Yearbook - NCAA.org

2012Division IIYearbook

NCAA ConventionJanuary 16-19, 2013

Grapevine, Texas

DII Positioning Statement Life in the Balance

Higher education has lasting importance on an individual’s future success. For this reason, the emphasis for the

student-athlete experience in Division II is a comprehensive program of learning and development in a personal

setting. The Division II approach provides growth opportunities through academic achievement, learning in

high-level athletic competition and development of positive societal attitudes in service to community. The

balance and integration of these different areas of learning opportunity provide Division II student-athletes a path to

graduation while cultivating a variety of skills and knowledge for life ahead.

Table of ContentsWelcome 4 Greetings from Presidents and Management Council We are Division II 5 Keynote Speaker Spotlight 6 DII Facts and Figures 8 NCAA News and Notes 20 Membership Spotlights 22 My DII Experience by Anthony Buhr 24 Celebrating our 40th Anniversary: A Look Back 25 Forty Years Later: Major Accomplishments Since 1973 27 Committee Service Recognition and Award Winners

Year in Review 35 Presidents Council 38 Management Council 41 Academic Requirements Committee 43 Championships Committee 47 Legislation Committee 47 Planning and Finance Committee 48 Membership Committee 50 National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

Programs and Services 51 2013 Strategic Plan Priorities 53 Strategic Alliance Matching Grant 54 DII Coaching Enhancement Grant 54 Academic Requirements Task Force 55 Degree Completion Award Program 55 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program 56 FAR Fellows Institute and Advanced Institute 58 NCAA Postgraduate Internship Program 57 CoSIDA Academic All-America Program 58 Governance Academy and ADA Mentor Program 59 Conference Grant Program 59 Make-A-Wish 60 NCAA Careers in Sports Forum 60 NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum

Championships Recap 64 2011-12 Division II Champions 81 Elite 89 Winners

This yearbook celebrates the many accomplishments from

the division over the past year. It highlights the successes of

student-athletes in athletics, in the classroom and in the

community.

Molly PoitevintEditor

Division II Staff

Mike RacyVice President of Division II

Terri Steeb-GronauDirector of Division II

Josh LooneyAssociate Director of

Division II

Ruth ReinhardtExecutive Assistant for

Division II

Lisa RogersAdministrative Assistant for

Division II

Molly PoitevintGovernance Intern

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Ruth Reinhardt, Dave Pickle and the entire Division II team for your assistance with this publication. I could not have done it without

you!

Greetings from the Presidents Council and Management Council Chairs

Welcome to Dallas and the 2013 NCAA National Convention!

We want to begin by thanking you for your commitment and service to Division II. Your help makes it possible for over 100,000 student-athletes to experience collegiate athletics in Divi-sion II each year. Highlights for the next few days include the Presidents and Chancellors Sum-mit, education sessions on the Path to Graduation academic review and NCAA championships travel, a keynote address from Ron Nief and Tom McBride, creators of the Mindset List, and the business session, where we will vote on proposed legislation.

Academic year 2011-2012 has been a milestone year for Division II. Simon Fraser University became the first active international NCAA member institution. Student-athletes from across the division raised a record $470,000 for Make-A-Wish, bringing the overall total to $2.4 million. We also executed another successful Spring Championships Festival, with the city of Louisville and Bellarmine University hosting championships in six different sports. In academics, student-athletes continued to graduate at a higher rate than the overall general student body.

As we look to what this next year will bring, we want to begin celebrating the 40th anniversary of Division II. Division II was created at a special Convention in August of 1973 and from that time forward, we have worked diligently to define what makes us unique and explain why we chose Division II. Whether your institution is a long-time member or new to the division, we hope you will join us in celebrating 40 years of accomplishments, both in athletics and academ-ics.

Thank you for allowing us to serve as your chairs and we look forward to seeing you next year in San Diego!

Ann MartinManagement Council chairDirector of Athletics, Regis University

Dr. Patrick O’BrienPresidents Council chairPresident, West Texas A&M University

2012 Division II Yearbook • 4


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Speaker Spotlight: Ron Nief and Tom McBrideCreators of the Mindset List and 2013 Keynote Speakers for Division II

Each year, Ron Nief and Tom McBride from Beloit Col-lege set out to create the Mindset List, which is a list that will help inform faculty about the mindset and attitudes that incoming freshman will bring into the classroom.

The duo met in 1996 and began creating the annual list in 1998 after coming to the alarming realization that fresh-man did not always understand references that professors made.

The list, comprised of roughly 75 different types of historical refer-ences, typically receives the “boy, I’m getting old!” reaction from many who read it each year. For example, on this year’s list for the incoming class of 2016, refer-ences to paper airplane tickets, a hard copy set of encyclopedias or even to Billy Graham may be lost on the students.

“Generation gaps have always needed glue,” says co-creator McBride. Nief and McBride aim to create that glue for different generations.

Closing those generational gaps can be important for student suc-cess because it helps students make connections in the class-room. Nief starts the list from scratch each year and takes on much of the research. He uses newspapers, maga-zines and various other media to gather information and try to piece together the mindset of someone who was born in that year.

“I’ll soon be the leading expert on 1995,” says Nief, as that is the year that the incoming students from the class of 2017 were born. “Eighteen years may not seem like much, but references do seem to ‘harden’ which can prevent faculty from connecting with stu-dents.”

Similar to academics, in ath-letics, relationships between coaches and student-athletes are important for the overall success of the team.

For example, a football coach who asks his or her team to run a “T” formation may see blank stares as current student-ath-letes may not understand the reference. Coaches must un-derstand the mindset of each new incoming class to commu-nicate effectively.

Additionally, with the rapid development of technology, coaches are no longer the pri-mary knowledgeable resource in relation to their sports. Student-athletes may tap alternative sources for training techniques

and skills development. This tip-of-the-finger access may require coaches to become more famil-iar with recent developments in their sports.

Whether to professors in the classroom, coaches on the field or just a curious person cruising the internet, the Mindset List has been valuable in closing gaps and bringing generations together.

Ron Nief, right, and Tom McBride, left, are the co-creators of the Mindset List and keynote speakers for Division II at the 2013 Convention.

LIFE IN THE BALANCE. Higher education has lasting importance on an individual’s future success. For this reason, the emphasis on the student-athlete experience in Division II is a comprehensive program of learning and development in a personal setting. The Division II approach provides growth opportunities through academic achievement, learning in high-level athletics competition and development of positive societal attitudes in service to community. The balance and integration of these different areas of learning opportunity provide Division II student-athletes a path to graduation, while cultivating a variety of skills and knowledge for life ahead.

Median Total Expenses by Quartile (Source: 2010-11 NCAA Financial

Information System) With

Football Without Football

1st Quartile of Schools

$8,543,000 $6,045,000

2nd Quartile of Schools

$5,777,000 $4,029,000

3rd Quartile of Schools

$4,545,000 $3,160,000

4th Quartile of Schools

$3,059,000 $2,164,000

Total Median of Quartiles

$5,057,000 $3,644,000

Annual Totals for the Division II Make–A-Wish ® Campaign

2003-04 $45,757

2004-05 $80,658

2005-06 $116,950

2006-07 $208,022

2007-08 $316,958

2008-09 $359,187

2009-10 $407,683

2010-11 2011-12

$405,752

$468,569

Total $2,409,536

Membership Facts

Number of Sports Sponsored Per Institution

(Source:2011-12 Participation Report) Total Members—315

Candidacy Yr. One—9; Candidacy Yr. Two—9; Provisional—8; Active—289

Composition—Active Institutions Public Institutions—(51%) Private Institutions—(49%) Undergraduate Enrollment

Men—519,233 (43%); Women—683,842 (57%) Student-Athletes

Men—63,692 (59%); Women—44,249 (41%) Participation in Division II

Championships Men—50%; Women—50%

Men Women

Low 4 4

High 13 14

Average 6.9 7.9

Undergraduate Enrollment (Source: 2012 NCAA Membership

Database)

Men Women

Highest Institutional Total

203 150

Average 39.5 30.9

Average Number of Student-Athletes Per Division II Institution

(Source: 2009-10 Participation Report)

NCAA Division II Sponsored Championships

(Source: 2011-12 Division II Championships Program)

Enrollment Active Division II Schools

Percent

15,000 & Above

6 2.1

7,500-14,999 35 12.1

2,500-7,499 115 39.8

2,499 & Below

133 46.0

Average Enrollment: 4,163

With Football

Without Football

Avg. Men

263 133

Avg. Women 155 125

Avg. Total

418 258

Smallest 182 87

Largest 956 728

Sports Participants

Men 12 6,199

Women 13 6,241

Average Number of Student-Athletes Per Division II Institution

(Source: 2011-12 Participation Report)

Scholarship Equivalencies per Division II Institution

(Source: 2011 NCAA Financial Information System)

DIVISION II ATTRIBUTES Learning: multiple opportunities to broaden knowledge and skills Service: positive societal attitude through contributions to community Passion: enthusiastic dedication and desire in effort Sportsmanship: respect for fairness, courtesy; ethical conduct toward

others Resourcefulness: versatile skill set drawn from broad range of

experiences Balance: emphasis on collective knowledge; integration of skills

2013 Division ii Facts & Figures

REASONS TO BELIEVE IN DIVISION II

Graduation Rates.

Athletics Scholarships. Championships Opportunities.

Community Partnerships. Proud Alumni and Fans.

“FIRSTS” Division II initiated the sports festival concept in

the NCAA with a spring festival in May 2004, conducted its second sports festival in the fall of 2006 in Pensacola, Florida, and its third and fourth festivals in the spring of 2008 and winter of 2009 in Houston, Texas. Louisville, Kentucky, hosted both the Fall 2010 and Spring 2012 Festivals. Birmingham, Alabama, will host the Winter 2013 edition. Division II is currently the only division conducting these Olympic-type events where multiple sports gather in the same city to determine national champions.

The Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee initiated a fundraising campaign with the Make-A-Wish® Foundation and is currently finishing its eighth year in partnership with the program. In 2011-12, Division II student-athletes raised $468,569 for the Make-A-Wish® project, bringing the total raised to just over $2.4 million.

Division II distributed more than $1,000,000 in diversity grants to institutions and conferences in 2010-11 to help hire full-time athletics administrators and coaches.

Division II has partnered with the CBS College Sports Network to create a unique relationship to bring Division II regular season football, basketball, and volleyball games to national television and broadband audiences.

TALKING POINTS Traditional rivalries with regional institutions

dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs.

Division II teams usually feature a number of local or in-state student-athletes.

Many Division II coaches perform other jobs or functions at their institutions, including teaching.

Many Division II student-athletes pay for school through a combination of scholarship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings.

Division II athletics programs are fully integrated into the institution’s operations and budget, like other academic departments on campus.

The Division II membership is focused on an “academics first” philosophy and the division’s commitment to academic excellence supports the primary mission for NCAA schools: We are preparing student-athletes to go pro in something other than sports.

Division II student-athletes consistently graduate at a higher rate than the overall student body at Division II schools. This past year, Division II student-athletes on average graduated at a 7 percent higher rate than the total student population at Division II schools.

Division II has a diverse membership, with two active member institutions in Alaska and four in Hawaii; it is the only division that has member institutions in Puerto Rico. In addition, the Division II Membership Committee recently welcomed the first Canadian institution, Simon Fraser University, into active membership.

A regionalization philosophy is used to select teams for Division II national championships brackets from four, six or eight geographic regions of the country. This emphasis on being the best team in your geographic area helps schools prioritize scheduling of regional opponents, limit missed class time and manage travel expenses.

Division II athletics events are affordable, fans are in close proximity to the action and the environment is “fan friendly.”

DIVISION II FACTS & FIGURES


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NCAA News and Notes: Important Happenings and Highlights from around Division II All stories compiled from NCAA.org unless otherwise noted.

DII honors 24 schools for high Academic Success RatesApr 27, 2012By David Pickle

Twenty-four Division II schools have been recognized as recipients of the first Division II Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence honoring athletics programs with four-year Academic Success Rates of 90 percent or more.

St. Michael’s College, a member of the Northeast-10 Conference, achieved the highest four-year ASR, graduating 99 percent of its student-athletes within six years of original enrollment. A total of five North-east-10 athletics programs made the list.

The Division II Academic Requirements Commit-tee established the Division II Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence to recognize programs achieving long-term academic success. The honor is intended to call attention to those programs and is not intend-ed as a ranking.

The Division II Academic Success Rate measures graduation rates for virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletically related financial aid. Active and provi-sional member institutions, when the data were submitted for 2010-11, were eligible for the Division II Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence. The four-year ASR measured the entering cohorts from 2001 to 2004, inclusive.

“The Presidents Council commends all of these pro-grams for this outstanding accomplishment,” said Pat O’Brien, president of West Texas A&M University and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. “Achiev-ing a 90 percent graduation rate over even one year is an impressive accomplishment. To do it over four

years says so much about the commitment that these schools have to the academic success of their student-athletes.”

The Division II Academic Success Rate captures about two-thirds more student-athletes than the federal graduation rate, which does not count incom-ing transfers, counts outgoing transfers as having not graduated and counts only student-athletes receiving athletically related financial aid. The national four-year ASR average is 72 percent.

Regardless of the measure, Division II student-athletes graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2004 entering class of student-athletes was 55 percent, compared to 49 percent for the general student body.

Division II programs with a four-year Academic Success Rate of 90 percent of higher:

ASR Institution99 Saint Michael’s98 Stonehill and University of the Sciences97 Seattle Pacific95 Philadelphia U., Rollins, Truman State and UC San Diego94 Assumption93 Adelphi, Hillsdale, Lincoln (Pa.), Molloy and Rockhurst91 Augustana (S.D.), Bellarmine, Bentley, Drury, Eckerd, Georgian Court and Colorado-Colorado Springs90 Chestnut Hill, Florida Tech and Regis (Colo.)


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Road to 2013 Final Four includes DII and DIIIMay 10, 2012By Gary Brown

Divisions II and III will be joining the Big Dance next year in Atlanta when the NCAA conducts all three men’s basketball championship games in the same

city over the same weekend to celebrate the 75th season of NCAA men’s basketball cham-pionships.

The Division I Men’s Final Four semifinals and final will be April 6 and 8 in the Georgia Dome as

previously planned. But given the celebratory nature of the event, NCAA officials invited Divisions II and III to the party. Philips Arena is the tentative site of their final games.

As a one-time experience, Divisions II and III ap-proved the additional expenses for per diem and travel.

“The more we thought about it, the more we realized what a unique opportunity it was for Divisions II and III,” said Stuart Robinson, athletics director at New Paltz State who chairs the Division III Champion-ships Committee. “For the teams that are fortunate enough to advance, it’s a life-long memory. That’s in part what intercollegiate athletics is supposed to do – provide life-long memories.”

Division II Men’s Basketball Committee chair Jim Johnson, athletics director at Pittsburg State, said his group was attracted by the chance to enhance the student-athlete experience and to increase exposure for Divisions II and III.

“Both divisions are in the midst of ambitious identity campaigns, and the exposure they’ll get in Atlanta during the 75th celebration will be invaluable,” John-son said.

Drury’s Kelsey Ward selected as Walter Byers Postgraduate ScholarKelsey Ward, a former swim-ming student-athlete at Drury University, has completed her first year at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and was a biology and chem-istry major at Drury with a 3.97 GPA. She was a nominee in her junior and senior years for the NCAA’s Elite 88 and was a finalist for this year’s NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

Ward was also a finalist for the 2011 Walter Byers Scholarship.

She was a member of the NCAA national champion-ship teams in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and was a mem-ber of Drury’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

In her application essay, Ward wrote: “If I was given the choice to be anything, I would choose to be a

doctor every time. I would love nothing more than to dedicate my life to people through medicine. The greatest gift I could imagine is the chance to travel around the world and help those who are desperate for even the simplest medical care.”

Miles Batty, a track/cross country student-athlete at Brigham Young University, was the male winner.

Batty and Ward will each receive renewable awards of $24,000.

The Byers Scholarships were established in 1988 and recognize the contributions of former NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. Recipients must have a grade-point average of at least 3.5, demon-strate evidence of superior character and leadership, and show that participation in athletics has been a positive influence on their personal and intellectual development.

Kelsey Ward


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Nebraska-Kearney wins DII community-engagement award for ‘Lopers Under the Lights’By David PickleMay 15, 2012

Nebraska-Kearney’s athletics program was honored Monday night when “Lopers Under the Lights” was recognized as the 2011-12 winner of the Division II Community Engagement Award of Excellence.

Athletics Director Jon McBride and Assistant AD Shawn Fairbanks accepted the award during the opening ceremony of the Division II National Cham-pionships Festival in Louisville, Ky.

The Division II Community Engagement Award of Excellence honors a school whose program or event builds the most effective bridges among athletics, the school and the community. In addition to a trophy, Nebraska-Kearney received a $500 prize.

Lopers Under the Lights is an annual community-engagement campaign that serves as a kickoff event for each new season of Nebraska-Kearney athletics. Held during “Welcome Back Week,” the event, now in its sixth year, has grown in popularity with the gen-eral student body and the Kearney community.

Lopers Under the Lights takes place on the field turf at Nebraska-Kearney’s football stadium. Each Loper athletics team is required to come up with an inter-active game or contest related to its sport (for ex-ample, baseball conducts a “Guess Your Pitch Speed” contest). Administrators then match up sponsors with the teams to provide participation prizes for those who play.

Prizes range from free pizza to a gift bag with mer-chandise inside. Sponsors also provide a grand prize that is presented to the random winner at a pep rally

toward the end of the program. Stu-dents and community members are invited on the field to take part in the activities, while sponsors gain exposure and are able to mingle with coaches and athletes.

While the games are going on, music and sponsor announcements are played on the PA system. Teams also have a designated time to sign autographs at a predetermined location on the field. Each team is featured.

The second hour consists of a pep rally featur-ing various activities. The Loper band kicks off this portion and is followed by appearances from all the coaches and athletes of the fall sports. Others who address the crowd include the university chancellor, the student government president and the athletics director. Winners of larger prizes are announced at this time.

“The best part about this event is the connection fostered among athletes, general students, the com-munity and our sponsors all in a dynamic two-hour setting,” said the school’s entry. “It is always great to see our teams providing an experience for our fans in an open, social setting. We are able to see first-hand how truly great our student-athletes are.”

Attendance for Lopers Under the Lights is about 1,000 students, community members, student-ath-letes, coaches and supporters of the program.

DII Woman of the Year FinalistsThe NCAA’s Woman of the Year Award honors fe-male student-athletes who have distinguished them-selves throughout their collegiate careers in aca-demic achievement, athletic excellence, community service and leadership.

Congratulations to the three finalists from Division II: • Grace Collins, a softball student-athlete from Bar-

ry University majoring in philosophy and history.

• Kate Griewish, a cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field student-athlete from Lenoir-Rhyne majoring in biology.

• Verena Preikschas, a tennis student-athlete from California State University, Stanislaus majoring in psychology.


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Central Missouri earns 2012 Division II Game-Environment AwardBy David PickleNov. 26, 2012

A special street fair that kicked off the start of the 2012 football season and a tribute to the military earned Central Missouri the Division II Game-Envi-ronment Award for 2012.

The street fair, called “Get the Red Out,” brought together many merchants from Warrensburg and provided Central Missouri students and community patrons an opportunity to enjoy a festive time to-gether.

“Get the Red Out” led up to the home opener against Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association rival

Northwest Missouri State and “Military Appreciation Day,” which was presented by the Missouri National Guard. Pregame ceremonies included recognition of military heroes with a flyover by a Missouri National Guard Apache Helicopter. Also, representatives from the Missouri National Guard and nearby Whiteman Air Force Base participated in the pregame coin toss.

The pregame festivities also included a ceremony honoring Division II’s sponsorship of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and supporting Charly Erpelding, a Wish kid with connections to Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri State.

At halftime, the Missouri National Guard, which is also sponsoring Central Missouri’s new scoreboard/videoboard, conducted a ceremony in which several new recruits were sworn into military service.

Game-Environment Award Winners for 2012

• California State East Bay, California Col-legiate Athletic Assocation, for “Pioneer 1K Pack the House Challenge”

• Central Missouri, Mid-America Intercolle-giate Athletics Assocation, for “Get the Red Out” and “Military Appreciation Day”

• Concordia-St. Paul, Northern Sun Intercol-legiate Conference, for “Day of Heroes”

• Georgia College and State University, Peach Belt Conference, for “Battle of the Cats”

• Georgian Court, Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, for “Celebration of Girls in Sports Day”

• Lincoln (Pa.), Central Intercollegiate Athletic Assocation, for “Lincoln Legacy Walk”

• Mount Olive College, Conference Carolinas, for “Blackout”

• Queens (N.Y.), East Coast Conference, for “MidKnight Madness”

• Rockhurst, Great Lakes Valley Conference, for “Jam the Gym”

• Saint Leo University, Sunshine State Confer-ence, for “ROARwards Cash Jackpot”

• Southeastern Oklahoma, Great American Conference, for “Junior Captains”

Central Missouri's "Get the Red Out" promotion this fall brought a lot of red into the city of War-rensburg for a football weekend.

It also was the first game for the new “Command Pass,” which allows active-duty military personnel and family members – along with Central Missouri faculty and staff (and family members) – to receive free admission to any regular-season home athletics event.

All conference winners of the Division II Game-Envi-ronment Award will receive a $500 award.


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TOWSON, Md. – Senior third baseman Bryan Lippin-cott of Concordia University-St. Paul (Minn.) has been named the 2012 Capital One Division II Academic All-America® of the Year, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

A finance major who graduated with a perfect 4.0 G.P.A., Lippincott was a two-time winner of the Capi-tal One Academic All-America® of the Year award for Division II baseball. He was chosen as the Capital One Academic All-America® of the Year in the Col-lege Division in 2011 and in Division II this year.

