The Aggies no longer will be a big frog in a small pond, thanks to the good news last week that the California Collegiate Athletic Association has invited this campus and four other north-state universities to join it. The invitation means stiffer competition for more of our 23 sports among a greater number of California schools. Joining the new conference also promises to entice more Southern California high-school students to apply at UC Davis. And, say athletics officials, participating in a larger conference will create more national clout in college sports. UC Davis, along with state universities at Chico, Sonoma, San Francisco and Stanislaus, will join the seven-school south-state conference Sept. 1, 1998, creating statewide opportunities for stiffer Division II competition in a 12-school conference. "It's a new mix of schools that will pique everyone's fancy," says UC Davis Athletic Director Greg Warzecka. "Plus, we'll be getting a chance to play with UC Riverside, which is a natural rivalry. We look forward to that." UC San Diego, a strong Division III school, is an affiliate of the conference in cross country and track and field. "We have a great interest in watching UC San Diego evolve," Warzecka said. "Hopefully the campus will join someday, putting three UCs in the same league." While these schools may be new conference opponents in 1998, they are familiar rivals. "We've played these schools before in just about every sport in pre-conference competitions," says Doug Dull, assistant athletics director for sports information. The existing Northern California Athletic Conference will continue next year due to a long timeline for scheduling games. The 1997-98 schedules, for instance, are already finished and the 1998-99 scheduling will begin in spring, Warzecka said. The year's grace period will also give schools time to arrange their budgets and, for a few, time to raise money for grants. UC Davis made the historic decision this fall to begin offering athletes grants-in-aid in 1998, using private donations. San Francisco State has followed suit. Others in the Northern California conference joining the new association may also begin offering athletic grants but not all, Dull said. Some schools in the California conference are heavily into grants--California State University, Bakersfield, for instance, offers 10 full scholarships for its top-ranked men's basketball team. While only 11 of the 23 sports at UC Davis now participate in the Northern California league, the new league promises a larger pool of competition of 13, and eventually 15, sports. "It will help reduce out-of-state travel costs--with Division II, it has been difficult to find schools of similar size," Warzecka said. Aggie teams travel to Texas, Colorado, Oregon and Washington to find competition. The reduction in travel time also should mean more time in class for the student-athletes, Warzecka said. Among the new conference opponents the Aggies will face are Grand Canyon University of Phoenix, which just won the 1996 Division II national championship in men's soccer and finished fourth in national Division II women's tennis in 1996; UC Riverside, which finished second in the nation in men's Division II basketball in 1995; CSU Bakersfield, the 1993 and 1994 Division II national champions in men's basketball and finished in the national Division II basketball quarterfinals last year. The remaining sports that won't participate in the conference, except for football, have other conferences in which to participate, Warzecka said. Football, for the time being, will remain an independent competitor.