feature the host Bearcats, Allen University, Belmont Abbey, Bluefield State University, Coker University, Mount Olive and Newberry College. Complete tournament information is available here.

The men’s basketball tournament features 17 teams from 14 institutions and will be composed of four preliminary round sites and a four-team final site. Belmont Abbey will have two teams and host Ferrum, Francis Marion and Lees-McRae. Chowan will host Barton and two teams from Mount Olive. Erskine will have two teams and host Converse and King while Shorter will host Emmanuel University, Southern Wesleyan University and Young Harris. The preliminary rounds are scheduled for Monday, February 1, 2027. The winners from each preliminary round will square off at Lees-McRae on Monday, February 8. Complete tournament information is available here.

Women’s basketball will feature six institutions competing at two preliminary round sites on Monday, February 1, 2027. Ferrum will host Barton and Mount Olive while Lees-McRae will host Belmont Abbey and Young Harris. The two preliminary round winners will meet in the championship final at Belmont Abbey on Monday, February 8. Complete tournament information is available here.

The baseball developmental championship features 10 institutions competing at three preliminary sites on Monday, April 5, 2027. Erskine will host Emmanuel and Francis Marion while Ferrum will host Barton and Chowan. Southern Wesleyan is the third host, welcoming Belmont Abbey, King and Young Harris. The winner of each preliminary round along with the top second-place team will travel to Francis Marion for the final rounds on Monday, April 12. Complete tournament information is available here.

Conference Carolinas originally added the concept of developmental championships to its bylaws in 2020, but delayed the implementation of the concept until 2021-22. A minimum of four member institutions must declare interest in order for the championship to be considered. All full and associate members are eligible to enter a team in each championship. Complete tournament information for each championship can be found at ConferenceCarolinas.com/Championships.