The Capital One Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2011-12 Division II Academic All-America® teams program.

He is the first student-athlete ever selected to rep-resent the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) for this award.

His batting average of .494 was the highest mark recorded by any baseball player in NCAA Division I, Division II and Division III. Lippincott was also sec-ond in the nation in on-base percentage (.594) and third in slugging percentage (.864).

"Winning this award is a tremendous honor,” said Lippincott. “I feel that it reflects not only the hard work I put in on and off the field, but the hard work of my professors and coaches. I was blessed to have

a great collegiate experience, and it is wonderful to go out being named as the Capital One Academic All America® of the Year in Division II."

A starter in all 46 games for the Golden Bears, the Des Moines, Iowa, native scored 49 runs while hitting 19 doubles with 10 home runs and 52 runs bat-ted in. He led Concor-dia-St. Paul to a 21-25 record. He finished his career with a .428 bat-ting average, setting a school record.

He also finished his career as Concordia's all-time leader in runs scored (170), doubles (63) and triples (12).

A four-year starter who played in 161 games, he is ranked among Concordia-St. Paul’s all-time leaders with 41 stolen bases, a .715 slugging percentage and 28 home runs.

Lippincott was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 19th round of the Amateur Baseball Draft in June. He is currently playing for the Nationals’ minor league team in the Gulf Coast League.

Bryan Lippincott of Concordia-St. Paul named as Capital One Division II Academic All-America of the YearAugust 8, 2012www.cosida.com

Bryan Lippincott, base-ball student-athlete from Concordia-St. Paul.

2011-12 Capital One College Division II Academic All-Americas of the YearName Institution Major (GPA)Mark Anderson Barry Criminal Justice (3.61)Shawn Boss Central Missouri Computer Information Systems (4.00)Ashley Botts Grand Valley State Biology (3.64)Clay Garcia Colorado School of Mines Material Mechanics (3.91)Betsy Graney Grand Valley State Physical Therapy (4.00)Kendra Huett Minnesota St. Mankato Nursing (3.99)Catherine Leix Wayne State Science Education (3.96)Bryan Lippincott Concordia-St. Paul Finance (4.00)Michelle McDonald Winona State Elementary Education (3.96)Luke McPeek Adams State Counseling (4.00)Keala Peterson Sonoma State Anthropology/Psychology (3.96)Nick Trull Anderson (S.C.) Kinesiology (3.90)


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Brasfield, Tjeerdsma to head DII ‘Coaches Connection’ pilotSep 18, 2012By David Pickle

When Division II considers future policy or legislation changes, football and women’s volleyball coaches will discover they have key advocates who can under-stand and articulate their points of view.

Those sports are piloting a new program called “Coaches Connection” that will use prominent former coaches to create a more effective dialogue between coaches and the Division II governance structure and staff.

The two coaches are both Division II legends: North-west Missouri State football coach Mel Tjeerdsma, who retired at the conclusion of the 2011 season after winning three national championships, and Kathleen Brasfield, recently retired as athletics direc-tor at Angelo State but previously a highly successful long-time volleyball coach for the Rams.

“With Kathleen and Mel, we’ve identified two people who have almost universal respect in their respective coaching communities,” said Division II Vice Presi-dent Mike Racy. “If this works the way we envision, not only will we have a better means of sharing information with coaches, we’ll have much better feedback from our coaches.”

Racy emphasized that the program is strictly a pilot – something that could be expanded to other sports if successful, or discontinued if not.

Although specific approaches have not been identi-fied yet, Tjeerdsma and Brasfield will use various platforms to communicate with coaches. Email is most obvious, but there is also a commitment for Brasfield and Tjeerdsma to meet face-to-face with their constituents at coaches’ conventions, confer-ence meetings and other events where coaches come together. New media tools, such as webinars, also will be considered.

Regardless, the hope is to create dialogue that’s deep enough to inform but sufficiently concise to honor coaches’ busy schedules, especially during their seasons.

“We have to persuade them that it’s important,” said Tjeerdsma, whose teams claimed Division II national championships in 1998, 1999 and 2009. “Coaches are always busy.”

Brasfield echoed the sentiment.

“Coaches’ priorities during the season have noth-ing to do with the future of the sport,” she said. “My hope is that we can distill the information so they know what they need to know. Then we can take their observations to improve the ultimate decisions.”

The initiative lives in a gray area of authority, one that could be considered the province of coaches associations. For that reason, the concept was vetted with the American Football Coaches Association and the American Volleyball Coaches Association before being implemented. Both executive directors said they support the effort.

“I am appreciative of the NCAA creating a liaison to Division II,” said the AFCA’s Grant Teaff. “Mel Tjeerdsma, who is highly thought of here at AFCA and deeply respected in Division II, is the perfect individual to serve in that capacity.”

AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer said the idea has been well received within her community.

“Our Division II coaches are very excited about this opportunity to have a voice in NCAA matters,” she said. “The NCAA has done a wonderful job of en-gaging and empowering student-athletes, and the one-vote-per-school structure of Division II gives administrators a way to be heard. Coaches are the other group with lots of skin in the game and giving them a way to be heard will strengthen the decision-making process in Division II.

“Kathleen Brasfield is uniquely qualified to lead these efforts. Her 647 wins as a coach, combined with nu-merous NCAA leadership positions and eight years of AD experience, give her credibility with all parties.”

Coaches ConnectionKathleen Brasfield


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Sonoma State sends a message: Hazing no jokeFormer Marine lets students know it’s not a gameBy Bob PadeckySept. 24, 2012The Press Democrat

ROHNERT PARK -- Be there. It wasn’t a request from Sonoma State athletic director Bill Fusco. It was a mandate for every SSU athlete. Unless you have a class Monday night, make it to Person Theater. Sit. Listen to what Rudy Porchivina has to say. Coaches, you too. The topic will be hazing, a word nebulous to some, maybe to many. Hazing, after all, doesn’t have a lot of bite to it. Rhymes with grazing, doesn’t it? Innocuous. A shapeless kind of word. Like being told to push a peanut across the floor with your nose. I mean, really ...

“A year ago a Florida A&M band member, as part of an initiation, was told to make his way from the front of the team’s charter bus to the back,” said Porchiv-ina, co-owner of four local sandwich shops who has become a sought-after speaker on the subject. “He never made it. He was struck repeatedly by 60 band members. His death was ruled a homicide.”

The president of the university lost his job. The stain on the university remains. Florida A&M now joins the growing list of American universities that have found embarrassment, humiliation and lawsuits from what once was considered an accepted and relatively benign rite of passage on campuses. It is National Hazing Prevention Week. Motivated especially by what happened last month at Humboldt State — the men’s soccer team was suspended for the upcoming academic year because of a hazing incident — Fusco ordered athletes from SSU’s 13 NCAA teams and 18 club teams to attend Monday’s lecture.

“Want to know how big a problem hazing is?” Por-chivina asked. “Just Google ‘hazing news.’”

I did. I came up with 12,400,000 hits.

“An incoming freshman athlete is told to run across campus screaming the school’s fight song,” said Porchivina, 47, who has visited 70 college campuses dealing with hazing.

“The next year that kid is a sophomore and he said, ‘Wow, that was cool but I can do one better. Have these freshmen run across campus screaming the school’s fight song wearing a diaper.’

“Then the next year the next freshmen run across campus screaming the school’s fight song wearing a diaper and then taking a shot of Jack Daniels.

Then it’s taking a shot of Jack before he runs across campus. Then it’s taking another shot of Jack as he makes it halfway on his run across campus. I guaran-tee it all starts innocently.”

How did Porchivina become the voice of experience on hazing?

“When I got a PhD in hazing right out of high school,” Porchivina said. “I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school (in 1983). I began my educa-tion on how to mistreat human beings.

“I am not saying the Marine Corps condones it. They don’t. But it happens, in part because the Marine Corps needs to train you to be tough, to run toward gunfire when the basic human instinct is to run away from it.

“When I left the Marine Corps in four years, I went to San Jose State, pledged and made it to Phi Delta Theta. I brought with me all my Marine Corps expe-riences. I was elected Hell Master and I was good at it. I took hazing to a whole other level. And I am ashamed of it.”

Porchivina played baseball for San Jose State. He


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didn’t stay in the sport, but he developed a bond with his fraternity. He served on Phi Delta’s national board for six years and then was elected its national president and served two more years (he is still involved in that fraternity). For Porchivina, making a team or making it into a fraternity involves similar initiation rites, power moves toward the vulnerable.

“An 18-year old arrives on campus,” Porchivina said. “He’s away from home for the first time. He desper-ately wants to belong, to fit in somewhere. So 18-year old kids in that situation, faced with hazing, 99 percent of them will do it.”

So, did Porchivina waste his time Monday night? Ac-ceptance is a powerful motivator, after all.

“People will do things in a group that they would never do by themselves,” Porchivina said beforehand. “School’s been in for only a month. But what I am hoping is to reach the leaders, the team captains of the various sports. And their coaches, too. If there is strong leadership, if the athletes know hazing is unacceptable, that’s huge progress.

“This school wants to do the right thing. I know that. Last spring three members of Phi Delta Theta told 12 pledges to each drink a gallon of milk. Well, it’s im-

possible for a human being to drink a gallon of milk in one sitting. The hazing incident was brought to our (board’s) attention. We kicked out all three members from the fraternity. We let SSU know for transpar-ency. SSU did its own investigation and subsequently suspended one member — he was the fraternity’s president — from school.”

Porchivina is aware of the 1999 landmark study con-ducted by Alfred University in upstate New York. In a survey of 224 NCAA schools and its 61,238 ath-letes, 60 percent said they wouldn’t report a hazing incident because they didn’t think it would matter. Porchivina remains undeterred.

“A kid walks on a beach after a big storm and sees a million starfish washed up on the sand,” he said. “He starts to pick one up after another and throws them back in the ocean. A man comes up to him and tells the kid he’s wasting his time. He can’t save all those starfish.

“The kid picks up another starfish, throws it in the water and says, ‘I just saved that one.’”

In a perfect world, that is what happened Monday night at SSU. Maybe, just maybe, another starfish was saved.

NACWAA honors DII Director Steeb-GronauOct 10, 2012By David Pickle

Terri Steeb-Gronau, NCAA director of Division II, was honored Tuesday as Josten’s Administrator of the Year for associations and organizations at the annual convention of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators.

The recognition was the latest in a series of awards for Steeb-Gronau, who was honored earlier this year with the Award of Merit from the Division II Confer-ence Commissioners Association. She also has won the David Knight Award from the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association and was a finalist for of the Junior Achievement Best and Brightest Award.

Steeb-Gronau joined the NCAA staff 12 years ago and was appointed director of Division II in October 2004. She works with various groups and committees within the Division II governance structure, including the Division II Presidents Council and Management Council. She also manages the Division II budget

and oversees the implemen-tation of various Division II strategic initiatives, including the National Championships Festivals, communication and policy-making strategies and the division’s strategic plan.

She received her undergradu-ate degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she was a four-year var-sity letter-winner in volleyball. She also has a mas-ter’s in sports administration and facility management from Ohio University.

Steeb-Gronau is a graduate of the 2009 NACWAA Leadership Enhancement Institute and the 2006 NACWAA/HERS program and is also a 2008 graduate of the Hoosier Fellows Program.


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Tara Erpelding knew how it felt to have her heart so full that it could burst at any moment.

Since her 8-year-old daughter Charly was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in May, the love and support she and husband Andy have received during their darkest days has never stopped.

It came when moms from Charly’s elementary school brought dinner several nights a week. It was when Tara’s parents Dee Dee and Jerry Awbrey made sure the Erpeldings always returned from the hospital to a stocked refrigerator and a clean house. It was when Andy’s sister Heidi let the dogs out several times a day and had Charly’s younger brother Will over to spend the night when Charly was in treatment. It was when friends in their hometown of Bettendorf, Iowa, provided whatever help was needed.

But support also came from a less likely source: Andy’s extended Division II family. Not only did the family of the former Northwest Missouri State all-American gain emotional backing from student-athletes at his alma mater, it also was encouraged by student-athletes and fans at Central Missouri, one of Northwest’s biggest rivals.

In fact, Charly has been connected to Division II since before she was born.

Andy is a former offensive lineman and two-time na-tional champion at Northwest Missouri State. In the late 1990s, he was recruited by Northwest’s offensive

coordinator Jim Svoboda, now the head coach at Central Missouri.

Andy and Jim remained close friends after their days at Northwest. With no children of their own, Jim and his wife Susie were especially honored eight years ago when they were named Charly’s godparents.

Through Charly’s fight with cancer, Svoboda has been a central line of support for the Erpeldings. Having defeated appendix cancer in 2009, he inspires hope for a family never willing to give in to the disease.

“Your initial reaction is shock and disbelief any time you get news like this that involves an eight-year-old child,” Svoboda said. “What you’re trying to do when you hear that news is educate yourself as much as possible with what it is you’re dealing with. You try to find out who really deals with this type of cancer and find the best people in the country that are out there to treat her.”

When Northwest and Central Missouri officials heard of Charly’s condition, their immediate reaction was to get behind this Division II family in its time of need.

“We wanted to do something together,” said North-west Athletics Director Wren Baker. “I think it says something about the Life in the Balance mentality DII has put forward.”

The decision was to highlight Division II’s affiliation with Make-A-Wish (Division II student-athletes have

A Family MatterAlma mater and rival come together to support a family in needSeptember 2012By Courtney Cronin, 2012-13 NCAA Postgraduate Intern

Division II presents a $468,569.35 check to Make-A-Wish prior to kickoff at the Sept. 8 Northwest-Central Missouri game.


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raised almost $2.5 million for Make-A-Wish over nine years). The Erpeldings had been informed earlier in the summer that Charly was a candidate to receive a Wish.

“We talk to our kids a lot about community engage-ment,” Baker said. “When you can do something like this and help somebody and an organization like Make-A-Wish, that’s a win for everybody.”

During the first two weeks of the college football season, Northwest and Central Missouri sold yellow “Bearcats and Mules for Charly” bracelets and raised a combined $2,886.25 in Charly’s name for Make-A-Wish. Both institutions’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committees organized bracelet sales at Northwest for their season opener and at Central Missouri on the second college football Saturday of the year.

“We are so dependent on student leadership to make an institution what it is,” Central Missouri President Chuck Ambrose said. “I’m really proud of Division II SAAC because if you think about a nine-year rela-tionship with Make-A-Wish and a growing relation-ship each year, this sets a role model for the whole NCAA.”

The student-athletes at both campuses didn’t require much convincing to get the communities of Maryville (Northwest) and Warrensburg (Central) to rally behind a child few people at either school had ever met.

“We’re just a community that loves to give back,” said Jordan Gadbois, a softball student-athlete and SAAC representative at Northwest. “When it comes to something like this, it’s not about a rivalry anymore. It’s about a little girl, her family and what they’re go-ing through. We want them to know that they’re not going through it alone.”

On Aug. 29, Charly underwent major surgery to remove the tumor. Even though she and her family were unable to attend the Northwest-Central Missouri football game Sept. 8, the tribute to Charly and other seriously ill children was at the forefront.

Before kickoff, a check from Division II for $468,569.35 raised during the 2011-12 academic year was presented to Make-A-Wish, highlighting another year of student-athletes support of the orga-nization.

Shortly thereafter, the public address announcer’s voice boomed over the stadium’s loudspeaker, dedi-

cating the contest between two longstanding rivals to Charly.

“It helps to put things in perspective,” Svoboda said. “It’s a rallying point for both schools and a tremen-dous test of wills on the football field, but in reality there are things far more important things out there than football.”

That includes the welfare of seriously ill children and their families − and the support they require in the most difficult of times.

Charly is recovering well from her surgery and do-ing her best to maintain the life of a normal eight-year-old. On the days she feels well, she can be found outside playing with her cousins. Not want-ing to miss a beat, she’s been keep-ing up with her school-work from home. She recently aced a spelling test, which was just the encouragement she needed heading into another round of chemotherapy and radiation.

The pathology test the family received post surgery was encouraging, although they are well aware of the many treatment challenges that lie ahead.

It is, without doubt, a difficult road – but one that has been made more navigable because of the sup-port of families, extended and otherwise.

“Everyone that we have in our lives have pitched in and done more than we can imagine,” said Andy Erpelding. “We’re by no means pulling off a miracle by ourselves, trying to keep our lives together dur-ing this time. It truly takes a village to pull off the amount of support we’ve received for Charly and we’re just a small part of that.”

Charly celebrates finishing another round of chemotherapy treatment.


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NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winnersThe NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women. The scholar-ships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.

Division II winners for 2011-12:Elizabeth Anderl, University of IndianapolisBryan Beegle, Shippensburg University of PennsylvaniaWhitney Bishoff, Anderson University (South Carolina)Megan Buri, Truman State UniversityKatrina Choate, Drury UniversityGrace Collins, Barry UniversityAndrea Dalton, University of Pittsburgh, JohnstownNicholas Di Antonio, Assumption CollegeMarcus Edgington, Augustana College (South Dakota)Zachary Grunig, Northwest Nazarene UniversityKendra Huettl, Minnesota State University, MankatoBraden Jackson, Wingate UniversityKelsey Jenkins, Seattle Pacific UniversityCody Lensing, Augustana College (South Dakota)

Degree-Completion Grant winners The purpose of the Division II Degree-Completion Award program is to provide financial assistance to deserv-ing student-athletes with completion of a first baccalaureate degree. The program is for students who have exhausted their athletics eligibility and have received athletics financial aid. The selection process for the national award emphasizes the academic performance of the student-athlete. Other factors considered are financial circumstances, athletics achievement, and involvement in campus and community activities.

Division II winners for 2011-12:Brynn Adams, West Chester University of PennsylvaniaDorothy Bailey, University of West AlabamaRosslyn Beard, California Polytechnic State UniversityNana Kwadwo Boateng, Queens College (New York)Helene Bruckner, Long Island University PostKimberly Buck, Georgia Southwestern State UniversityRiley Citron, Drury UniversityDanielle Cole, University of West AlabamaKatherine Crudo, Winona State University Kelsey DeNoylles, Ferris State UniversityCarly D’Orsaneo, Lock Haven University of PennsylvaniaAsia DuBose, Kentucky State UniversityAlla Dzhidzhiyesthvili, Northwest Nazarene UniversityAllison Fanta, University of Minnesota DuluthMarina Ferreira, Augusta State UniversityBreanna Fields, Albany State University (Georgia)Kelly Fitzgerald, Southwest Minnesota State University

Aaron Lund, Minnesota State University MoorheadMichelle McDonald, Winona State UniversityDalton Moberly, University of Central MissouriJosh Moshier, University of Alabama in HuntsvilleJohn Nunns, Mount Olive CollegeKristen Orrett, California University of PennsylvaniaJulia Pierson, University of Alaska FairbanksNatty Plunkett, Seattle Pacific UniversityJaclyn Puga, Northwest Nazarene UniversityFabia Rothenfluh, Rollins CollegeShawn Sopic, Clarion University of PennsylvaniaBrian Tillis, Truman State UniversityElizabeth Willis, Wingate UniversityLucas Wolf, Winona State University

Stephanie Fogle, Colorado School of MinesLaQwesha Gamble, Johnson C. Smith UniversityRachel Gieringer, East Stroudsburg University of PennsylvaniaLauren Grecco, Holy Family UniversityTexie Gregory, Seattle Pacific UniversityMatthew Grendel, Lake Erie CollegeCourtney Healy, Clarion University of PennsylvaniaJanae Heiser, Colorado State University at PuebloAngel Hornsburger, Lane CollegeJillian Keefer, West Chester University of Pennsylvania Abigail Kettler, Minnesota State University MoorheadNora Kiilunen, Northern Michigan UniversityChristopher Kucera, Dowling CollegeMollie Lacy, Washburn University of Topeka


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Danielle Larson, Northern State UniveristyMatthew Lauria, Dowling CollegeMolly Leland, Augustana College (South Dakota)Cassie Lombardino, Washburn University of TopekaDionna Lucas, California State University, Monterey BayLindsey Malecki, Limestone CollegeMichelle McDonald, Winona State UniversityLyndsey McIntyre, Mount Olive CollegeAbigail Menear, Ohio Valley UniversityDanielle Metz, Mars Hill CollegeJaclyn Metzger, Clarion University of PennsylvaniaVictoria Morgan, Belmont Abbey CollegeChelsea Morris, Ferris State UniveristyMatthew Motes, Armstrong Atlantic State UniversityMichelle Nava, California Polytechnic State UniversityDanny Nelson, California State University, Monterey BayMichele Niejadlik, American International CollegeCristy Nitz, Northeastern State UniversityJennie Noreen, Minnesota State University MankatoDanielle Parker, Francis Marion UniversityMakenzi Peterson, Ferris State University Rylee Peterson, Western Oregon UniversityBobby Bryn Powers, University of West GeorgiaShavonda Price, Johnson C. Smith UniversityChristine Ragona, Florida Institute of Technology

Michael Reno, Central Washington UniversityHeather Robben, Emporia State UniversitySarah Schellinger, Minnesota State University MankatoLauren Schmeing, Bellarmine University Gregory Schoenberg, Washburn University of TopekaLeAnn Severson, Augustana College (South Dakota)Sarah Simmons, Ohio Valley UniversityJustine Simons, Montana State University BillingsGlenn Steward, Lake Erie CollegeJordyn Strege, Winona State UniversityAisha Sueda, University of Hawaii at HiloKaley Sullivan, University of West GeorgiaJessica Tabor, Barry UniversityTara Thomalla, Chowan University Dickson Toroitich, Benedict CollegeBrittany Turner, Arkansas Tech UniversityAlvaro Vargas, University of the SciencesAlycia Wagner, California State University, StanislausRaven Ward, Kentucky State UniversityLaura Weber, Minnesota State University MankatoTaryn Westerman, Midwestern State University Brittany White, Albany State University (Georgia)Ashley Wilkinson, Colorado State University at PuebloKayla Williams, Humboldt State University

Did you know...

