VALLEY CITY, ND  (NewsDakota.com)  Bismarck State will join the NAIA for four-year sports competition, and the NAIA is establishing a new policy for male and female sports.

Bismarck State will begin NAIA competition for the 2025-26 season.  The Mystics sponsor men’s and women’s basketball, track and field, and cross country.   The college currently offers men’s wrestling, with plans to add women’s wrestling.  They also offer baseball, softball and volleyball.

Which conference the Mystics will join will be a question mark.  The North Star Athletic Association is dissolving, and the Frontier Conference, based largely in Montana, does not offer baseball or softball.

The NAIA has also issued a statement that biological men will not be allowed to play on sponsored female teams within it’s organization, starting August 1st of this year.

In the statement, the organization said it was committed to “fair and safe competition for all student-athletes”, and added that “Title IX ensures there are separate and equal opportunities for female athletes.”

Biological sex will now be the determining factor in a player’s eligibility for a team.

The NCAA is expected issue further guidance on it’s policies with transgendered athletes by August 1st.