The Associated Press

FARGO, N.D. - The Dakota Athletic Conference, once known as the DAC-10, is in danger of shrinking to seven teams, with no prospects for new members.

Minot State has formally applied to move to NCAA Division II and expects an answer by mid-July. In 2005, the University of Mary in Bismarck left the DAC for Division II status, and Si Tanka-Huron closed amid financial problems the same year.

"We would like, of course, to find additional members and we have been looking for several years and they just aren't out there," DAC commissioner LaVern Jessen said. "There are just not any prospects out there in our proximity."

Jessen was in Spearfish this week, where the league's athletic directors were meeting.

"There is a great deal of disappointment, but there is nothing they can do about it," Jessen said. "Minot has made this decision. If they do decide to leave and get in another conference, I'm sure we'll wish them well."

If the DAC does shrink to seven schools, scheduling would be a problem.

"Seven isn't a good number to work with in schedules," Jessen said. "You like to have even numbers. It just creates a bigger challenge in finding nonconference competition. It stretches your mileage."

If Minot State is accepted into Division II, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference could be a possible landing spot. The NSIC has 14 schools.

NSIC Commissioner Butch Raymond said expansion is a possibility but not a certainty. The league is putting together a five-year strategic plan and expansion is a part of that, he said.

Raymond said the strategic plan that will be submitted at the NSIC Board of Directors on June 8-9 proposes to cap membership at 16 schools, and the league would add schools in pairs to make scheduling work.

Minot State has been in the same conference with Dickinson State, Jamestown College, Mayville State and Valley City State since 1923, according to Jessen.

"There have been other members that have come and gone, but that core of five have been together," he said. "There's a lot of tradition, a lot of great sports played between those five schools. It's not something we look forward to, breaking up that. We will move forward with seven if it happens."

The other DAC schools are Black Hills State, Dakota State and South Dakota Tech.