• The NCAA allocates over $1.3 million in postgradu-ate scholarship awards each year.

• The Association awards $350,000 each year for degree-completion awards to Division II.


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Membership Spotlight:John Semeraro

By Molly Poitevint

John Semeraro, associate athletic director for exter-nal operations at Saint Leo University, takes values very seriously. Whether his three personal core values of excellence, char-acter and family; the six Division II core attributes; or the values set forth by Saint Leo University, he always returns to his val-ues to guide his decision-making.

A former Division II student-athlete at Saint Leo in both soccer and golf, Semeraro is proud to say, “I chose Division II.” As a prospective student-athlete, he searched for an institution with a great student/faculty ratio in a metropolitan environment where he could play both soccer and golf. He found all three at Saint Leo.

After working at the NCAA Eligibility Center and the Peach Belt Conference office, Semeraro arrived at Saint Leo in July 2010 and was charged with helping create innovative strategies for community engage-ment, game environment, fundraising, corporate partnerships and special events.

What he enjoys most about his job is the opportunity to provide an outstanding experience for student-athletes.

“I had a great experience as a student-athlete,” says Semeraro. “I want to work to provide the same ex-perience or better for other student-athletes.”

Semeraro values creating win-win partnerships across campus and the community. Using resources effectively and efficiently is one challenge that many institutions across Division II face. Semeraro sees this challenge as an opportunity to think creatively and innovatively about the partnerships he can make and relationships he can build. One example of this type of partnership is the ROARwards program. Through this program, fans can earn points towards rewards by scanning QR codes located at sporting events.

“John has been a great addition to our department – he has worked diligently to bring all aspects of our partnerships, marketing agreements and promotions up to a higher level,” said Vicki Fredrickson, associ-ate athletic director at Saint Leo. “The ROARwards program was a great success and it was John and his team that drove it to be a great favorite of our fans. I believe that John’s commitment to making Saint Leo great is a force that will do just that – make Saint Leo great!”

When asked about his proudest accomplishment, he does not skip a beat before saying, “becoming a father.” Professionally, he is most proud of his role in helping create the DII partnership with Make-A-Wish. As a student-athlete, Semeraro served on the national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. During his service, the national SAAC created the Division II partnership with Make-A-Wish, which has helped raise over $2.4 million for Make-A-Wish since the beginning of the partnership.

Semeraro also values the importance of serving on national and regional committees. He credits some of his professional growth to committee work and enjoys having a voice on issues that affect people nationwide and the opportunity to engage with ad-ministrators.

Semeraro is an excellent example of how to live out the Division II attributes of learning, balance, re-sourcefulness, sportsmanship, passion and service on a daily basis.

Semeraro, far right, helps present a check for the Cash Jackpot to a lucky ROARwards winner. To be eligible, ROARwards members must be present for a drawing that occurs at each home conference men’s and women’s basketball games. If the win-ner is not present, then the jackpot carries over to the next game. Saint Leo and the First National Bank of Pasco partner for this program.


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Venera Flores-Stafford lives, works and coaches by the Life in the Balance motto. A wife and mother, balance is key to suc-cess and that lifestyle is one she passes on to her student-athletes.

The winningest coach in Midwestern State volleyball history, Flores-Stafford also spends her time serving as

the associate athletic director for business operations and senior woman administrator. A typical day con-sists of focusing on the business operations aspect of her job responsibilities in the morning. In the after-noon, she switches focus to her coaching responsi-bilities, whether it’s reviewing game film, running a practice, or making sure that her student-athletes are where they need to be.

Flores-Stafford says that the best part about her job is the girls. Although it is hard for her to say good-bye to the seniors, she always enjoys saying hello to the incoming freshman or junior college trans-fers and getting to know them well. Attending the weddings, baby showers and hearing from former student-athletes who are coaching makes her happy because she continues to see growth from her former student-athletes.

Striving to maintain a 100 percent graduation rate for her student-athletes, Flores-Stafford stresses the Life in the Balance philosophy. She ensures that all of her girls have the needed support to perform well, both academically and athletically. One of her main goals is to have her girls graduate and become pro-ductive alumnae and members of the community.

Flores-Stafford also believes in giving back to the community. Each year after spring competition, she and her team take part in the Mustangs Care pro-

gram by providing a volleyball clinic for area elemen-tary school students and Girl Scouts. Admission for the clinic is one canned food item that is later do-nated to a local food bank. This event helps to teach her student-athletes the importance of community outreach and of serving as good role models to the younger generation.

She credits her coaching success and overall satisfac-tion with her job to the people around her. Empha-sizing time management to her student-athletes on a daily basis, Flores-Stafford’s support system of her husband and assistant coach helps her complete her professional and personal responsibilities.

“Working in an environment where my co-workers are more like a family also makes it easier to get things done,” says Flores-Stafford.

Flores-Stafford is glad that she chose DII. She be-lieves that the balance between academic excellence and high levels of competition that Division II offers benefits both the student-athletes and the commu-nity.

Membership Spotlight:Venera Flores-Stafford

By Molly Poitevint

Venera Flores-Stafford coaches her Midwestern State volleyball team.


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Having been a competi-tive swimmer since the age of six, it was almost a foregone conclusion that I would swim in college. Like many high school student-athletes, however, I was tasked with choos-ing a college that fit both my athletic and academic interests and abilities. As a fairly good, but not elite, swimmer, I had to ask myself several questions

during this process. Should I choose a Division I school where I probably won’t receive a scholarship, probably be over my head in terms of training re-quirements, and probably won’t have a shot at mak-ing the national championship meet? Should I go for Division II, which isn’t quite as prominent as Division I or Division III in swimming, but have the chance at receiving a scholarship and qualifying for the national championship? Or should I attend a Division III school that would be great academically and athleti-cally, but probably a little more expensive because of higher tuition and fees without the opportunity for athletic scholarship?

It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, supported by the fact that I didn’t come to a conclusion until mid-April of my senior year in high school. I ended up decid-ing that I wanted to go to a school that offered my intended major (of course), was close to my home-town of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was affordable, and had a phenomenal swimming program that would allow me to train and successfully compete with national-level swimmers. I chose to attend the Uni-versity of North Dakota, which sponsored Division II programs in all sports, except ice hockey, at the time.

When I arrived at UND, everything went better than I could have imagined during the decision process. My sophomore season was my breakout season. That year, I finished 14th in the 50 freestyle and was a member of the 200 freestyle relay that won the national championship and also set a new national record at the time. Our team ended up winning all

five relays, three with new national records, and finishing second overall.

Unfortunately, it was announced during my junior year that UND would be reclassifying to Division I the following year. This meant that the university would spend the next four years in a probationary period, which disqualified us for postseason competition beyond a conference championship meet during that time.

I faced a difficult choice with the probationary period affecting my senior season. Should I stick it out at UND or should I transfer to another Division II insti-tution so I can compete nationally for my final year of eligibility? After a few months of considering that question on a daily basis, I ultimately chose to trans-fer to St. Cloud State University to finish my swim-ming career. I made that choice because SCSU was a little closer to home and because I had developed some relationships with members of SCSU’s swim-ming and diving team during the three years they were a conference opponent. After meeting with the coach during the transfer process, I was sold. He preached a philosophy that was very consistent with the Division II philosophy of work-life balance. He realized that the academic success was more impor-tant than the athletic success of his student-athletes and operated his program in accordance with that value.

I knew that it would be a tough transition, especially losing academic credits in the transfer, but I figured that it was best for me to have the most enjoyable final season possible since I wouldn’t be able to com-pete at that level again for the rest of my life.

Looking back, I still believe I made the best choice athletically and academically. That season, I sig-nificantly improved on all my times on my way to becoming a 4-time conference champion and 6-time NCAA Honorable Mention All-American. The high-light of my swimming career has to be when I was a member of the 400 freestyle relay at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship meet that season. With one event to go, SCSU was behind Minnesota State – Mankato by 6 points with only our

My DII ExperienceBy Anthony Buhr2012-13 NCAA Postgraduate Intern and former DII Student-Athlete


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relay left. To win the meet, we had to win the relay. The four of us on the relay swam out of our minds and not only won the event and the meet, but we also set a new school record by about two seconds as well as met the national-qualifying time. After our final swimmer finished the wall everyone went wild. It was probably the most electric environment I have ever been a part of, and one that I may not have been able to experience had I chosen to attend an institution in a different division.

Following my final year of swimming I took an extra semester to com-plete my degree in physical education, while volunteering as a student as-sistant swim coach with SCSU. That year, the head swim coach from SCSU offered me a graduate assis-tant position with the team for the following season. I don’t think he finished the sentence before I said yes. It was a great opportunity to further my edu-cation in addition to gaining experience in intercol-legiate athletics. That opportunity probably wouldn’t have been available had I not transferred to SCSU

my senior year. Much like the student-athletes at SCSU, my academics benefitted because the head coach understood that my education was a priority over my responsibilities with the swimming team, and he allowed me to take time off to complete schoolwork as needed.

Those two years of additional responsibility as a graduate assistant helped lead me where I am today as an Enforcement intern as a part of the Postgradu-ate Internship Program at the NCAA national office. A former club coach of mine told me about the internship when I started my gradu-ate studies and my graduate program in Sports Manage-ment requires an internship as a culminating ex-perience, so this move seemed like a perfect fit

for me. The nexus of my experience has led me to where I am today and will hopefully guide my future as I prepare for a rewarding career in intercollegiate athletics.

Anthony swimming the final of the 50-meter freestyle at the 2009 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship meet. He won this event with a time of 20.72 seconds.


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Celebrating our 40th Anniversary: A Look BackBy Molly Poitevint

Division II will take time to celebrate its 40th anniversary during 2013. At a special Convention in August of 1973, Division II was created and given the power to make its own legislation and membership requirements. This move also allowed greater championship access for student-athletes since national champions would be crowned in each division.

Two years earlier, in 1971, the Association began taking steps toward restructuring. That year, the member-ship adopted the notion of “conscience voting” whereby delegates were asked to abstain from voting on issues that didn’t specifically affect their institution. This allowed for smaller schools to vote on legislation that would affect them and larger schools to handle those issues that had more bearing on the larger campuses. Al-though this method did help, it did not placate the growing desire to make the Association more greatly reflect its members’ needs.

Therefore, to further address the issue, the Council appointed a Special Committee on Reorganization to study the current membership and determine any needs for reorganization. After two years of work, the Special Committee presented its findings at the 1973 Convention and proposed that the University and College Divi-sions become Division I and Division II. The basic requirement for Division I membership would be that an institution have a broad range of sport sponsorship and a major program in at least two sports, one of which must be football or basketball. Division I institutions would also be required to sponsor a varsity program in at least eight of the 17 NCAA sports. The schools that did not fit in Division I would be placed into Division II.

Although met with much support, the reorganization proposal failed by a vote of 218-224. Some critics of the proposal, such as the Eastern College Athletic Conference, felt that the reorganization did not allow enough opportunity for institutions to choose which Division would be right for them. Others felt that two divisions were not enough to satisfy the needs of the membership and that three would be more appropriate.

Following the failure of the proposal, the Council, in a unanimous and historic decision, voted to hold a special Convention to reconsider the reorganization issue. This time, the 11-man special committee consisted of rep-resentatives from a broad geographical footprint and also included those who represented the competitive dis-tribution of large, medium and smaller institutions. After two meetings, the committee recommended that the Association divide into three competitive and legislative divisions. This move would allow members to partici-pate in the desired level of competition and to make legislative decisions appropriate for its specific members.

The first special Convention in the history of the NCAA was held in August 1973 in Chicago. The modified re-organization proposal passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 366-13 in a meeting that lasted only two hours and 15 minutes. According to attendees, one of the most important points to come out of the meeting was the creation of more championship opportunities for student-athletes, which is a principle that Division II still holds close today. In the final alignment of institutions, a total of 233 chose Division II and then had the power to determine their own legislative outcomes.

Division II has grown from those initial 233 institutions to 289 active members, with an additional 26 institu-tions in the membership process. Over 100,000 student-athletes compete in Division II each year and have an impact on their communities both on and off the field.

Research compiled from the 1973 Special Convention Proceedings and NCAA: The Voice of College Sports, A Diamond Anniversary History 1906-1981 by Jack Falla


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1973August: At a Special Convention, the NCAA membership votes to reorganize into three divi-sions.November: The first Division II championship is conducted in cross country at Wheaton College (Ill.).

1980January: Division II women’s championships are established in basketball, field hockey, swimming, tennis and volleyball.

1997January: Convention delegates approve a fed-erated structure in which Divisions II and III retain their one-institution, one-vote policy, and implement governance structures that clearly put university presidents in charge of policymaking.August: The first Division II Student-Athlete Summit is held in Denver to involve student-ath-letes more in governance.

1998Summer: The Division II Strategic Plan is devel-oped.August: The Division II Presidents Council com-mits $250,000 in funding for the 1999-00 fiscal year to a matching grant program designed to aid Division II conferences and institutions working to enhance gender and ethnic minority diversity.

2000June: The Division II Championships Committee addresses major issues involving championships enhancements and gender equity. Participation at the time favored men by 55 to 45 percent. With approval of the committee’s recommendation to increase bracket sizes and travel party sizes in certain sports, essentially equal participation would be achieved by 2001-02.

2001Fall: The Division II Degree-Completion Award Program is created to provide deserving student-athletes financial assistance for them to complete their first baccalaureate degree.

2002Fall: Division II institutions participate in a Graduation Success Report pilot program, paving the way for use of the Academic Success Rate in Division II.

2004May: The first Division II Championships Festival is held in Orlando, Florida, and features national championships in men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, softball and women’s la-crosse. The concept of a sports festival − an Olympic-style event where multiple champions are crowned and student-athletes from different sports interact with one another − is unique to Division II.Spring: The Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee establishes its partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

2005January: The Division II membership adopts legislation that requires all institutions to submit Academic Success Rate data annually. June: The first Division II Chancellors and Presi-dents Summit is conducted. At the Summit, the Division II Presidents Council shared the results of a study on reclassification to Division I.September: Division II provides the lead gift of $1 million as the NCAA establishes its “Home Team” initiative to provide relief to the New Orleans community in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

2006January: Division II adopts a structure that penalizes institutions that use ineligible student-athletes during intercollegiate competition. The nullification system is a penalty assessed during the championships selection process.Summer: Division II signs a three-year agree-ment with CSTV to televise and broadband stream football and men’s and women’s basket-ball. Television coverage began in the fall with three televised football games and 40 games online.August: The Division II Presidents Council ap-proves a Division II strategic positioning platform that clearly articulates the strategic position and key attributes of Division II.

Forty Years Later: Major Accomplishments Since 1973


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November: Division II conducts its second na-tional championships festival (and first fall sports festival) in Pensacola, Florida. Championships are conducted in men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, and vol-leyball.

2007April: The Division II Management Council spon-sors a proposal to increase the number of core courses required for initial eligibility from 14 to 16. June: The second Division II Chancellors and Presidents Summit is conducted. The meeting agenda includes a focus on the benefits of Divi-sion II membership classification.

2008January: Division II adopts legislation that requires institutions to submit Academic Perfor-mance Census data on an annual basis and es-tablishes a penalty structure for failure to submit data.May: Houston hosts the third Division II National Championship Festival, this one for spring cham-pionships. July: Division II approves a membership pilot program to begin accepting international mem-bers. The Canadian institution Simon Fraser University enters the membership process shortly thereafter.

2009March: Houston hosts its second Division II National Championships Festival – the first fea-turing winter sports competition. Champions are crowned in men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s indoor track, and wrestling.December: The Division II Financial Dashboard Tool is piloted in 2008 and launched at the June 2010 Division II Chancellors and Presidents Sum-mit.

2010January: The Division II membership passes Phase One of its landmark “Life in the Balance” legislative package aimed at aligning playing and practice seasons with the Division II strategic positioning platform.June: The third Division II Chancellors and Presi-dents Summit is conducted in Indianapolis. Dis-cussions focus on measuring the success of the “Life in the Balance” initiative; planning for the long-range financial stability of the Division; man-aging membership growth; and promoting best practices at Division II historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions.July: The Division II Membership Committee approves a new set of minimum requirements for institutions seeking Division II membership.September: The latest Academic Success Rate data are released, showing a 71 percent gradua-tion rate for Division II student-athletes. November-December: The fifth Division II Na-tional Championships Festival is held in Louisville. The four-day event crowns champions in six fall sports.

2011January: At the 2011 NCAA Convention in San Antonio, the Division II membership passes Phase Two of the “Life the Balance” initiative, approving three Bylaw 17 changes.April: The Division II Long-Range Projections Task Force concludes a strategic budget frame-work that mirrors the 14-year, $10.8 billion agree-ment signed with CBS and Turner Sports in April 2010.

2012January: At the 2012 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis, Division II approves changes to recruiting-contact legislation and also to minimum requirements for conference membership.May: The sixth National Championships Festival is conducted in Louisville.September: Simon Fraser University of Burnaby, British Columbia, becomes the NCAA’s – and Divi-sion II’s – first international member school.


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Committee Service RecognitionDivision II would like to acknowledge the following individuals who have recently joined commit-tees and wish them luck as they contribute their time and effort in service to our division and to the student-athlete experience.

Division II Committee on Women’s Athletics Christopher R. McKibben Georgian Court University Nancy H. Blattner Caldwell College

Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee Rick Goeb Bemidji State University

Division II Academic Requirements Committee Damon Arnold Grand Valley State University Freddie Vaughns Bowie State University William Biddington California University of Pennsylvania

Division II Baseball Committee Brian Disch Wayne State College (Nebraska) Douglas N. Jones Tusculum College Harry Hillson Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Division II Championships Committee Frank Keenan Fairmont State University Kim J. Duyst California State University, Stanislaus Lisa M. Sweany Armstrong Atlantic State University Lonn Reisman Tarleton State University

Division II Committee for Legislative Relief Kathryn Flaherty Coker College

Division II Committee on Infractions Jane Teixeira Pacific West Conference

Division II Field Hockey Committee Shelly Morris Stonehill College Division II Football Committee Dell Robinson Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Division II Football Committee Jim Johnson Pittsburg State University Joe Reich Wingate University Stan Williamson University of West Alabama

Division II Legislation Committee Tracee Passeggi California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Division II Management Council Anita S. Barker California State University, Chico Denisha Hendricks Kentucky State University


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Karen Stromme University of Minnesota Duluth Kathleen Heitzman Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Larry Marfise University of Tampa Kim Vinson Cameron University

Division II Membership Committee Kaye Crook Coker College Tim W. Selgo Grand Valley State University Tonia Walker Winston-Salem State University

Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming Committee Steve Schaffer Grand Canyon University Tracy LaVoi Torgerson St. Cloud State University

Division II Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee Amber Feldman Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Matthew Van Lierop Mount Olive College William Bright Stillman College

Division II Men’s Basketball Committee Darryl Jacobs Virginia State University Stan Wagnon Lone Star Conference Suzanne R. Sanregret Michigan Technological University Wendell Staton Georgia College & State University

Division II Men’s Golf Committee Ken Badylak Saint Joseph’s College (Indiana)

Division II Men’s Lacrosse Committee Brad Jorgensen Saint Leo University

Division II Men’s Soccer Committee Angela Pohl Saginaw Valley State University Brandon Bronzan Sonoma State University Frank Kohlenstein Colorado School of Mines

Division II Nominating Committee Barry Blizzard West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Lynn M. Tubman Chestnut Hill College Ryan Erwin Dallas Baptist University

Division II Presidents Council Allen Lee Sessoms University of the District of Columbia Arthur F. Kirk Jr. Saint Leo University Deborah Ford University of Wisconsin, Parkside Dene K. Thomas Fort Lewis College Linda Bleicken Armstrong Atlantic State University Robert Wyatt Coker College Robin C. Capehart West Liberty University Steve Scott Pittsburg State University

Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Alison Arlen Welch Christian Brothers University Amy Berry Georgian Court University


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Brynn Seidenstricker Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania David B. Maldonado Lincoln Memorial University Dylan Jackson California State University, Monterey Bay Ellen Augsburger Regis University (Colorado) Jared Merritt Lake Erie College John Steven Galanoudis Molloy College Katelyn M. McElveen Coker College Melissa Skovira Fort Hays State University Samantha Whittier Southern New Hampshire University Spencer Dodd St. Martin’s University Andre Roach Saint Augustine’s University Kristina Giddings University of Alaska Fairbanks

Division II Women’s Basketball Committee Lynne Andrew Fort Lewis College Shantey Hill Long Island University/LIU Post

Division II Women’s Golf Committee Chad A Markuson Minnesota State University Moorhead

Division II Women’s Lacrosse Committee Lesley Graham Saint Leo University Division II Women’s Soccer Committee Magnus Nilerud University of Bridgeport Todd Diuguid University of Charleston (West Virginia)

Division II Women’s Softball Committee Terri Holmes Northern State University Vickee K. Hollifield Carson-Newman College Yvonne Burbank Sonoma State University

Division II Women’s Volleyball Committee Brian Jamros Concordia University, St. Paul Robert Harris California Collegiate Athletic Association Todd Caughlin Coker College

Division II Wrestling Committee Jason Valek Newberry College

Men’s and Women’s Skiing Committee Mark (Sparky) Anderson University of Alaska Anchorage

Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee Peter A Campbell Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania

Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Rules Committee Mary Samko Bentley University Todd Peters Minnesota State University Moorhead

Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Rules Committee G. Anthony Grant Millersville University of Pennsylvania Lou Andreadis Grand Valley State University


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Men’s Basketball Rules Committee Mark Peeler Erskine College Richard Cooper West Texas A&M University

Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee China Jude Queens College (New York) Dianne Boardley Suber Saint Augustine’s University

Playing Rules Oversight Panel Douglas Blais Southern New Hampshire University Kristy Bayer Arkansas Tech University

Women’s Ice Hockey Committee Jeffrey L. Giesen St. Cloud State University

Wrestling Rules Committee Lars Jensen San Francisco State University Thomas Gioglio East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania


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Division II would also like to thank the following individuals who have recently rolled off com-mittees for their dedication and service to our division and our student-athletes.

Committee on Women’s Athletics Tamica Jones Clark Atlanta University

Division II Academic Requirements Committee Laura L. Clayton University of West Georgia Linda Van Drie-Andrzjewski Wilmington University (Delaware)

Division II Baseball Committee Christian Stryker Coker College Kevin Brooks Angelo State University Terrance Whittle Elizabeth City State University

Division II Championships Committee Joel R. Smith Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Patsy Smith Missouri Western State University Rich Sanders Northwest Nazarene University

Division II Committee for Legislative Relief Brian DeAngelis Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Division II Committee on Infractions Bruce Kirsh Franklin Pierce University

Division II Field Hockey Committee Kelley Frassinelli Southern Connecticut State University

Division II Football Committee Brad Edwards Newberry College Shawn Jones University of Central Missouri Willam Maskill Midwestern State University

Division II Legislation Committee Carol Rivera California Collegiate Athletic Association Jay Newton University of Southern Indiana

Division II Management Council Ann Martin Regis University (Colorado) Barbara Hannum Hawaii Pacific University Bren Stevens University of Charleston (West Virginia) Dan Kenney University of North Carolina at Pembroke Joseph R. Polak Southern New Hampshire University Kathleen Turner Oklahoma Panhandle State University Leonza Loftin Fayetteville State University Richard Cole Jr. Dowling College Sandra Michael Holy Family University

Division II Membership Committee Barry Blizzard West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference David R. Brunk Peach Belt Conference Steven Rackley University of Findlay


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Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming Committee Andrew I. Waeger Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania Todd Peters Minnesota State University Moorhead

Division II Men’s and Women’s Tennis Committee Daniel C. MacDonald Colorado Mesa University Peggy L. Davis Virginia State University Ron Cox Northeastern State University Ruth Ann Gardner Grand Canyon University

Division II Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee Christopher Asher California State University, Los Angeles Kirk Pedersen University of Central Missouri Mike Mead Clayton State University Penny Allen-Cook Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Division II Men’s Basketball Committee Jeff Ligney Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Jim Johnson Pittsburg State University Ken Tyler West Virginia Wesleyan College Mark Peeler Erskine College

Division II Men’s Golf Committee Steve Card Western Washington University

Division II Men’s Lacrosse Committee Glenn A. Hofmann Merrimack College

Division II Men’s Soccer Committee Charles M. Shub University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Gary R. Gray Montana State University Billings

Division II Nominating Committee China Jude Queens College (New York) Natalie Cullen Pittsburg State University Stan Wagnon Lone Star Conference

Division II Presidents Council Carolyn R. Mahoney Lincoln University (Missouri) Dianne F. Harrison California State University, Monterey Bay Ernest McNealey Stillman College Judith Ramaley Winona State University Mickey L. Burnim Bowie State University

Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee David Pillen Abilene Christian University Hilary Cox North Georgia College & State University Joshua Edenborough Oklahoma Panhandle State University Robert Guzman Texas A&M University-Kingsville Sydnee Reeves Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Division II Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee Kim Vinson Cameron University


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Division II Women’s Basketball Committee Joan Lehoullier University of Massachusetts Lowell Sandee Mott Metropolitan State University of Denver

Division II Women’s Golf Committee Matthew T. Higgins Concordia University, St. Paul

Division II Women’s Lacrosse Committee Cecil C. Pilson Mercyhurst University

Division II Women’s Rowing Committee Patricia Pinkerton University of California, San Diego

Division II Women’s Soccer Committee Gary Kagiavas Edinboro University of Pennsylvania Susan M. Zawacki University of New Haven

Division II Women’s Softball Committee Jimmy Martin Limestone College Joan M. McDermott Metropolitan State University of Denver Pamela L. Knox Western Oregon University

Division II Women’s Volleyball Committee James Boos University of Minnesota Duluth Patricia C. (Tricia) Haddock Great Northwest Athletic Conference

Division II Wrestling Committee Thomas Gioglio East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

High School Review Committee Linda Van Drie-Andrzjewski Wilmington University (Delaware)

Men’s and Women’s Fencing Committee Joshua Runyan University of California, San Diego

Men’s and Women’s Rifle Committee Daniel C. Jordan University of Alaska Fairbanks

Men’s and Women’s Skiing Committee Scott Jerome University of Alaska Fairbanks

Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee Jack Hyde San Francisco State University

Men’s Basketball Rules Committee A. Kenyon Wagner Brigham Young University, Hawaii Scott Eaton Northern Kentucky University

Playing Rules Oversight Panel Alan Patterson Conference Carolinas

Women’s Ice Hockey Committee Shannon Miller University of Minnesota Duluth


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Presidents CouncilDII action sets standards for first international member institutionApr 27, 2012By David Pickle

Division II took a step toward recognizing the NCAA’s first international member institution Thursday when its Presidents Council recommended a standard for international institutions to satisfy the accreditation requirement.

Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., is in its final year of provisional Division II membership as part of a 10-year NCAA pilot program to permit international membership.

The Division II Membership Committee will con-sider whether to approve Simon Fraser as an active member at its July meeting, but as things stand, the school would not be eligible for active membership because NCAA Constitution 3.02.3.1 requires that all member schools be accredited by an “appropriate regional accrediting agency.”

Because Canada has a different system to ensure educational quality, the school has not previously sought U.S. accreditation. To comply with the NCAA requirement, Simon Fraser now is in the process of gaining accreditation from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities – it was accepted into candidacy status in January – but the process can-not be completed until 2017. If nothing changes, that means Simon Fraser would not be able to compete in NCAA or Great Northwest Athletic Conference cham-pionships between now and then.

A report presented at Thursday’s Council meeting noted that while national academic accreditation is not available in Canada, Simon Fraser is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. Further, all Canadian institutions of higher learning are subject to reviews by the Degree As-surance Quality Assurance Board, which conducts peer-to-peer review. In addition, various programs within the university have sought and attained ad hoc accreditations (for example, the department of

psychology is accredited by the American Psychologi-cal Association).

It was also reported that several services rank Simon Fraser among the world’s top 300 higher-education institutions.

With all of that in mind, the presidents voted unani-mously to recommend to the Executive Committee a standard for international members to satisfy the accreditation requirements. The full motion stated:

“That the Executive Committee take action to permit an international institution that is part of the NCAA international pilot program to be able to satisfy the NCAA constitutional requirement of accreditation and/or maintain active membership in the Associa-tion by either being accredited by one of the six U.S. regional accrediting agencies; or having achieved candidacy status with one of the six U.S. regional ac-crediting agencies and be in good standing with the

Presidents Council MembersAllen Lee Sessoms University of the District of ColumbiaArthur F. Kirk Jr. Saint Leo UniversityDeborah Ford University of Wisconsin, ParksideDene K. Thomas Fort Lewis CollegeErnest McNealey Stillman CollegeJ. Patrick O’Brien, chair West Texas A&M UniversityJames “Jim” Gaudino Central Washington UniversityJavier Cevallos Kutztown University of PennsylvaniaJudith A. Bense University of West FloridaLinda Bleicken Armstrong Atlantic State UniversityMichael Scales Nyack CollegeMickey L. Burnim Bowie State UniversityRobert Wyatt Coker CollegeRobin C. Capehart West Liberty UniversitySteve Scott Pittsburg State UniversityThomas Haas Grand Valley State University

Division II Committee UpdatesThis section highlights important happenings in the committee structure from the past year. Sum-maries were compiled from NCAA.org and published committee reports.


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The action means that the Division II Membership Committee will consider all elements of Simon Fra-ser’s provisional membership, except for accredita-tion, when it meets in July. Active membership, effective Sept. 1, could be awarded, contingent on the Executive Committee’s approval of the Division II Presidents Council recommendation and the adoption of a legislative change by the Presidents Council at its August meeting.

The NCAA Executive Committee approved a pilot program for international membership in 2007 and Division II adopted legislation at the 2008 Convention to permit institutions from Canada. Although other Canadian schools considered applying, Simon Fraser has been the only one to take the step.

The outcome is especially important for Division II, which has few football-playing members in the North-west, especially considering Western Washington’s 2009 decision to give up the sport. Last year, Simon Fraser went 3-7 in football against an all-U.S. sched-ule (it played Central Washington and Dixie State twice each).

The Mexican government also has inquired about possible Division II membership for one or more in-stitutions. The Membership Committee responded by asking for more information about how athletics are administered at the schools in question. Interestingly, while many questions remain about membership for Mexican institutions, accreditation wouldn’t necessar-ily be one of them. Some institutions in Mexico are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities.

In another important action, the Council used its au-thority to expand its membership and chose to add a new presidential representative from Region 3.

Constitution 4.3.1 provides that the Presidents Coun-cil is to be composed of one president or chancellor for every 22 member schools in a region (in addition to two at-large positions). Recent additions to the membership meant that another member was pos-sible.

The Council actually elected two new members to Region 3 – one for the new position and the other to replace Judith Ramaley, who is retiring as president at Winona State. Those selections will be announced

next week after the new members have been noti-fied.

Tuesday’s meeting was the final one for Dianne Har-rison, president of Cal State Monterey Bay, who will become president of Division I Cal State Northridge. Also, the Council was advised that Carolyn Mahoney, president of Lincoln (Mo.), will be retiring. Her final Council meeting will be in August.

In other business at its April 26 meeting, the Division II Presidents Council:

• Approved the re-election of Bren Stevens, athletics director at Charleston (W.Va.), as vice chair of the Management Council.

• Approved the legislative form of Proposal No. 2013-5, which would permit a student-athlete to contribute to the purchase of an award, provided the value does not exceed specified limitations.

• Approved in concept 2013 Convention pro-posed legislation that would specify that a mo-tion to divide a question is a debatable motion, thus permitting questions about a proposal to be answered at the appropriate time.

• Endorsed a Model Faculty Athlete Representa-tive document. The presidents emphasized that the document is not a mandate but is rather a collection of recommendations.

DII presidents discuss new academic concepts for two-year transfersAug 10, 2012By David Pickle

The Division II Presidents Council continued its explo-ration of possible changes to academic requirements, this time reviewing concepts pertaining to two-year college transfers.

The discussion related to a broader look at academic requirements that also govern initial eligibility and progress toward degree. Concepts and any resultant legislation are being developed by the Division II Academic Task Force.

That group had requested feedback on the following two-year college transfer academic concepts:

• The addition of a transferrable degree credit in a natural or physical science.

• Establishing a limit on the number of physical education activity courses that may be used to


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certify the transferrable degree credit of a two-year college transfer.

• Establishing a grade-point average for access to practice and athletically related financial aid and a separate GPA for access to practice, athletically related aid and competition.

Presidents Council members supported those con-cepts, but some were less enthusiastic about an approach that would require two-year college trans-fers who are non- or partial qualifiers to demonstrate accomplishments beyond an associate of arts degree (or its equivalent) to become immediately eligible.

Several presidents noted that they are required to accept all transferrable credits from any student hav-ing earned an A.A. degree. “If the (two-year) institu-tions are accredited,” one president said, “just stay out of it.”

While a number of presidents appeared to support that position, others noted that requiring a standard beyond attainment of an A.A. degree would resemble initial-eligibility requirements, which are not satisfied by high school graduation alone.

Another president, who said he generally believes that Division II should chart its own legislative course, said this may be an area where it is advisable to emulate Division I legislation. For nonqualifiers, the Division I standard is an A.A. degree; a 2.5 GPA; satisfaction of English, math and science require-ments; and a limited number of physical education activity credits.

“Most junior college players want to play in Division I,” the president said, “so it seems like our require-ments should be as close as possible to those in Division I.”

Another said the A.A. requirement adds “unneces-sary angst to the equation.”

In any event, the topic remains in the discussion phase, along with the other work of the Academic Task Force.

Council chair Pat O’Brien, president of West Texas A&M University, reminded the group that the land-scape of possible changes to academic requirements will be discussed during a Division II Presidential Retreat at the 2013 NCAA Convention in Grapevine, Texas.

“Our current standards have been evidenced-based only when it comes to identifying and preventing disparate impacts,” O’Brien said. “Now we can make

sure, through the full-cohort data we have avail-able, that all of our standards are creating a path to graduation.

“The fact that we’re considering these concepts doesn’t mean we’ll change anything. But we will study our regulations based on objective data.”

Any legislation resulting from the examination would be considered at the 2014 Convention.

In other business at its Aug. 8-9 meeting in India-napolis, the Division II Presidents Council:

• Approved in legislative form a provision to modify the accreditation requirement for inter-national members, thus formalizing Simon Fra-ser University as the NCAA’s first international member. The Burnaby, B.C., school will become a Division II active member Sept. 1.

• Expressed concerns with a membership pro-posal to expand the Division II Championships Committee from 12 to 26 members. The Coun-cil referred the proposal to the Championships Committee and also asked the sponsors to develop a financial-impact assessment by Aug. 31.

• Re-elected O’Brien as chair and Grand Valley State President Thomas Haas as vice chair.

• Elected new at-large and Region 4 representa-tives to the Council. Both will be announced next week.

• Noted that Division II presidents will be sur-veyed in September on the effectiveness of the Division II platform. Topics that will be exam-ined include the Life in the Balance initiative, the Ease of Burden initiative, diversity and inclusion, membership growth and academic requirements. The survey, which will be ad-ministered electronically, also will include an open-ended segment to determine what other issues Division II presidents should be explor-ing. The results will be available in October and discussed at the presidential retreat in January.

• Agreed to sponsor legislation for the 2013 Convention to permit Mexican institutions to participate in the international-membership pilot program.

• Agreed to withdraw Proposal 2013-5 from consideration at the 2013 Convention. The pro-posal would have permitted student-athletes to purchase their own awards, but various groups – including the Student-Athlete Advisory Com-mittee – were concerned that the approach would be unfair to those who couldn’t afford the awards.


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Management CouncilManagement Council meeting summaryJuly 25, 2012By Greg Johnson

During its Monday meeting, the Management Council voted to recommend to the Presidents Council the sponsorship of three pieces of 2013 legislation as part of the Ease of Burden initiative.

The first would amend Bylaw 12 to specify that be-fore initial collegiate enrollment, only the receipt of a benefit from an agent or entering into an agreement with an agent will jeopardize an individual’s amateur-ism status. The Legislation Committee, which origi-nated the proposal, believes the change would lessen the likelihood that prospects would unknowingly violate pre-enrollment amateurism legislation.

The second Ease of Burden proposal would amend sections of Bylaw 13 to provide flexibility for institu-tions to determine how they want to conduct campus visits, rather than relying on prescribed limitations. The proposed changes also would allow institutional budgets to dictate the length of visits and the ben-efits that institutions choose to provide to prospects visiting the institution’s campus.

Finally, the Council agreed to recommend the spon-sorship of legislation to amend the timing of the existing tryout legislation so that tryouts of high school prospects are permissible beginning June 15 immediately preceding the prospect’s junior year in high school (provided the prospect’s high school eligi-bility has expired or the prospect is enrolled in a term other than the traditional season for the sport). The Legislation Committee believes that aligning the first permissible date for tryouts of high school prospects with the first permissible date for other recruiting functions will ease the burden on compliance by es-tablishing a consistent date for monitoring purposes.

In other actions at its July 23 meeting in Indianapo-lis, the Division II Management Council:

• Voted against recommending that the Presi-dents Council sponsor legislation to expand the international membership pilot program to in-clude Mexican institutions. The President Coun-cil, which meets in August, retains the right to sponsor the legislation for the Convention.

• Noted the lack of nominations for Division II

sports committee service. Seven of 18 recent vacancies had to be re-solicited because of a shortage of candidates.

• Deferred taking action to recommend legis-lation from the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to require a designated team physician, coach sport safety training, certification for strength coaches and catastrophic sport injury training.

Management Council MembersAnita S. Barker California State University, ChicoAnn Martin, chair Regis University (Colorado)Barbara Hannum Hawaii Pacific UniversityBob Boerigter Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics AssociationBren Stevens University of Charleston (West Virginia)Brenda Cates Mount Olive CollegeBrent Wren University of Alabama in HuntsvilleClint Bryant Augusta State UniversityDan Kenney University of North Carolina at PembrokeDenisha Hendricks Kentucky State UniversityErin O’Connell Seattle Pacific UniversityJanet Montgomery University of West AlabamaJared Mosley Abilene Christian University Jim Naumovich Great Lakes Valley ConferenceJoseph R. Polak Southern New Hampshire UniversityKaren Stromme University of Minnesota DuluthKathleen Heitzman Bloomsburg University of PennsylvaniaKathleen Turner Oklahoma Panhandle State UniversityKris Dunbar Lake Superior State UniversityLarry Marfise University of TampaLeonza Loftin Fayetteville State UniversityRichard Cole Jr. Dowling CollegeSandra Michael Holy Family UniversitySteve Poston Wingate UniversityTimothy Ladd Palm Beach Atlantic UniversityWill Prewitt Great American Conference


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The Council wanted more information on a couple of matters and also wanted to align its consideration of the measure with Divisions I and III, which will take it up at a later date.

• Voted to sponsor noncontroversial legislation to require two years of ineligibility for any stu-dent-athlete clearly observed to have tampered with a drug-test sample.

• Set an annual limit on the number of new conferences admitted to active status to be consistent with budget projections (up to 23 conferences by 2013-14, 24 by 2016-17, 25 by 2019-20 and 26 by the end of 2023-24). Ex-tenuating circumstances, such as geographical needs, could warrant special consideration.

DII Council focuses on international member-ship, academic issuesOct 17, 2012By David Pickle

An important Division II issue regarding international membership got extra emphasis this week when Presidents Council chair Pat O’Brien made himself available to the Management Council to answer ques-tions about the President Council’s desire to extend a pilot program for international members to institu-tions in Mexico.

Earlier this year, Division II became home to the NCAA’s first international member when Simon Fraser University of Burnaby, B.C., gained active member-ship. Simon Fraser entered through a 10-year pilot program that was approved at the 2008 NCAA Con-vention.

About the time Simon Fraser was clearing its final hurdles toward membership, representatives from Mexico inquired about whether their schools could participate in the program. Expanding the pilot from Canadian institutions to schools in Mexico would require a modification of current legislation, however, and the Management Council at its July meeting voted against sponsoring such legislation. A couple of weeks later, the presidents went the other way and chose to sponsor the legislation, which will be consid-ered at the January Convention.

O’Brien’s visit Monday was to provide an in-person response to Management Council concerns. At the end of a 45-minute discussion, he asked them to remember the nature of the legislation and to con-sider that the situation might be viewed differently if national progress was made with immigration reform

over the next several years.

“Remember, this is a pilot,” said O’Brien, president at West Texas A&M. “If it doesn’t work, the program will end in 2018. Also, I think this is being viewed from a static perspective. I’m hopeful for immigration reform, and if that happens, questions surrounding issues like visas will likely be very different in 2018 than they are now.”

O’Brien acknowledged that his school’s conference, the Lone Star Conference, would benefit from the addition of Monterrey Tech, the Mexican institution that has shown the most interest. But he said that overall presidential support for extending the pilot transcends the LSC’s particular needs.

“We want to provide opportunities for student-athletes and student bodies from different cultures to interact with one another, similar to the general philosophy on most campuses,” he said. “We recog-nize that the world in which our students will have to work is global, and we should make sure the experi-ence of intercollegiate athletics is consistent with that mission.”

O’Brien said the presidents’ action also supports the spirit of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which not only is about free trade but which he said encourages greater integration of the cultures of Canada, the United States and Mexico.

He acknowledged concerns about drug violence in Mexico and told the Council that Monterrey Tech athletics officials have agreed to play home games north of the border in places such as El Paso, Laredo or various places in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley as long as concerns about violence persist. He said Monter-rey Tech leadership has not signed off on that com-mitment and that he and other Lone Star officials will learn more when they visit the school Nov. 5.

Management Council members were candid in shar-ing their concerns about extending the pilot to Mexico.

One member who noted his opposition to the pro-posal in July said he remained skeptical that a few games a year could bridge cultural gaps or help build a fan base in Mexico. He said his position had soft-ened a bit with the news that Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word are leaving the LSC to join Division I, but he said the hosting-away-from-campus com-promise made him uncomfortable. “I want to believe


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WI can compete against any school on a home-and-home basis,” he said.

Perhaps the greatest reservation had to do with get-ting student-athletes across the border and back in a post-9/11 environment. One member noted how California law required access to higher education for the children of undocumented workers, but she said Mexican border crossings for such students could be inordinately difficult – perhaps even harder than Canadian crossings.

Other concerns ranged from the soccer culture in Mexico to what eligibility standards Monterrey Tech currently applies.

After O’Brien said he would learn more about those and other issues during the Nov. 5 visit, one Man-agement Council member asked if he could envision learning anything during that visit that might be considered a deal-breaker.

“That could happen,” O’Brien said, “but I still think it’s in the best interests of the division to pass the legislation. We discovered University of British Co-lumbia wasn’t a good fit for us but that Simon Fraser was. If we don’t pass this, we’ll never know if there was a Mexican institution out there that might be a good fit.”

Academic requirementsThe Management Council’s other marquee topic was a discussion of concepts developed by the Division II Academic Requirements Task Force. Although the Council also talked about concepts for initial eligibility and two-year college transfers, most time was spent on a concept for progress-toward-degree require-ments.

The concept would strengthen term-by-term checks, increase the number of hours that must be com-pleted each term and also the number of hours that must be completed in each of the first two years. In addition, it would require that student-athletes must have completed 60 percent of their degree require-ments after the third year.

Current regulations require the completion of at least 24 hours per year and at least six hours per term. The new concept would eliminate the limit on the number of hours that could be earned in the sum-mer (the thinking being that summer school offerings have been curtailed in recent years and now focus more on required courses and less on higher-level

courses and electives).

The reaction to the concept was generally favorable. Comments included the following:

• Some members believed the current standards of 24 hours per year and six hours per term are insufficient and agreed with the increased credit-hour requirements.

• Opinions were mixed on whether student-ath-letes should have a 2.0 after year one and for all subsequent years, but some Council mem-bers indicated the current stairstep approach of 1.8, 1.9 and 2.0 made sense.

• The requirement to have completed 60 per-cent of degree requirements by the end of the third year seemed to be accepted because it demonstrates that student-athletes are making progress toward a degree, but some members wanted to monitor that progress from Year One. In turn, that raised questions about how such monitoring fits with Division II’s initiative to ease administrative burden, but it also was noted that the division will continue to elimi-nate unnecessary legislation in other bylaws, if the division agreed that academic requirements were of primary importance.

• Members said the changes would require ath-letics departments to be more intentional with their academic advising (and to educate aca-demic advisors and coaches about the require-ments).

• Consideration of the legislation’s effective date would need to be carefully considered to pro-vide sufficient time for education and to be fair to currently enrolled student-athletes.

• Concern was expressed about how a change in majors might affect student-athletes. A similar concern was expressed about whether student-athletes experiencing “life issues” could reason-ably be expected to meet the 27-hour-per-year requirement. Along those same lines, others wondered about the increasing burden on com-pliance administrators to file waiver requests resulting from such circumstances.

The Academic Requirements Task Force will continue throughout the fall to vet the concepts, which are intended to create a coordinated, seamless path to graduation for Division II student-athletes. Division II presidents will discuss the proposals in detail during the Chancellors and Presidents Summit at the 2013 Convention. Other Convention attendees will be able to attend a Convention education session on the


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Academic Requirements Committee and Task ForceDII academic eligibility recommendations tak-ing shapeOct 16, 2012By David Pickle

New Division II academic requirements are a long way from approval and even further from implemen-tation, but a membership examination of the issue appears to be headed more in the direction of nu-anced, rather than radical, change.

The Division II Academic Requirements Task Force −which is responsible for reviewing academic leg-islation governing initial eligibility, two-year college transfers and progress toward degree requirements–

Academic Requirements Committee MembersChristopher Phenicie Limestone CollegeDamon Arnold Grand Valley State UniversityErnest McNealey Stillman CollegeFreddie Vaughns Bowie State UniversityJim Naumovich Great Lakes Valley ConferenceKatie McGann University of California, San DiegoKeith Vitense, chair Cameron UniversityMargaret Poitevint North Georgia College & State UniversityTeya Everett Kentucky State UniversityWilliam Biddington California University of Pennsylvania

topic. Any resulting legislation will be considered at the 2014 Convention.

In other business at its Oct. 15-16 meeting, the Divi-sion II Management Council:

• Heard a presentation from NCAA staff member Juanita Sheely on how the federal Affordable Care Act will affect permissible and nonpermis-sible medical expenses for student-athletes. The matter was referred to the Division II Legislation Committee to determine if legisla-tive changes are necessary. The Council noted that it was important for institutions to have conversations about the Act and its impact on individual schools because the Act affects all students and not just student-athletes.

• Elected eight new Management Council mem-bers, along with a new chair and vice chair. The Presidents Council, which meets Oct. 29-30, must ratify all elections.

• Referred to the Planning and Finance Commit-tee a recommendation to increase champion-ships per diem to $95 for 2013-14 and $100 beginning in 2014-15.

• Voted to support a position on the participation of intersex student-athletes developed by the Women’s Sports Foundation.

• Voted to support a resolution supporting the concept of equal opportunity for girls and women in sports at all levels, as embodied in the Brighton Declaration.

is vetting concepts with various constituent groups through the fall. The goal is to develop a model that ensures a student-athlete’s path to graduation through a seamless process that begins with initial-eligibility requirements and continues all the way through progress-toward-degree standards, estab-lishing benchmarks to graduation along the way.The most recent vetting sessions were with lead-ership of the DII Athletic Directors and Collegiate Commissioners Associations early in the month and the Division II Management Council on Monday. Pre-sentations to the entire membership will occur at the January Convention.

Keith Vitense, faculty athletics representative at Cameron University and chair of the Academic Re-quirements Task Force, said the greatest challenge is found in the often-conflicted goals of increasing graduation rates while also maintaining (or enhanc-ing) access to higher education, especially for eco-nomically disadvantaged student-athletes.

“We really want to live in a perfect world,” Vitense said, “but we really, really don’t. So we’re looking for small gains, and part of the task of the committee is trying to decide which is more important. Is it more important to get a small gain in the predicted gradu-ation rate, or is it more important to get a small gain in participation?”

As a result, the concepts being advanced for initial eligibility are rather conservative, tending a bit to-ward greater access.


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WThe current Division II initial-eligibility standard is graduation from high school, a 2.0 grade-point aver-age in 14 core courses and an 820 SAT or 68 ACT score. A prospect who graduates but fails to meet both the GPA and test-score requirements is a non-qualifier; meeting only one results in the prospective student-athlete being considered a partial qualifier.The task force originally was intrigued by data that suggested the division could achieve similar gradua-tion rates and improve access by elevating the grade-point average requirement to 2.2 and eliminating the test-score requirement. That concept, however, was poorly received in several membership settings over the summer.

In response, the task force has advanced two initial-eligibility models.

In the first model, a GPA of at least 2.0 would be required for full qualification in all cases, with higher GPAs required for those scoring 920 or lower on the SAT. A sliding eligibility scale would extend from 920 SAT/2.0 GPA through 520 SAT/3.0 GPA.

Prospects scoring a 2.0 but not meeting the test-score requirement would be considered partial quali-fiers; those below 2.0 would be nonqualifiers, regard-less of test score.

The second option would be to establish a 2.2 mini-mum GPA for full qualifiers, again with higher GPA re-quirements for those with lower test scores – in this case, starting at 840. The line for full qualifiers would extend from 840 SAT/2.2 GPA through 520 SAT/3.0 GPA (as with option 1).

Partial qualifiers would be those with a GPA between 2.0 and 2.2, with a higher GPA required for those with a test score of 820 and below (the line would extend to 420 SAT/3.0 GPA − parallel to the line for full qualifiers). Nonqualifiers would be those who scored below the partial qualifier standard.

Regarding two-year college transfers, the task force developed concepts for qualifiers with no four-year attendance and only one semester of attendance at the two-year college and all other two-year college transfers. For those with no four-year attendance and only one semester of attendance, the requirements would be:

• Completion of at least one full-time semester/quarter.

• At least 12 semester- or quarter-hours of trans-ferrable degree credit.

• A cumulative GPA of 2.0 and a limit of two physical education activity credits (for all sports).

For all other two-year college transfers (qualifiers with more than one semester of attendance, 4-2-4 transfers, partial qualifiers and nonqualifiers), the concept would require:

• Completion of at least two full-time semesters or three full-time quarters.

• At least 12 semester or quarter-hours of trans-ferrable degree credit per term of attendance, including six semester- or eight quarter-hours of transferrable English, three semester- or four quarter hours or transferrable math; and three semester- or four quarter-hours of transferrable science.

• A cumulative GPA of 2.3 and a limit of two physical education activity credits for all sports.

Significantly, two-year college students who earn an associate’s degree also would be considered eligible for competition. Also, nonqualifiers with less than a 2.3 GPA but more than a 2.0 and meeting other requirements would be eligible for financial aid and practice in their first year at the Division II institution, but not competition. Qualifiers and partial qualifiers who do not meet the standards would continue to be able to practice and receive athletics aid in their first year due to their initial eligibility status.

“I think the two-year college transfer concept is the closest to being polished and ready for presentation,” Vitense said. “But it’s still not there yet. We need input.”

One primary appeal is that the model continues to encourage persistence to graduation by not adding requirements for transfers who earn an associate’s degree. However, the approach adds significant teeth elsewhere.

“The big change,” Vitense said, “and it’s really a data-driven change, is the additional requirements on somebody who is transferring from a two-year school who does not have their associate’s degree.”

The progress-toward-degree concept is in a more formative state than the initial-eligibility or two-year college transfer models. At their recent meetings, the ADs, commissioners and Management Council saw a model that would establish standards for the number of credit hours that must be completed term-by-term


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and at various mileposts. The model also included grade-point requirements after each year, along with a single percentage-of-degree check after the third year.

One complication is that the task force’s examination is occurring at the same time as a parallel discussion in higher education about the appropriate time frame from enrollment to graduation. The current approach in athletics is built on a five-year model, but some educators envision four years.

Vitense said the task force discussed the issue, and the preliminary concept that emerged is something of a mix between a 4.5 and a five-year model.

Even so, Vitense said he didn’t believe development of a four-year academic model could proceed without a larger philosophical examination.

“If we were to endorse the four-year model as the NCAA model, there’s a lot more significant legislation that would have to be changed, not just the aca-demic piece,” he said. “You’ve got 10 semesters to complete your four seasons, based on the five-year model. That would have to change. There are lots of other things that would have to change.”

He reminded members that schools are free to ex-ceed NCAA minimums at any time. “I know of some schools across the country that are more stringent, and they hold to that,” he said.

All of the task force concepts have been based on data from the NCAA research staff and molded by membership reaction.

“You have to understand that I’m a chemist, and I like things to be ‘A’ or ‘B,’ and processing the mem-bership’s reaction is an art,” he said. “The way I might look at it as an FAR could be completely dif-ferent from somebody would look at it as an AD or conference commissioner.

“So it’s really been the art of compromise. And it’s on the task force’s shoulders to come up with the best compromise for the Association.”

Championships CommitteeDII Championships Committee discusses nul-lification policyJun 4, 2012By David Pickle

The championships nullification process has served Division II well, but members of the Championships Committee believe it might be time for a six-year checkup.

Nullification, which was established in 2006, penal-izes schools in the championships selection process for using ineligible student-athletes by deducting a predetermined value to each contest in which an ineligible student-athlete competed.

The Championships Committee, which met last week, acknowledged the policy has done its job and is a great improvement over the previous forfeiture system, which required governing sports committees to make subjective decisions about how much the ineligible players affected game outcomes.

However, time has revealed issues that may merit further examination.

“This was really an exploratory discussion,” said com-mittee chair Erin Lind, associate commissioner of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. “We were able to identify some areas of concern, and we plan to follow up at future meetings.”

The committee explored an issue surrounding a 2012 winter championship. As the process began early in the year, the institution, conference and governing sports committee were aware of a potential eligibility issue involving a student-athlete on a team ranked No. 1 in a region.

The nullification process, however, does not permit the national committee to apply nullification until the meeting at which selections occur.

Had the team retained its No. 1 ranking and then been penalized, the action could have been a sur-prise to student-athletes and fans of the affected school, which led Division II Championship Commit-tee members to contemplate whether teams with pending eligibility questions could be flagged (with


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Wan asterisk, for example) as rankings are announced through the season.

The committee also discussed how nullification some-times affects brackets and whether refinements need to be made to the appeals process.

With regard to the bracket, the committee noted that while nullification effectively penalizes the offending team, it also can indirectly penalize other teams in the bracket. For example, if a dominant team drops from No. 1 to No. 7 in the bracket as a result of nul-lification, that might be unwelcome news for the No. 2 seed that would have to play a superior team in its opening round.

The committee also discussed whether some sort of structure might be needed to hear appeals involv-ing clearly extenuating circumstances. An example was a high academic performer who was incorrectly advised on the number of final-semester hours that were needed to complete degree requirements. While the eligibility violation would be clear, some commit-tee members thought it less obvious that nullification penalties should apply given the circumstance.

Lind asked staff to gather the student-athlete rein-statement decisions that have been applied to nul-lification in recent years. The overall matter will be

Championships Committee MembersBob Boerigter Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics AssociationBren Stevens University of Charleston (West Virginia)Claudie J. Mackey Elizabeth City State UniversityDavid Sharp Ouachita Baptist UniversityErin Lind, chair Northern Sun Intercollegiate ConferenceFrancis X. Reidy Saint Leo UniversityFrank Keenan Fairmont State UniversityKim J. Duyst California State University, StanislausKris Dunbar Lake Superior State UniversityLisa M. Sweany Armstrong Atlantic State UniversityLonn Reisman Tarleton State UniversityRobert Dranoff East Coast Conference

placed on the agenda for the committee’s September meeting with sports committee chairs.

The committee also continued with its ongoing dis-cussion of issues pertaining to selection criteria.Members discussed priorities that had been previ-ously identified by a membership focus group:

• Develop Division II priorities on selection crite-ria;

• Consistent criteria (minimize the number of changes to the criteria and how often sports committees are able to change);

• Educate NCAA membership on selection criteria of each sport;

• Provide training and education of committees (regional advisory committees and national committees).

Concepts will be shared with athletics directors and commissioners at their summer meetings, followed by a presentation to the Management Council in July. The Championships Committee would consider proposals one more time at its September meeting before the October governance meetings.

In other business at its May 30-31 meeting in India-napolis, the Division II Championships Committee:

• Agreed to continue the process of allowing regions the opportunity to recommend a differ-ent regional tournament format for the current eight-team bracket in men’s and women’s bas-ketball, and women’s volleyball. The modifica-tion is intended to provide travel relief.

• Discussed issues surrounding international members hosting regional championships com-petition (for example, how to ensure that all competing teams have the passports and visas necessary for border crossings).

• Asked the Football Committee to consider is-sues surrounding the 2013 Division II Football Championship. The event is to be played at Florence, Ala., with North Alabama serving as host. However, North Alabama has indicated its intent to reclassify to Division I after the 2012-13 season.

• Approved a set of timelines for various champi-onship functions related to automatic qualifiers, bracket expansion, budget requests, field-size adjustments, selection criteria, site selection and travel party adjustments.

• Approved a proposal that the regional advisory committees and national governing sports com-


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mittees be permitted one practice call, three ranking calls and one selection call for all Divi-sion II team sports.

• Approved a format change for the Division II Men’s Basketball Championship to accommo-date the Division I men’s basketball celebra-tion in Atlanta. The format for the 2013 Elite Eight will be four semifinal games on Thursday, March 28, and two semifinal games on Satur-day afternoon, March 30, with the two advanc-ing teams moving on to Atlanta. The Division II championship game will be conducted the afternoon of Sunday, April 7.

• Increased the required number of in-region games to be considered for at-large selection to the Division II Men’s Basketball Champion-ship from 16 to 18, effective in 2013-14.

DII Championships Committee frames selec-tion criteria recommendationsSep 27, 2012By David Pickle

Not only did the Division II Championships Commit-tee create universal selection criteria for all team championships during its September meetings, it also developed the framework to stabilize the process and better educate the membership.

The actions, taken during the committee’s Sept. 12-13 in-person meeting and a Sept. 24 teleconference, will establish the following selection criteria (in no particular order) that will be applied after confirma-tion of student-athletes’ availability for NCAA cham-pionships and the application of nullification proce-dures:

• Overall Division II winning percentage.• Overall Division II in-region winning percent-

age.• Overall Division II strength of schedule (oppo-

nents’ average winning percentage and op-ponents’ opponents’ average winning percent-age).

• Division II head-to-head competition.• Results versus Division II common opponents.

The approach will be implemented so that all national governing sports committees focus on objective criteria for selections. Once the entire body of work has been considered for selection consideration, each sports committee could consider additional criteria, as long as they are within the context of the required selection criteria.

“We want to be clear about what we’re trying to achieve,” said Erin Lind, Championships Committee chair and associate commissioner of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. “The Championships Committee is developing a consistent set of selection criteria for the membership to alleviate confusion and to help educate on the principles of selection criteria for the division.”

Lind emphasized that the changes will not take away a sports committee’s ability to customize the selec-tion process.

“They are free to consider optional selection criteria after the five required standards have been assessed, as long as they are within the context of those objec-tive criteria,” she said. “Ultimately, the idea is to have consistency across all team sports so that the division doesn’t have to mandate any scheduling require-ments.”

The committee developed 10 optional selection cri-teria, all of which were drawn from criteria currently in use by one or more governing sports committees. Under the Championships Committee’s recommenda-tion, each governing sports committee would be able to petition the Championships Committee to apply no more than three of the optional criteria. Those criteria are:

• Division II record on the road.• Division II results versus teams with .500 re-

cords or better.• Division II results versus teams with a winning

record.• In-region Division II nonconference won-lost

record.• In-region strength of schedule (opponents’

average winning percentage and opponents’ opponents’ average winning percentage)

• Late-season performance (for instance, the last 15 games before the selection call).

• Performance Indicators (a system that assigns values to game results depending on the site and the quality of the opponent).

• Ratings Percentage Index.• Results versus Division II in-region common

opponents.• Results versus ranked Division II opponents.

Although all of the concepts in the recommendation have been vetted with the membership at one time or another, the membership has not had an opportu-nity to react to the five required criteria or to the list


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Wof optional criteria. For that reason, the committee will seek additional membership feedback between now and its February meeting, when it hopes to act on the matter. Whatever recommendation is ap-proved would be placed on the Division II Manage-ment Council’s April 2013 agenda, with any resulting legislation to be considered at the January 2014 NCAA Convention.

Because the purpose is to make selection criteria consistent and easy to understand, efforts related to stability and education will be almost as important as the actual criteria in implementing a more effective selection process.

The Championships Committee agreed that begin-ning Sept. 1, 2013, governing sports committees will be allowed to request changes for selection criteria based on a three-year cycle. Lind said that while the Championships Committee understands the need for occasional adjustments, it wants to provide sufficient time for existing standards to be implemented and analyzed. Also, since teams base their scheduling on championships selection criteria, the committee believes the membership will benefit from the stabil-ity that the three-year approach provides.

As for education, the staff will implement training for Division II schools and conferences, coaches, regional advisory committees and national govern-ing sports committees. Training will be tailored to specific audiences with online and in-person educa-tional offerings. Anticipated means of delivery include championships regional seminars, NCAA Convention sessions, athletics directors and compliance meet-ings, coaches’ conventions, and conference meetings.

Among other things, the staff will develop:

• A selection-criteria policies and purposes docu-ment for membership reference purposes.

• Guidelines for conferences in selecting regional advisory committees.

• Webinars/DVDs on selection criteria (with an administrative verification form); also, webinars on the balloting and ranking process.

• A selection-criteria insert for conference hand-books.

• Mock selection exercises.• A selections-criteria glossary.• A “how-to” video on online score reporting.• Feedback portals for regional advisory commit-

tees and national governing sports committees.• A training program for first-time regional advi-

sory committee members and national govern-ing sports committee members.

• A best-practices document for the oversight of regional advisory committees.

• Award programs for regional advisory commit-tee members and chairs.

NCAA membership is encouraged to submit feed-back, comments or questions no later than Jan. 25 to [email protected] for the Championships Committee to consider before final committee ap-proval in February 2013.

In other business at its Sept. 12-13 meeting, the Division II Championships Committee:

• Continued its review of the nullification pro-cess. The committee will continue to examine the application and communication of nullifica-tion, along with the appeals process, during its February meeting.

• Recommended to the Division II Planning and Finance Committee that the growth of cham-pionships per diem allowances be accelerated for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years. Division II championships per diem is cur-rently $90, where it was originally scheduled to remain through 2014-15. However, the com-mittee is recommending an increase to $95 for 2013-14 and $100 for 2014-15.

• Voted to require that officials score no lower than 85 percent on the Arbiter officials’ test in order to become an official during the NCAA postseason. Individual sports can implement higher requirements, if they desire.

• Approved a process that will require regional advisory committees to use a balloting process for ranking teams in a region. The ranking then will be submitted to the national governing sports committee for its consideration. The na-tional governing sports committee will have the authority to alter the rankings from the regional advisory committees. Following a pilot program on the balloting process, the committee agreed that the system worked best when the na-tional governing sports committee retained the authority to modify the ranking rather than per-mitting a regional advisory committee to have unilateral authority over the ranking process. The balloting process will be used during the 2012-13 academic year.

• Agreed to gather more information from the membership on adjustments to postseason bid allocations in men’s and women’s tennis.


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Legislation CommitteeEase of Burden

Over the past year, the Legislation Committee has continued its focus on the ease of burden initiative. The goal of the initiative is to alleviate compliance and financial burdens that some current regulations place on athletics administrators and coaches. Sim-ply stated, the goals are: (1) to ease the burden of rules compliance, (2) to assist Division II administra-tors with time management, and (3) to identify po-tential cost savings for better allocation of resources.

For the 2013 Convention, the membership will see a package intended to ease the burden regarding cam-pus visits, amateurism and preferential treatment. This package would rename unofficial visits to cam-pus visits and leave the length of a visit to the discre-tion of an institution. The package would also spec-ify that prior to initial collegiate enrollment, only the receipt of a benefit from an agent would jeopardize an individual’s amateur status. After this proposal package has been addressed at the 2013 Convention, Division II will then turn its focus to Bylaw 16 and evaluate ways that legislation regarding awards and benefits may align with the ease-of-burden initiative.

The ease-of-burden review is not limited to legisla-tion. Division II will also look at current processes, policies and practices within the division and offer any appropriate recommendations. Some of the areas to be reviewed include mandatory reporting

Legislation Committee MembersAllison Kolezynski Chowan UniversityAnn Traphagen Augustana College (South Dakota)Charles Pinckney Livingstone CollegeChristina Whetsel Angelo State UniversityCurtis Campbell Stillman CollegeDan Kenney University of North Carolina at PembrokeDean R. Johnson Caldwell CollegeEliane Kebbe South Atlantic ConferenceJill McCartney, chair Washburn University of TopekaTimothy Ladd Palm Beach Atlantic UniversityTracee Passeggi California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

requirements, research initiatives, certification proce-dures and online tools.

Path to Graduation Review

The Legislation Committee has also been involved with the Path to Graduation review currently be-ing handled by the Academic Requirements Task Force. It is anticipated that a package of proposals regarding academic changes will be seen at the 2014 Convention.

Planning and Finance CommitteeThe Planning and Finance Committee continued to make decisions based on the long range budget plan that has been established for Division II. Using the budget plan, other groups can also better plan and create future initiatives.

In its August meeting, the Planning and Finance Committee reviewed the 2011-12 conference annual reports and made allocations for the 2012-13 year based on the conference grant request forms. The committee also discussed possible scenarios of con-ference realignment that might affect the long range budget plan. The group also began implementation of the conference grant program audit, with four randomly-selected conferences per year taking part in the audit. The audit is intended to be a verifica-tion of conference grant funds and an opportunity for education outreach with the conferences.

Planning and Finance Committe MembersAnn Martin Regis University (Colorado)Bren Stevens University of Charleston (West Virginia)Clint Bryant Augusta State UniversityJ. Patrick O’Brien West Texas A&M UniversityJared Mosley Abilene Christian UniversityJudith A. Bense University of West FloridaRobert Wyatt Coker CollegeRobin C. Capehart West Liberty UniversityThomas Haas, chair Grand Valley State University


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Membership Committee MembersBrian Swanson California State Polytechnic University, PomonaDaniel B. Mara, chair Central Atlantic Collegiate ConferenceDeborah Chin University of New HavenDixie Cirillo Colorado School of MinesDustin Smith University of Arkansas, Fort SmithErin O’Connell Seattle Pacific UniversityKaye Crook Coker CollegeSandra Michael Holy Family UniversitySue Willey University of IndianapolisTim W. Selgo Grand Valley State UniversityTonia Walker Winston-Salem State University

Membership CommitteeDII Membership Committee July Report

In the July 2012 meeting of the membership commit-tee, members reviewed the annual reports for institu-tions in the membership process and also considered applications from institutions seeking to begin the membership process.

The committee voted to move the following institu-tions into active member status:

• Academy of Art University• Cedarville University• Minot State University• Notre Dame College (Ohio)• Simon Fraser University• University of Sioux Falls• William Jewell College

The following institutions were moved to the provi-sional period of the membership process:

• Black Hills State University• California Baptist University• Lindenwood University• Malone University• South Dakota School of Mines and Technology• Ursuline College• Walsh University

The committee voted to move the following insti-tutions to year two of the candidacy period of the membership process:

• Azusa Pacific University• Fresno Pacific University• Point Loma Nazarene University• Roberts Wesleyan University• Shorter University• Southern Nazarene University• Trevecca Nazarene University• Union University• Young Harris College

The following institutions were approved to enter year one of the candidacy period for the membership process:

• Daemen College• Holy Names University• Lee University• Lubbock Christian University

• Northwestern Oklahoma State University• Oklahoma Christian University• Rogers State University• University of Virginia at Wise

DII Membership Committee works to maintain quality while meeting needNov 16, 2012By David Pickle

The task seems simple enough: Identify a Division II Membership Committee philosophy to guide its review of applications and its extension of invitations for new members.

In practice, as the committee discovered at its Nov. 6-7 meeting, the development of such a philosophy is a complicated examination that calls for the group to juggle a range of equally important requirements.

The committee ultimately reached agreement on a concept that would consolidate minimum expecta-tions and additional evaluation criteria (that is, new members would be expected to meet all criteria), would allow no more than 30 schools in the new-member pipeline at once and would set a selection standard of admitting only the institutions that have best met all minimum requirements.

The concept is a long way from practice. It will need to be vetted with membership interests, especially commissioners and athletics directors, and other interested parties. The committee itself will take up the issue again in February; any subsequent legisla-


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tion would be considered at the January 2014 NCAA Convention.

“The committee wants is to identify the best possible new members for Division II – the cream of the crop, as some members put it,” said Membership Com-mittee chair Dan Mara, commissioner of the Central Atlantic Athletic Conference. “The complication comes with addressing other factors, like the recommended long-range membership projections (no more than 365 schools and 26 conferences by 2023-24) or the particular needs of conferences or regions.

“At the same time, we want to keep an eye on whether existing members are being held to the same standards as new members.”

While the commitment is to a demanding, selective process that will ask more of prospective members, the committee’s concept also maintains four consid-erations that would provide a degree of flexibility:

• Geography.• Whether the applicant institution sponsors

football.• Whether the applicant institution is currently in

Division I or III.• Whether institutions in the same conference

are applying and meeting membership require-ments.

“We don’t want to paint ourselves into a corner,” Mara said. “We do have challenges with the way our membership is distributed, and we don’t want to be rigid to the point that we exclude new members that could serve the greater good of the division. We will never accept an unqualified member, but there may be some circumstances where the Membership Com-mittee needs to be more hands-on.”

Committee members agreed that conferences should play a major role in ensuring that their prospective members are meeting Division II expectations.

As part of the exercise, the committee revisited the timeline for new members. The group agreed – again, conceptually – with a model in which pro-spective members would be required to fully comply with Division II legislation by Year 2 of the member-ship process. The committee had discussed requiring compliance upon entering the process but concluded that financial aid, initial-eligibility, progress-toward-degree and possibly other issues made that impracti-cal.

“In my experience, many new members believe they know what they need to do in Year 1, but they dis-cover they actually need a year to get their bearings,” said Jess Rigler, staff liaison to the committee and as-sistant director of academic and membership affairs.

The committee will discuss that concept in more detail in February.

At the same time, the committee discussed being more open to reviewing more waivers to Year 3 of the process for reclassifying members. The approach would permit institutions that have excelled in the process to gain active status sooner.

Finally, the Membership Committee remains aware of the inconsistencies that come with high expectations for new members without clearly defined commensu-rate expectations for existing members.

Although some committee members noted that high-ly qualified new members have elevated expectations for lower-performing members in their conference, the consensus was that more needs to be done to ensure that current members comply with key Divi-sion II expectations (for example, quality facilities, athletics directors without coaching responsibilities, full-time compliance staff). The committee plans to discuss the matter in more detail in February.


YEAR

IN R

EVIE

Wof an award as long as it did not exceed specified val-ue limitations. Student-athletes believed the proposal could cause financial hardship on student-athletes who might not be able to afford the added expense.

The Management Council subsequently withdrew its co-sponsorship of the proposal for consideration and is recommending that the Presidents Council with-draw its sponsorship for the 2013 NCAA Convention. The Presidents Council will discuss this recommenda-tion at its August meeting.

Student-Athlete Advisory Committee MembersAlison Arlen Welch Christian Brothers UniversityAllison Kolezynski Chowan UniversityAmber Braaten Palm Beach Atlantic UniversityAmy Berry Georgian Court UniversityBrent Wren University of Alabama in HuntsvilleBrynn Seidenstricker Shippensburg University of PennsylvaniaDavid B. Maldonado Lincoln Memorial UniversityDavid Pillen Abilene Christian UniversityDylan Jackson California State University, Monterey BayEllen Augsburger Regis University (Colorado)Frank Keenan Fairmont State UniversityHilary Cox, chair North Georgia College & State UniversityJamie Bruce Benedict CollegeJared Merritt Lake Erie CollegeJohn Steven Galanoudis Molloy CollegeJonathan Darby Southwestern Oklahoma State UniversityJoshua Edenborough Oklahoma Panhandle State UniversityKatelyn M. McElveen Coker CollegeMegan Davis Saint Joseph’s College (Indiana)Melissa Skovira Fort Hays State UniversityRichard Cole Jr. Dowling CollegeRobert Guzman Texas A&M University- KingsvilleSamantha Whittier Southern New Hampshire UniversitySara Bowden Grand Canyon UniversitySpencer Dodd St. Martin’s UniversityTeya Everett Kentucky State UniversityTrevor Reeves Wayne State College (Nebraska)VaShawn Taylor Eckerd College

National Student-Athlete Advisory CommitteeThe Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee during its annual summit with the Division II Man-agement Council supported a proposal that calls for a 14-day break for student-athletes at the conclusion of each team’s playing season.

The student-athletes, who met Saturday and Sunday with the Management Council, believe the proposal provides the right amount of time for physical and mental recovery after a season of competition. The Management Council joined the student-athletes in support, with members voting Monday to recom-mend that the Presidents Council sponsor legislation at the 2013 NCAA Convention.

SAAC members approved of the way the proposal standardizes the length of the break while also pro-viding recovery time. The student-athletes acknowl-edged some potential drawbacks, such as the loss of the opportunity to participate in tryouts of prospects during the 14-day break. But the SAAC thought the positives of the break far outweighed such concerns.

The SAAC, and the Management Council in its sub-sequent meeting, explored how the proposal would affect student-athletes who compete in multiple sports that occur in sequential seasons. Ultimately, the Management Council approved a proposal that would limit activities only within a sport. For exam-ple, if a women’s volleyball player (fall sport) wanted to play basketball (winter), the 14-day break period would apply only to volleyball activities. The Manage-ment Council’s rationale was that the student-athlete would have chosen to participate in the second sport and was therefore forgoing the recovery period.

The student-athletes favored a membership pro-posal from the Great Lakes Valley and South Atlantic Conferences that would not count participation in preseason exhibition contests or scrimmages that occur before the first countable contest or date of competition during student-athletes’ initial year of enrollment as a season of competition. (The only other membership-sponsored legislation, from the Pennsylvania State Athletic and Peach Belt Confer-ences, would expand the Championships Committee to include a representative from each Division II mul-tisport conference.)

The SAAC opposed a proposal that would have al-lowed student-athletes to contribute to the purchase

NCA

A Di

visi

on II

201

3 St

rate

gic

Prio

ritie

s

In 1

973,

the

NCA

A di

vide

d its

mem

bers

hip

into

thre

e di

visio

ns, r

esul

ting

in th

ree

sepa

rate

, dist

inct

ent

ities

. Th

e ye

ar

2013

will

mar

k fo

rty

year

s sin

ce D

ivisi

on II

beg

an it

s jo

urne

y on

a p

ath

that

wou

ld, u

ltim

atel

y, le

ad t

o a

uniq

ue a

nd

spec

ial p

ositi

on in

inte

rcol

legi

ate

athl

etic

s. I

n th

at fo

rty-

year

tim

efra

me,

the

Divi

sion

II m

embe

rshi

p ha

s w

orke

d ha

rd

to d

istin

guish

itse

lf as

the

‘des

tinat

ion’

div

ision

—th

e di

visio

n th

at s

trik

es a

bal

ance

am

ong

acad

emic

s, a

thle

tics,

and

co

mm

unity

and

cam

pus e

ngag

emen

t and

is th

e pe

rfec

t env

ironm

ent f

or d

evel

opin

g st

uden

t-at

hlet

es.

The

emph

asis

for

the

stud

ent-

athl

ete

expe

rienc

e in

Div

ision

II

is a

com

preh

ensiv

e pr

ogra

m o

f le

arni

ng a

nd

deve

lopm

ent

in a

per

sona

l se

ttin

g. T

he D

ivisi

on I

I ap

proa

ch p

rovi

des

grow

th o

ppor

tuni

ties

thro

ugh

acad

emic

ac

hiev

emen

t, le

arni

ng in

hig

h-le

vel a

thle

tic c

ompe

titio

n an

d de

velo

pmen

t of

pos

itive

soc

ieta

l att

itude

s in

ser

vice

to

com

mun

ity. T

he b

alan

ce a

nd in

tegr

atio

n of

thes

e di

ffere

nt a

reas

of l

earn

ing

oppo

rtun

ity p

rovi

de D

ivisi

on II

stu

dent

-at

hlet

es a

pat

h to

gra

duat

ion

whi

le c

ultiv

atin

g a

varie

ty o

f ski

lls a

nd k

now

ledg

e fo

r life

ahe

ad.

In s

hort

, Div

ision

II is

sy

nony

mou

s with

the

stud

ent-

athl

ete.

Th

e 20

12-1

5 st

rate

gic

plan

was

rel

ease

d to

the

Div

ision

II

mem

bers

hip

at t

he 2

012

NCA

A Co

nven

tion.

Th

e pl

an

incl

udes

fiv

e st

rate

gic

goal

s an

d fu

ndin

g in

itiat

ives

: 1)

Aca

dem

ics

and

Life

Ski

lls;

2) A

thle

tics

Ope

ratio

ns a

nd

Com

plia

nce;

3) G

ame

Day

and

Conf

eren

ce a

nd N

atio

nal C

ham

pion

ship

s; 4

) Mem

bers

hip

and

Posit

ioni

ng In

itiat

ives

; an

d 5)

Div

ersit

y an

d In

clus

ion.

Th

ese

goal

s an

d fu

ndin

g in

itiat

ives

hav

e be

en a

nd w

ill b

e at

the

for

efro

nt o

f th

e di

visio

n’s

stra

tegi

c fo

cus

durin

g th

e ne

xt s

ever

al y

ears

, as

we

striv

e to

con

tinue

with

our

em

phas

is on

"Li

fe in

the

Ba

lanc

e" in

Div

ision

II.

To

help

acc

ompl

ish t

hese

goa

ls, t

he d

ivisi

on w

ill c

ontin

ue t

o pr

iorit

ize t

hree

ove

rarc

hing

st

rate

gies

in 2

013:

__

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

_

1.

Prom

ote

the

succ

ess

of o

ur s

tude

nt-a

thle

tes–

–in

the

clas

sroo

m, o

n th

e pl

ayin

g fie

ld a

nd in

the

com

mun

ity––

by

strik

ing

a ba

lanc

e am

ong

athl

etic

s co

mpe

titio

n, a

cade

mic

exc

elle

nce

and

soci

al g

row

th a

s w

e pr

epar

e st

uden

t-at

hlet

es fo

r life

long

succ

ess.

2.

Em

phas

ize D

ivisi

on II

not

onl

y as

a m

embe

rshi

p de

stin

atio

n, b

ut a

lso a

s a d

ivisi

on th

at o

ffers

exc

eptio

nal v

alue

to

its m

embe

rs—

a di

visio

n w

here

sch

ools,

in a

fisc

ally

res

pons

ible

way

, can

offe

r hi

ghly

ski

lled

stud

ent-

athl

etes

a

plac

e to

com

pete

for c

ham

pion

ship

s and

enj

oy a

bal

ance

d co

llegi

ate

expe

rienc

e.

3.

Cont

inue

to

live

the

‘col

legi

ate

mod

el’

philo

soph

y in

Div

ision

II–

–tho

se w

ho p

artic

ipat

e in

col

lege

spo

rts

are

stud

ents

and

inte

rcol

legi

ate

athl

etic

s is e

mbe

dded

in th

e va

lues

and

miss

ion

of h

ighe

r edu

catio

n.

NCA

A/10

/31/

2012

/RCR

/TSG

NCA

A Di

visi

on II

201

3 Pr

iorit

ies

Ove

rarc

hing

Str

ateg

y N

o. 1

Pr

omot

e th

e su

cces

s of o

ur st

uden

t-at

hlet

es.

---

------

------

-----

1.

Divi

sion

II

Iden

tity

Wor

ksho

p. T

he d

ivisi

on w

ill c

ontin

ue i

ts

com

mun

ity-e

ngag

emen

t ef

fort

s an

d im

plem

ent

its

stra

tegi

c in

itiat

ives

by

host

ing

a w

orks

hop

for S

AAC

advi

sors

and

stu

dent

-at

hlet

es o

n ho

w t

o em

phas

ize t

he d

ivisi

on’s

str

ateg

ic in

itiat

ives

(in

clud

ing

com

mun

ity

enga

gem

ent,

gam

e en

viro

nmen

t an

d M

ake-

A W

ish) a

t the

cam

pus a

nd c

onfe

renc

e le

vels.

2.

20

13 C

ham

pion

ship

s Fe

stiv

al.

The

div

ision

will

con

duct

its

se

cond

win

ter c

ham

pion

ship

s (s

even

th o

vera

ll fe

stiv

al) M

arch

3-

9 in

Birm

ingh

am,

Alab

ama.

Th

e w

inte

r fe

stiv

al w

ill h

ighl

ight

m

en’s

an

d w

omen

’s

trac

k an

d fie

ld;

men

’s

and

wom

en’s

swim

min

g an

d di

ving

; and

wre

stlin

g.

Cont

inui

ng t

he s

ucce

ss o

f th

e fe

stiv

als f

or th

e st

uden

t-at

hlet

e w

ill b

e a

top

prio

rity.

3.

Pa

th t

o G

radu

atio

n.

A Di

visio

n II

task

for

ce w

ill c

ontin

ue i

ts

com

preh

ensiv

e re

view

of

Divi

sion

II ac

adem

ic r

equi

rem

ents

, in

clud

ing

initi

al-e

ligib

ility

, pro

gres

s-to

war

d-de

gree

and

tw

o-ye

ar

colle

ge

tran

sfer

re

quire

men

ts.

This

data

al

low

s fo

r an

un

ders

tand

ing

of h

ow D

ivisi

on I

I st

uden

t-at

hlet

es p

erfo

rm a

nd

the

abili

ty t

o se

t st

anda

rds

appr

opria

te f

or t

he D

ivisi

on I

I po

pula

tion.

Th

e ta

sk f

orce

will

con

tinue

to

seek

fee

dbac

k on

co

ncep

ts fr

om k

ey c

onst

ituen

cies

, and

the

aca

dem

ic r

evie

w w

ill

be t

he t

opic

for

the

edu

catio

n se

ssio

n at

the

201

3 N

CAA

Conv

entio

n. T

he “

Path

to G

radu

atio

n” p

acka

ge o

f pro

posa

ls w

ill

be

befo

re

the

Divi

sion

II m

embe

rshi

p at

th

e 20

14

NCA

A Co

nven

tion.

4.

St

uden

t-Ath

lete

Ex

perie

nce

Asse

ssm

ent.

Th

e di

visio

n w

ill

cont

inue

to

colle

ct d

ata

from

cur

rent

and

for

mer

Div

ision

II

stud

ent-

athl

etes

to

dete

rmin

e th

e ac

cura

cy o

f th

e st

rate

gic

posit

ioni

ng p

latfo

rm.

Curr

ent s

tude

nt-a

thle

tes

will

be

canv

asse

d on

thei

r aca

dem

ic/a

thle

tics a

ctiv

ities

; for

mer

stud

ent-

athl

etes

on

whe

ther

the

Divi

sion

II ex

perie

nce

has

aide

d th

em in

thei

r po

st-

grad

uatio

n su

cces

s.

Ove

rarc

hing

Str

ateg

y N

o. 2

Em

phas

ize D

ivisi

on I

I as

a d

ivisi

on t

hat

offe

rs e

xcep

tiona

l va

lue

to it

s mem

bers

hip.

---

------

------

-----

1.

40th

Ann

iver

sary

of

Divi

sion

II.

The

year

201

3 w

ill m

ark

fort

y ye

ars

since

Div

ision

II b

egan

its

jour

ney

on a

pat

h th

at w

ould

, ul

timat

ely,

lead

to a

uni

que

and

spec

ial p

ositi

on in

inte

rcol

legi

ate

athl

etic

s.

In

th

at

fort

y-ye

ar

timef

ram

e,

the

Divi

sion

II m

embe

rshi

p ha

s w

orke

d ha

rd

to

dist

ingu

ish

itsel

f as

th

e ‘d

estin

atio

n’ d

ivisi

on—

the

divi

sion

that

str

ikes

a b

alan

ce a

mon

g ac

adem

ics,

ath

letic

s, a

nd c

omm

unity

and

cam

pus

enga

gem

ent

and

is th

e pe

rfec

t en

viro

nmen

t fo

r de

velo

ping

stu

dent

-ath

lete

s.

Durin

g th

e ye

ar, D

ivisi

on II

will

cel

ebra

te 4

0 ye

ars

of le

gaci

es a

nd

cont

inue

to

expl

ore

new

ave

nues

tha

t w

ill p

rovi

de it

s st

uden

t-at

hlet

es w

ith a

wel

l-rou

nded

col

legi

ate

expe

rienc

e.

2.

Divi

sion

II O

rient

atio

n an

d Ed

ucat

ion

Prog

ram

s. D

ivisi

on II

will

co

ntin

ue

to

initi

ate/

prov

ide

prog

ram

s fo

r its

pr

ospe

ctiv

e st

uden

t-at

hlet

es, d

irect

ors

of a

thle

tics

(via

a n

ew A

D or

ient

atio

n pr

ogra

m),

volle

ybal

l an

d fo

otba

ll co

ache

s (v

ia a

pilo

t pr

ogra

m

rela

ted

to e

duca

tion,

eng

agem

ent

and

conn

ectio

n), a

nd f

acul

ty

athl

etic

s re

pres

enta

tives

(vi

a th

e Di

visio

n II

FAR

Inst

itute

s) t

o en

hanc

e th

eir k

now

ledg

e of

Div

ision

II.

Addi

tiona

lly, t

he d

ivisi

on

will

con

duct

an

audi

t an

d as

sess

the

Div

ision

II

plat

form

and

st

rate

gic

posit

ion

to a

ssist

in

prov

idin

g th

e di

visio

n w

ith a

n av

enue

to

di

rect

its

fu

ture

en

ergy

w

ith

rega

rd

to

bran

d re

cogn

ition

. 3.

Ch

ance

llor/

Pres

iden

tial

Enga

gem

ent

in D

ivis

ion

II.

Divi

sion

II ch

ance

llors

and

pre

siden

ts w

ill p

artic

ipat

e in

the

four

th D

ivisi

on

II Ch

ance

llors

and

Pre

siden

ts S

umm

it, w

hich

will

be

held

in

conj

unct

ion

with

the

201

3 N

CAA

Conv

entio

n in

Dal

las,

Tex

as.

Key

area

s of

foc

us w

ill b

e on

aca

dem

ics,

enf

orce

men

t an

d di

vers

ity/in

clus

ion.

Div

ision

II c

hanc

ello

rs a

nd p

resid

ents

will

be

invo

lved

in

se

ttin

g th

e st

rate

gic

dire

ctio

n fo

r Di

visio

n II

inst

itutio

ns a

nd c

onfe

renc

es a

nd th

e ov

eral

l div

ision

via

a s

urve

y in

stru

men

t tha

t was

dist

ribut

ed in

the

fall

of 2

012.

Ove

rarc

hing

Str

ateg

y N

o. 3

Co

ntin

ue t

o liv

e th

e ‘c

olle

giat

e m

odel

’ phi

loso

phy

in D

ivisi

on

II.

------

------

------

-- 1.

Ch

ampi

onsh

ips

Sele

ctio

n Cr

iteria

.

The

Cham

pion

ship

s Co

mm

ittee

will

con

tinue

its

revi

ew o

f sel

ectio

n cr

iteria

. Ar

eas

of

revi

ew in

clud

e es

tabl

ishin

g un

iver

sal s

elec

tion

crite

ria to

be

used

fo

r all

team

spo

rts,

alo

ng w

ith a

list

of o

ptio

nal s

elec

tion

crite

ria

for

the

spor

t; on

ly p

erm

ittin

g re

ques

ts f

or s

elec

tion

crite

ria

chan

ges

base

d on

a t

hree

-yea

r cy

cle;

dev

elop

ing

an e

duca

tion

prog

ram

on

sele

ctio

n cr

iteria

and

pro

cess

; an

d de

velo

ping

a

sele

ctio

n cr

iteria

po

licie

s an

d pr

oced

ures

m

anua

l.

As

the

Divi

sion

II m

embe

rshi

ps c

ontin

ues

to g

row

and

con

fere

nces

co

ntin

ue w

ith th

eir r

ealig

nmen

t, th

is iss

ue w

ill c

ontin

ue to

be

in

the

spot

light

with

reg

ard

to t

he r

egio

naliz

atio

n ph

iloso

phy

in

Divi

sion

II.

2.

Enha

ncin

g Di

visi

on I

I O

pera

tions

. R

evie

w o

f th

e en

forc

emen

t an

d m

embe

rshi

p pr

oces

ses

and

a co

ntin

uatio

n of

the

Eas

e of

Bu

rden

initi

ativ

e w

ill c

ontin

ue to

be

of g

reat

impo

rtan

ce in

livi

ng

the

Divi

sion

II ph

iloso

phy

in 2

013.

Th

is on

goin

g re

view

may

ge

nera

te le

gisla

tive

and/

or p

olic

y ch

ange

s fo

r th

e m

embe

rshi

p to

con

sider

in th

e ne

ar fu

ture

. 3.

Di

visi

on II

Pro

ject

Tea

m to

Rev

iew

Dru

g Te

stin

g an

d Ed

ucat

ion.

Af

ter a

revi

ew o

f dat

a th

at s

how

ed a

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PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Enhancement ProgramDivision II is a dynamic and engaging group of colleges, institutions and conferences of varying sizes and edu-cational missions. Division II members are committed to the overall experience and success of their students, coaches and administrators who participate in their membership. Consistent with the NCAA’s ideals of encour-aging diversity and inclusion, Division II has renewed its commitment to remedy an ongoing problem with professional development opportunities for minority and women administrators through the NCAA Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Enhancement Program.

Through this program, Division II has heightened its commitment of encouraging institutions and conference offices to increase the opportunities that enhance diversity and inclusion within their athletics administrative staffs.

About the GrantThe Strategic Alliance Matching Grant provides funding for Division II institutions and conference offices to enhance diversity and inclusion through:

• Full-time professional administrative positions in athletics administration.

Selected institutions and conference offices receive grant funding for three years, with diminishing contribu-tions by the NCAA. The NCAA will fund 75 percent of the position during the first year, 50 percent the second year and 25 percent during the third year. Second and third year funding of the grant is contingent upon the submittal of a year-end status report from the institution and conference office supervisor and grant recipient, verifying the position and how the funds were used and the completion of an on-campus site visit.

Participating institutions or conference offices are required to maintain the position for a minimum of two years after grant funds are exhausted, preferably incorporating the position into their ongoing operations. All apply-ing institutions and conference offices must show a commitment to continuing the position at the time of the submitted application.

Proposal EvaluationProposals from institutions and conference offices for the matching grant were reviewed by the Division II Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Selection Committee after the January 25, 2013, deadline. The selection committee consists of university presidents, conference office representation, current grant recipients or su-pervisors, and outside representation. It is important to note that every application pool is considered on its own merit––recommendations for improvement provided post selection will not guarantee approval in the next cycle. The following criteria are used to evaluate submissions for eligibility and awards:

1. Support from the senior leadership of the institution or conference office.2. Overall quality and adequacy of design of the proposal.3. Innovation and creativity. Proposals may be inclusive of all athletics positions. The positions should dem-

onstrate and articulate significant administrative responsibilities.4. Potential funding viability and/or expansion during the five-year term of the grant.5. Degree of impact (potential or ongoing effectiveness) and factors that increase ethnic and gender diver-

sity, especially where diversity is underrepresented.6. Plans for mentoring accessibility, professional development and growth.7. Qualitative and quantifiable measurement tools to assess overall project effectiveness of program initia-

tives in terms of added value.

2012 Division II SAMG Recipients: Colorado Mesa University, Fayetteville State University, Great Lakes Valley Conference, Le Moyne College, University of Arkansas-Monticello, Wingate University


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NCAA DII Coaching Enhancement GrantThe Division II Coaching Enhancement Grant was created to address the issues of access, recruitment, selec-tion and long-term success of women, ethnic minorities and other individuals in Division II who seek to over-come hiring barriers by providing grant funding for the creation of assistant coaching positions within the Divi-sion. The grant each year provides $16,000 to create a new assistant coach position. The school is required to contribute an additional $8,000 annually in funding. All applications are reviewed and confirmed by a selection committee of non-NCAA staff. The selection process takes place every two years.

• No more than 18 positions will be funded over a two year period. Selections will be based on an institu-tion’s demonstrated commitment to diversity and history of inclusiveness. Emphasis will be placed on selecting conferences with continued success and those that have demonstrated recent improvement.

• Institutions who are members of conferences on “conference grant probation” status are ineligible to ap-ply.

• Detailed information, including those institutions selected to participate and how the coach positions will be allocated, must be specified in the application.

• Each position created by the grant must be a new assistant coach position; it cannot be an assistant coach position that was in existence the previous year.

• Each position must be for a full-time coach; that coach must have a bachelor’s degree.• Preference will be given to those individuals with no previous collegiate coaching experience and to

those individuals who are graduates of a Division II institution.

The online application for the 2014-2016 Division II Coaching Enhancement Grant will be available in Fall 2013.

If you have any questions regarding the NCAA Division II Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Enhancement Pro-gram or the Coaching Enhancement Grant, please contact Courtney E. Lovely, Assistant Director of Student-

Athlete Affairs at 317/917-6560 or [email protected].

2012-2014 Division II Coaching Enhancement Grant Recipients: Bemidji State University, Bloomsburg University, Drury University, Mars Hill College, Northern Michigan University, Palm Beach Atlantic Univer-sity, Queens College (New York), Saint Leo University, Shaw University, Texas A&M - Kingsville, University of Arkansas, Monticello, University of Indianapolis, University of Mary, University of West Alabama, University of West Florida, University of West Georgia

Academic Requirements Task ForceDue to the recent availability of sufficient data on student-athlete performance, the academic requirements committee commissioned a task force to review Division II academic requirements, including initial eligibility, progress-toward-degree and two-year transfer requirements. This new data allows for greater understand-ing of how Division II student-athletes perform and the ability to set standards appropriate for the Division II student population. Additionally, the division has operated under similar legislation since 1997 when the NCAA federated; therefore, it is important to re-evaluate whether these standards are producing the intended out-comes for the division. The task force will also help to ensure that our academic requirements align with the Division II philosophy and positioning platform, which focus on promoting the academic success of its student-athletes and preparing them to attain a collegiate degree.

This review will occur over the course of a few legislative cycles, and it is anticipated that a package of aca-demic proposals will be voted on at the 2014 NCAA Convention. Throughout the review, the committee will seek feedback on concepts from key constituencies, and the academic review will be the topic for the educa-tion session at the 2013 NCAA Convention. The final legislative recommendations will come from the academic requirements committee in February and July of 2013.



Degree Completion Award ProgramThe NCAA established the Division II Degree-Completion Award Program in 2001 to provide deserving student-athletes financial assistance for them to complete their first baccalaureate degree. Candidates will be students who have exhausted their athletics eligibility and have received athletics financial aid. The selection process for the national award emphasizes the academic performance of the student-athlete. Other factors considered are financial circumstances, athletic achievement and involvement in campus and community activities.

To date, over $3 million has been given to approximately 830 deserving student-athletes. Of those student-athletes who have received the award since its inception, 94 percent have earned their undergraduate degree using this program.

The application for the 2013-2014 awards will be available in February 2013.

Requirements for the Award:

• Applicant shall be a student-athlete who has exhausted athletics eligibility at an active NCAA Division II institution within the past academic year.

• Awards are limited to student-athletes during their first 10 semesters or 15 quarters of full-time colle-giate attendance.

• Applicant shall not be participating in another intercollegiate sport during the period of the award.• Applicant must have received athletics-related financial aid from the NCAA Division II member institu-

tion.• Applicant must be within 32 semester or 48 quarters hours of completion of his or her first undergradu-

ate degree at the completion of the spring term.• Applicant must have a 2.50 cumulative grade-point average.• Applicant shall not receive any athletics aid if awarded a Division II Degree-Completion Award.• Applicant shall use the grant to complete undergraduate degree requirements from the Division II insti-

tution where the applicant last competed.

For more information on the degree completion award program, please contact Ellen Summers, NCAA Librarian, at [email protected].

NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program

The NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of inter-collegiate athletics competition. The grants of $7,500 each are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. Each sports season there are 29 scholarships available for men and 29 scholarships available for women. The scholarships are one-time, non-renewable grants.

To be eligible for an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, a nomination must be submitted by a faculty athletics rep-resentative (FAR) or by an FAR designee. It is the responsibility of the FAR or FAR designee to ensure that all sections of the nomination are submitted to the NCAA National Office not later than the sport season deadlines.

FARs or FAR designees must nominate qualified student-athletes using the Postgraduate Scholarship Online Submission System. In total, there are five sections to be completed. Additionally, FARs must ensure that the nominee’s transcripts are mailed to the NCAA National Office. Emails will be sent from the online system to the student-athlete and three individuals for recommendations. The emails are generated after the FAR submits his or her nomination section.


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The nomination sections are as follows:1. FAR nomination (includes a formal recommendation for the nominee).2. Student-athlete section (to be completed by the nominee, includes a personal statement).3. Head coach recommendation.4. Athletics administrator recommendation.5. Professor recommendation.

The NCAA Postgraduate Scholar was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by re-warding the Association’s most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports.

Athletics and academic achievements, as well as campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership, are evaluated. An equitable approach is employed in reviewing each applicant’s nomination form to provide opportunity to all student-athlete nominees to receive the postgraduate award, re-gardless of sport, division, gender or race.

In maintaining the highest broad-based standards in the selection process, the program aims to reward those individuals whose dedication and effort are reflective of those characteristics necessary to succeed and thrive through postgraduate study in an accredited graduate degree program.

For more information about the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program, please contact Lori Thomas at [email protected].

FAR Fellows Institute and Advanced InstituteA major goal of the NCAA, Division II and the Fac-ulty Athletics Representatives Association (FARA) is to better define and enhance the role of the faculty athletics representative (FAR) at the campus, confer-ence and national levels. The mission of the Divi-sion II FAR Fellows Institute is to provide an intense developmental opportunity for a core group of FARs to enhance their ability to perform the critical func-tions of a Division II faculty athletics representative. Through networking with other Division II FARs, en-hancing their skills as leaders and engaging in case studies, FARs are both inspired and challenged to enrich the Division II student-athlete intercollegiate athletics experience.

At its December 2010 meeting, the Division II Plan-ning and Finance Committee approved a proposal to conduct a Division II FAR Fellows Advanced Leadership Institute to expand and continue the education of Division II FAR Fellows. In 2011, the first Advanced Leadership Institute was offered and will continue on an annual rotating basis with the FAR Fellows Institute. In the inaugural meeting, the participants drafted a Model FAR document to serve as an ideal for campuses and conferences to strive towards.

2012 DII FAR Fellows Institute AttendeesDarrell Axtell, St. Martin’s UniversityAndro Barnett, Shepherd UniversityTim Briles, Georgian Court UniversityBrody Broshears, University of Southern IndianaCynthia Williams Brown, Winston-Salem State UniversityThomas Bullock, University of the District of ColumbiaBarry Cuffe, Wingate UniversityKatherine Farrell, Western Oregon UniversityKeith Fudge, University of Arkansas, Fort SmithGretchen Guenther, The College of Saint RoseEllen Hill, Minnesota State University MoorheadInas Kelly, Queens College (New York)Christopher Leeds, Dominican University of CaliforniaWill Lynch, Armstrong Atlantic State UniversityRichard Moore, St. Augustine’s UniversityRobert Morris, University of West GeorgiaDavid Pearson, California Baptist UniversityJohn Pierce, Philadelphia UniversitySeth Pollack, California State University, Monterey BayJody Russell, Lock Haven University of PennsylvaniaStephen Russo, Nova Southeastern UniversityWilliam Sproule, Michigan Technological UniversityGlenn Stokes, Columbus State UniversityTimothy Walker, Ohio Dominican University



NCAA Postgraduate Internship ProgramThe NCAA Postgraduate Internship is a one-year program that provides on-the-job learning experiences for college graduates who express an interest in pursuing a career in intercollegiate athletics administration. The internship is based at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The NCAA offers the following internship positions: Academic and Membership Affairs/Student-Athlete Rein-statement; Administrative Services; Championships and Alliances; Communications (Digital Communications, Image Management and Communication Strategy, Public and Media Relations); Enforcement; Governance; Student-Athlete Affairs and Inclusion; and the NCAA Eligibility Center. The application deadline for the 2012-13 intern class has already passed, but stay tuned for the next applica-tion cycle in early autumn of this year.

Here’s what a few of the current interns had to say about the program:

“If you’re seeking a career in intercollegiate athletics, the NCAA internship experience will be second to none!” - Quintin Jordan, Eligibility Center

“The internship has allowed me to meet so many people here and in the membership who are as enthusiastic about providing a great college experience to student-athletes as I am.” - Jane Beall, Enforcement

To be eligible for the internship, applicants must be a college graduate from a four-year NCAA member institu-tion. For more information, contact Tim Bennett at [email protected].

2012-13 NCAA intern class: Jane Beall, Anthony Buhr, Brooke Buzard, Kate Carrico, Courtney Cronin, Jes-sica David, Mike Fuller, Lauren Graham, Rebecca Harrison, Quintin Jordan, Caitlin Kinser, Jessica McIntyre, Molly Poitevint, Leslee Roper, Eric Schneider, Hamardo Sinclair, KD Stearns, Akanni Turner, Kayci Woodley and Joshua Young

CoSIDA Academic All-America ProgramThe CoSIDA Academic All-America program, now sponsored by Capital One, recognizes student-athletes from across the nation who excel both academically and athletically. Recently, Division II led the charge to divide the previous “college” designation, which grouped Division II, III and NAIA institutions, into separate catego-ries so that more student-athletes could be recognized for their achievements. This decision and additional financial commitment from Division II has effectively doubled the number of Division II student-athletes who receive this distinction.


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Governance Academy and ADA Mentor ProgramThe Minority Opportunities Athletic Association provides opportunities to exchange ideas and advocates in-creased participation and administrative opportunities for minorities in athletics. The MOAA also promotes generating a sports culture that supports the values necessary to teach and learn respect for self and others.

To support the MOAA mission, Division II created the MOAA/NCAA Division II Governance Academy to provide intensive training on Division II governance issues and strategic initiatives, to introduce attendees to NCAA committee work and to prepare young minority administrators for Division II committee service.

The grant program enables one minority administrator from each Division II conference to attend. The June 2011 academy was held in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics con-vention in Orlando.

In October 2012, the Governance Academy expanded to partner with the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA). Similar to the collaboration between the MOAA and NCAA, the purpose of the NACWAA/NCAA partnership is to prepare young female administrators for work in Division II. During the inaugural NACWAA/NCAA Governance Academy held in conjunction with the NACWAA national convention, attendees had the opportunity to participate in a simulated NCAA Division II Management Council meeting, along with current and former Management Council members, and review and discuss issues that are of importance and relevance to the division.

Division II is also taking the initiative to prepare women and minorities for future director of athletics positions by sponsoring a mentorship program. Partnering with the Division II Athletics Directors Association, this men-toring program matches promising women and minority administrators who hope to become athletics directors with proven athletics directors. The first class kicked off their experience in July of 2011. The second class was welcomed in Indianapolis this summer.



Conference Grant ProgramEach conference is allocated a base amount of $90,000 for its first five members. A $12,000 premium is paid for a sixth member, with an additional $4,000 premium paid for members up to 18. For example, a conference with 12 members receives a grant of $126,000 ($90,000 base plus a $36,000 premium).

At least 10 percent of the grant must be directed to each of five Division II strategic positioning outcome areas (50 percent total):

• Academics and life skills.• Athletics operations and compliance.• Game day and conference and national champion-

ships.• Membership and positioning initiatives.• Diversity and inclusion.

The remaining 50 percent may be spent in any of the five areas, as determined by the needs of the conference. Each year, member conferences are required to assess and rank their success and achievement in each of the five outcome areas. They are prohibited from using funds to assist with capital improvements, to increase countable grants-in-aid for member schools, to provide for an ad-ministrative fee or to supplement funds for the Division II Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Program. The program is administered by the Division II Planning and Finance Committee.

2012-13 Allocations*California Collegiate $126,000Central Atlantic $134,000Central Intercollegiate $126,000Conference Carolinas $126,000East Coast $114,000Great American $114,000Great Lakes Intercollegiate $134,000Great Lakes Valley $138,000Great Northwest $114,000Gulf South $110,000Heartland $110,000Lone Star $122,000Mid-America Intercollegiate $122,000Northeast-10 $142,000Northern Sun $134,000Pacific West $110,000Peach Belt $130,000Pennsylvania State $142,000Rocky Mountain $134,000South Atlantic $118,000Southern Intercollegiate $130,000Sunshine State $114,000West Virginia Intercollegiate $138,000Total $2,882,000

*Based on number of active member institutions in 2011-12

Make-A-WishSince 2003-04, the Division II national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has led a fundraising campaign to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Make-A-Wish is a national organization that creates special experiences for children with life-threatening illnesses.

More than 90 percent of the raised funds come from initiatives developed and implemented by local, conference and national student-athlete adviso-ry committees. The Division II Presidents Council and Management Coun-cil annually make a contribution, and Division II membership fines also go to Make-A-Wish.

In 2011-12 $468,569.35 was raised—by far the most money collected in a single year -- bringing the grand total to just over $2.4 million! 2011-12 also marked the first year with the top five institutions raising over $10,000 each (North Georgia College & State University, Grand Canyon University, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Grand Valley State University and Saint Leo University) and the top three conferences donat-ing over $30,000 each (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, North-east-10 Conference and Peach Belt Conference). Over 265 wishes have been granted with these Make-A-Wish funds.

Total Division II SAAC Funds Raised for

Make-A-Wish

Year Amount Raised2003-04 $49,9572004-05 $79,8772005-06 $114,6922006-07 $208,0222007-08 $316,0682008-09 $359,1872009-10 $407,6832010-11 $405,7522011-12 $468,570Total $2,409,808


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NCAA Careers in Sports ForumThe NCAA Regional Career in Sports Forum is a forum where selected student-athletes will learn and explore skills that will assist in their transition to a career in sports. The Regional Forum is open to all institutions in the identified region, unless otherwise specified. Each institution is permitted to nominate a maximum of 6 student-athletes for this opportunity. Registration will be based on a first come, first served basis. Graduate level college students may be nominated to participate in the Regional Career in Sports Forum; however, due to limited space availability, priority is given to current student-athletes.

Program Objectives:

• Participants will be educated about careers in athletics by key decision makers from member institu-tions and the NCAA.

• Participants will learn a realistic view of the role of coach or administrator in collegiate athletics or con-ference offices as well as within sports law and the sports entertainment industry.

• Participants will network with key decision makers from member institutions, sports law, sports media and entertainment and the NCAA.

• Encourage diverse populations to pursue careers in athletics.

All actual and necessary expenses will be covered by the NCAA. This includes hotel accommodations on Friday and Saturday night, meals during the Forum and parking passes. Selected participants are required to carpool with other student-athletes attending from their institution.

For more information about the NCAA Regional Career in Sports Form, please contact Courtney Lovely, Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Affairs, at [email protected].

NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership ForumThe mission of the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum is to engage a diverse and dynamic representation of student-athletes, coaches, faculty and admin-istrators and provide pertinent and customized sessions that will enhance personal awareness and leadership skills needed to impact student-athlete development at the campus and confer-ence level, and beyond the collegiate realm. The 2012 Leadership Forum took place in Dallas, with over 400 student-athletes and administra-tors from across all three divisions in attendance.

Participants took part in team sessions focused primarily on building leadership by identifying personal values and behavior. They also utilized the DiSC Assessment to understand more about their leadership styles.

In addition to leadership development, the fo-rum also provided an opportunity for the student-athletes to learn more about Division II and the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Representatives from the NCAA governance staff and Division II National SAAC spoke with student-athletes, gathering their feedback, brainstorming new ideas and empowering them with knowledge to take back to cam-pus.

Attendees of the 2012 Student-Athlete Leadership Forum help pack care packages for homeless veterans in Dallas as a part of the community service project.



One of the forum’s biggest highlights was a community-service project. In an attempt to put the leadership les-sons learned throughout the event into practice, while celebrating Veterans Day, the student-athletes assembled over 3,000 care packages for local homeless veterans. The group also heard from veterans about the importance of their contribution.

Daniel Zewde, a track and field student-athlete from West Texas A&M University, shared his thoughts after attending the Forum:

“I had probably one of the most life changing and eye opening weekends of my life at the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum. Never have I ever been so impacted by so many people and had so many people reach out to me as a student, an athlete, and an individual representing my university. My team facilitators, the administrators, and everyone in between made me feel like I truly belonged where I was and that any thoughts, questions, comments or concerns were welcome. I can’t even begin to describe the weekend and how it affected me. When we got to the airport in Dallas, we were greeted with an ‘NCAA’ sign and a smile. We were politely transported to the hotel via charter bus, and from there, we were taken care of for four days straight. The NCAA was as hospitable as my own family, and I really am happy to call the organization my family and something I am a part of. We kicked off our weekend with discussions about why we were in Dallas and where we came from. We talked about our individual personality types, the different personality types we come in contact with, and how to interact with those different types. I think this topic was the most effec-tive part of my weekend, only because I am a very ‘relational’ leader.

The biggest takeaway I had from this weekend was definitely the different ways to interact with differ-ent personalities. We came into contact with student-athletes from all three divisions and it was ridiculous how similar we were as both student-athletes and individuals. I know it may be an oxymoron when I say we were ‘similar individuals’ but there really is not another phrase to describe it.

I love being a Division II student-athlete. I love being a part of the NCAA and all the opportunities that they have extended to me as a student-athlete. The opportunity I received to represent my university both as a student-athlete and as a student-leader is priceless and I would recommend that ANY student take full advantage of this opportunity, if available. I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot more than I ex-pected to learn, in an engaging manner. Thank you NCAA!”

For more information about the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, please contact Ron Brewer, Associate Director of Leadership Development, at [email protected].

Zewde competes in a relay for West Texas A&M.

Division ii strategic Positioning Platform

ncaa missionWhat the brand wants to accomplish

To govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.

Dii positioning statementWho we are

life in the Balance. Higher education has lasting importance on an individual’s future success. For this reason, the emphasis for the student-athlete experience in Division II is a comprehensive program of learning and development in a personal setting. The Division II approach provides growth opportunities through academic achievement, learning in high-level athletic competition and development of positive societal attitudes in service to community. The balance and integration of these different areas of learning opportunity provide Division II student-athletes a path to graduation while cultivating a variety of skills and knowledge for life ahead.

Dii attributesWhat we stand for

learning: multiple opportunities to broaden knowledge

and skills

service: positive societal attitude through contributions to

community

Balance: emphasis on collective knowledge; integration

of skills

Passion: enthusiastic dedication

and desire in effort

resourcefulness: versatile skill set drawn

from broad range of experiences

sPortsmanshiP: respect for fairness,

courtesy; ethical conduct toward

others

audience benefitsKey benefits of the Dii experience

student-athletes / Parents• Participation in high-level athletic competition without an

overemphasis of sports in student life• Availability of faculty and sports staff in a personal setting• With the broad, versatile range of experiences, student-athletes

are more likely to find interest and value in school and therefore stay to graduate

• Upon graduation, the student-athlete will leave with broader experiences, skills and knowledge as resources for the future

• With personal setting and multiple areas of learning, student-athletes can have an impact with peers, community and school

Dii membership• Achieve educational mission and graduation success for student-

athletes through a comprehensive program that provides path to graduation and develops broad skill set

• High-level athletic competition for institution, region, community and student-athlete without an overemphasis on sports at the institution

• Opportunity for personal mentoring, coaching, teaching with student-athletes

• Impact local community / develop key local relationships through participation in Division II national community-engagement program

general Public• High-level, passionate athletic competition for local communities

and region in an intimate, family-friendly environment• Opportunities to interface face-to-face with student-athletes in

different venues• Positive impact in local communities and region through Division II

national program• Show support for educational mission of student-athletes and

development of youth

Key stakeholders• Invest in the educational mission of student-athletes and

development of youth into productive citizens• Promote high-level athletic competition in local communities and

region• Impact local community / develop key local relationships through

support of Division II national community-engagement program

Division ii features12 reasons to believe in Division ii

1. graduation rate. Division II student-athlete graduation rate is consistently 10 to 15 percentage points higher than the total student body.

2. class time. Division II’s regionalization philosophy rewards the scheduling of local or regional opponents in the regular season, resulting in limited missed class time for student-athletes.

3. athletics scholarships. Many Division II student-athletes receive athletics scholarships and other forms of financial aid to pay for school.

4. Personal attention. Student-athletes receive a quality education at DII institutions that often feature an exceptional teacher-to-student ratio.

5. additional assistance. The Degree-Completion Scholarship Program provides deserving Division II student-athletes who have exhausted their collegiate eligibility with financial assistance.

6. national championships opportunities. Division II features unparalleled opportunity for student-athletes to advance to national championship competition as a result of the division’s generous championship access ratios.

7. community Partnerships. Division II has initiated national community partnerships with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.

8. unique fiscal model. Division II offers a unique fiscal model for intercollegiate athletics that redefines the institutional value for sponsoring sports and offering athletics scholarships.

9. innovative solutions. Division II encourages innovative policy and program decisions unique to the NCAA, such as the development of Division II National Championships Festivals and a national community-engagement program.

10. teacher/coaches. Many Division II coaches continue to provide other services for their institution and in the community, including teaching and mentoring.

11. Proud alumni. Former Division II student-athletes include governors, senators, entertainers, corporate leaders and professional athletes.

12. national recognition. Division II student-athletes have received the NCAA’s highest individual honors, including winning the Walter Byers Scholarship Award (the Association’s top student-athlete) and the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.


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Men’s Cross Country: Adams StateJOPLIN, Mo. — Led by three Grizzlies who were among the top-four finish-ers, Adams State won its NCAA Division II record ninth and 21st overall national title at the campus of Missouri Southern State.

The Grizzlies had five of the top-15 finishers and had all seven runners fin-ish amongst the top 28 en-route to a team score of just 34 points.

ASU’s arch-rival Western State finished in sixth, the Mountaineers’ worst placing in 21 all-time NCAA Division II championship appearances. Alaska-Anchorage took third with 147 behind the leadership of individual national champion Micah Chelimo.

Chelimo finished the 10,000-meter course in a time of 28 minutes, 56.6 seconds before Grizzly redshirt freshman Kevin Batt out-raced sophomore teammate Tabor Stevens by a tenth of a second for second. Batt finished in 29:12.1 while Grizzly sophomore Matt Daniels, part of the lead pack throughout, finished fourth in 29:16.2.

The Grizzlies, who posted the meet’s largest margin of victory since the meet was also held here in 1999, have now won four of the last five NCAA Division II titles. They also won the 1992 title with a perfect score of 15 and claimed titles in 1993, 1994, 1998 and 2003 before starting their more recent string of three consecutive titles in 2008.

Kevin Batt of Adams State races to a second-place finish to help the Grizzlies secure their ninth DII men’s cross country national championship.

Football: Pittsburg StateFLORENCE, Ala. – Pittsburg State wasn’t about to get comfy and cautious so close to ending a 20-year quest for a second national title.

Clinging to a six-point lead in the final 5 minutes, Zac Dickey launched a 53-yard pass to Andrew Castaneda to set up the decisive touchdown in the Gorillas’ 35-21 victory against Wayne State on Saturday.

“You come here and try to win it,” Pittsburg State coach Tim Beck said. “You don’t come here and try to hang on and hope you win it.”

Especially not when you’ve come to the brink and fallen short the last three times.

Dickey passed for 190 yards and rushed for 68 and the Gorillas (13-1) also turned two blocked kicks into touch-downs to claim their second national title and first since 1991 when Beck was an assistant. The Kansas school snapped a streak of three title-game losses, the last coming in 2004.

Pittsburg State takes the field for the DII Football National Championship. The Gorillas prevailed in a 35-21 victory over Wayne State.

2011-12 NCAA Division II Champions:Recognizing the teams who made it all the way in 2012All stories summarized from NCAA.com.Due to print deadlines, national champions crowned in December 2012 will be reflected in the 2013 DII Yearbook.


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IPS RECAPThe Warriors (12-4) had navigated four playoff road games but the team from Detroit fell short of becoming the first unranked team to win the title.

“It’s been a great run,” Wayne State quarterback Mickey Mohner said. “No one thought we should be in the play-offs. No one thought we could win in the playoffs. We came in and won four tough games on the road.”

Toney Davis, who rushed for 178 yards and two touchdowns, closed the gap on a 1-yard score with 5:11 left.

Wayne State’s defense then couldn’t keep Dickey & Co. from the end zone.

Jason Spradling scored the clinching 4-yard touchdown with 2:38 left after the long ball by Dickey, who bailed himself out of potential hot water on his mother’s birthday.

Dickey, who had more than 2,000 yards passing and 1,000 rushing this season, completed 10 of 16 passes with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran 16 times.

John Brown had five catches for 99 yards for the Gorillas.

Pittsburg State surged to a 27-14 halftime lead with two touchdowns in the final 6:28—and maintained it going into the fourth quarter.

Paul Robinson—whose earlier interception set up a touchdown—smothered a field-goal attempt and Aries Her-rion scooped it up for an 80-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

It was the first score on a blocked field goal in the championship game.

Men’s soccer: Lynn UniversityEVANS, Ga. — When Lynn lost in the NCAA men’s Division II national championship game a year ago, Coach John Rootes had a photograph made of the scoreboard that illuminated the final score.

The photo, and the painful memory it evoked, served as motivation for the Fighting Knights to finish the job of winning the title this year. That lofty goal was achieved Saturday when Lynn held off a furious late rally by Saginaw Valley State to secure a 3-2 victory in the 2012 national championship match at Blanchard Woods Park.

“We took a picture of the scoreboard last year when we lost (in overtime),” Rootes said. “The NCAA calls it sudden victory, but that’s a euphemism for it. It was devastating for us to lose in sudden death like that to Fort Lewis.”

Considered it finished now, although Saginaw Val-ley State (18-3-4) did not go down easily after falling behind 3-0.

It took Lynn (19-3-1) barely two minutes into the game to establish the lead it would never relinquish on a set play off a corner kick. Just seven seconds into the third minute, defenseman/midfielder Johnny Mertl picked an opportune time to score his first goal of the season. Teammate Jack Winter executed a perfect corner kick to the top of the box, where A.B. Magnusson assisted and got the ball to Mertl, who headed it in to the far post.

Lynn University celebrating the 3-2 win over Sagi-naw Valley State to capture the national champion-ship title.


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Men’s Basketball: Western WashingtonHIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Five players reached double figures, and that didn’t even include the leading scorer for the season. That pretty much sums up how Western Washington got to its first title game and won it.

John Allen scored 14 points and the Vikings’ balanced offense carried them to a 72-65 victory against Monte-vallo on Saturday in the national championship at North-ern Kentucky.

When the buzzer sounded on yet another close win — this one the biggest of them all — Western Washington’s players hugged at midcourt while strands of confetti fell from the ceiling.

“It’s pretty surreal,” said Richard Woodworth, who had 10 points. “That’s about as good as it gets – five play-ers in double figures and our leading scorer is not one of them.”

“It’s like a lot of games we’ve had this year,” coach Brad Jackson said. “This team has been a true team in their balance. Maybe the biggest thing that sticks out to me is their toughness. They have a mental fortitude and tenacity to hang in there in games.”

After moving ahead by 12 points, they finished it off behind Allen, one of the nation’s most accurate free throw shooters at 88.7 percent. He made four in a row to end Montevallo’s late comeback.

“It’s a great feeling that we brought one back to the West Coast, to the Pacific Northwest,” said Blanche, who finished with nine points.

Both teams were making their first title-game appearances. Western Washington lost in the semifinals in 2001. Montevallo (29-8) reached the round of eight in 2006 and 2007, losing its opening game both times.

Rory Blanche drives to the basket as Western Wash-ington captures their first men’s basketball NCAA title.

Lynn added an important insurance goal later in the first half in the 41st minute, when a direct kick from James Aldred found Yannick Braeuer in the box and Braeuer headed it in for a 2-0 advantage. The Fighting Knights carried that lead into halftime.

When Anthony Desperito added a third goal on a breakaway, assisted again by Winter, it was 3-0 in the 67th minute and Lynn appeared to have the game well in hand.

But Saginaw Valley State had other ideas. With a determined and almost desperate effort that seemed to be lacking earlier in the game, the Cardinals scored a pair of goals in less than five minutes and kept the pressure on for the rest of the contest.

In the end, the Fighting Knights were able to take a different, more joyous photograph on the field afterward. To get there, though, they never permitted themselves to forget the photo taken a year earlier after the loss in the title game.


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Wrestling: Nebraska-KearneyPUEBLO, Colo. – The first of many ‘big matches’ hit the stage when the 133-pounders climbed the steps.

St. Cloud State’s Andy Pokorny faced off against Trevor Franklin, Upper Iowa’s 2011 NCAA champion who was unbeaten this season. St. Cloud State University and Nebraska-Kearney started the final session tied with 91 points and had three finalists each, meaning every victory on Saturday night was worth gold.

Franklin’s takedown in the closing seconds of the first period gave the Peacock junior a 2-0 lead after three min-utes. It provided the difference in a 3-2 win for Franklin, who finished his junior year 31-0 and with a second national title.

The trifecta of Dalton Jensen, Raufeon Stots and T.J. Hepburn took center stage with the Lopers’ destiny in their hands. And they certainly delivered.

After Jensen and Stots claimed titles – Jensen with a dramatic pin – Hepburn, a three-time All-American, took the mat against West Liberty’s Jarrod Shaw. Barely two minutes into the 157-pound final, Hepburn’s relentless attack finished with a cradle and a fall.

Two cradles, three champions and the team title was headed back to Kearney.

“The last half hour I was having a hard time catching my breath,” said Hepburn (38-3) after his pin. “I’ve been here before, but no matter how many times you are in a situation like this you get excited. I told my teammates I was going for a pin in the first period. To be the guy to clinch it feels awesome. Just a great way to go out.”

Raufeon Stots on his way to winning the 149 pound title. His win helped Nebraska-Kearney on their way to a second NCAA DII wrestling champion-ship.

Men’s Indoor Track and Field: Grand Canyon UniversityMANKATO, Minn. – Grand Canyon men’s track and field squad claimed the 2012 Division II Indoor Track and

Field National Championship with a final team score of 54 points. The National Championship is the second for GCU athletics since joining NCAA Division II in 1990. The GCU track and field program won the champion-ship in just its second year of existence. Adams State finished second with 47 points.

GCU had 25 points following the first day’s events after sweeping the top two spots and taking four of the top six spots in the men’s long jump finals.

The men competed in finals for the triple jump, pole vault and 60-meter hurdles Saturday.

GCU had two of the top three finishers and three of the top 10 overall in the men’s triple jump competition.

Kevin Lashley took second place with a mark of 15.13 meters (49 feet, seven and three-fourths inches). Ramon Cooper finished just behind him with a leap of 15.07 meters (49 feet, five and a half inches) to take third place.

Grand Canyon notches the title win with a final team score of 54 points.


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Baseball: West ChesterCARY, N.C. – West Chester blanked Delta State 9-0 to claim its first national championship on Saturday night behind the arm of Joe Gunkel.

West Chester (46-10) completed its perfect run through the NCAA tournament with a five-hit shutout from Gunkel (10-1). The sophomore went 2-0 in the Division II Baseball Championship and did not allow a run in 18 innings of work while only yielding six combined hits. Gunkel was named the tournament’s most outstanding player for his efforts in the series opener against Chico State and Saturday night in the finals against Delta State (49-18).

The Golden Rams went 4-0 in the Atlantic Regional and duplicated that performance in Cary by knocking off Chico State, Southern New Hamp-shire, Catawba and Delta State, respectively. They ended the 2012 season with a 12-game winning streak and tied the school record for most wins in a single season (46).

West Chester becomes the first team from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) to win the national championship and just the third northern school to walk away with the title.

“I came into a situation where we had some talented baseball players, who were unbelievable kids that followed through on everything,” said head coach Jad Prachniak.

West Chester posted five runs in the bottom of the first inning to get on top of the Statesmen early and never looked back. Mike Raimo led off with a walk, and Jack Provine followed with a double down the left-field line. Joe Wendle then walked to load the bases with nobody out. Chris Pula singled in a run, and Justin Lamborn drew a bases loaded walk to score the first two runs of the contest. Matt Baer then singled in a pair of runs to double the lead to 4-0.

Delta State then lifted starter Colton Mitchell, who did not retire a batter. After a strikeout, Josh Heyne singled in the fifth run of the game. The Golden Rams would tack on single tallies in the second and third and then add a pair of insurance runs in the fifth.

Gunkel scattered five hits over nine innings in the complete-game shutout. He becomes the eighth pitcher in school history to record double digits in victories in a single season.

West Chester student-athletes embrace after winning the base-ball championship 9-0 over Delta State.

UNK head coach Marc Bauer certainly didn’t mind having Hepburn clinch the Lopers’ second title in five years.

UNK finished with seven All-Americans and 107 points. St. Cloud State, also second in 2011, totaled six All-Americans and 95 points. Grand Canyon and Findlay tied for third with 58 points. Newberry was fifth.

It had nothing to do with the team race but the 197-pound final nearly saw Massari Arena burst at the seams when Adams State senior Luke McPeek, a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, rallied to beat 2009 cham-pion Dan Scanlan. Scanlan (24-1) led 10-4 at one point but McPeek stormed back in Marine fashion to tie it, and then won 14-12 in overtime to finish one of the best matches in Division II Championship history. McPeek, a three-time All-American, was rewarded with the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award.


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IPS RECAPMen’s Golf: Nova SoutheasternSIMPSONVILLE, Ky. – Nova Southeastern captured its first NCAA national championship defeating Chico State in a head-to-head final match in a 5-0 sweep.

In a five-day tournament, the Sharks finished the first three rounds second overall making the eight-team cut to advance to head-to-head match play. The Sharks battled through 36 holes Friday, defeating South Carolina-Aiken in the quarterfinals 4-1 before defeating Central Oklahoma in the semifinal round by way of the total strokes tie-breaker to advance to the national final against Chico State.

“Winning the first championship in the men’s golf program’s history is spe-cial,” said Director of Athletics Michael Mominey. “Garrett Runion has done a tremendous job in just his first year as the head coach. The players are really the ones who have to get the credit, as the men had a tremendous run winning the Sunshine State Conference championship on the way to this national championship. The grind of this particular championship says a lot about the character and the talent of this particular team.”

Leading the charge for the Sharks was No. 5 seed Mitch Farrer, who de-feated Chico State’s Chris Doyle by eight strokes, shooting a 2-under-par 70 with four birdies and 12 pars. Farrer notched NSU’s first point.

Recording the second point for the Sharks was the fourth seed, senior Ben Vertz, who shot a final round 73, defeating Chico State’s Bobby Bucey by one stroke. Vertz carded five birdies along with eight pars in the championship round.

No. 9 Ricardo Celia proved to be the final point needed to claim the Sharks first national title. Celia defeated Kevin Rei by one stroke, shooting an even-par 72.

Ben Taylor helps Nova Southeast-ern capture its first national title in men’s golf.

Men’s Lacrosse: DowlingFOXBORO, Mass. — Vito DeMola’s four goals with two assists led the Golden Lions to their first Division II

national championship. The No. 4-seeded Dowling (13-2) finished with an 11-10 win against the No. 3-seeded Lime-stone Saints (17-2).

The Golden Lions built a 4-0 lead in the first half shutting the Saints out of the first quarter for the just the second time this season. DeMola opened the scoring with an un-assisted goal in the third minute of play. Brendan Hayes found Michael Brennan who buried it in the net with just over four minutes left in the quarter.

Back to back scores from Tom Cleary and John Amato, both assisted by Hayes, gave DC a 4-0 lead with 6:30 left in the half. The Saints rallied back for three unanswered goals to close out the half behind the Golden Lions by just one (4-3).

The Saints caught up to the Golden Lions at the 11:02 mark in the third quarter with a goal from Anthony Starni-

Dowling celebrates its first national title with an 11-10 win over Limestone.


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no. Senior Matthew Muzio put Dowling back on top with his eleventh goal of the season. Limestone got two goals in just over a minute for a 6-5 advantage. With 3:29 remaining in the third quarter DeMola found Kevin McElhone to tie up at 6. The Saints anwered back at the 2:03 mark to take a 7-6 lead into the fourth and final quarter.

Dowling didn’t trail long, three minutes into the fouth quarter DeMola netted his second goal of the day and Billy Richardson came around from the back of the cage and faked a pass to the wing shooter and found the back of the net to give the Golden Lions a lead that they would hold onto for the remainder of the game. Three consecu-tive DC scores extended the lead to three (11-8). The Saints turned in back to back goals to reach within one with under two minutes remaining.

In the final 30 seconds the Saints fired off three shots on goal with two just wide. Dougherty came up big with his final of six saves and Matthew Lauria scooped up the ball as the final seconds ticked down capturing Dowl-ing’s first NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championship.

Men’s Tennis: Armstrong AtlanticLOUISVILLE, Ky. – Top-ranked and undefeated Armstrong Atlantic State captured its third NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis National Championship with a 5-0 win against No. 2 West Florida at the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Lou-isville, Ky.

The Pirates (30-0) returned to the top of DII men’s tennis after also capturing titles in 2008 and 2009, doing so in dominating fashion on the scoreboard – although the singles play was much tighter than the final score would indicate. West Florida ended its season at 28-3 after winning 19 in a row coming into the championship match.

Armstrong got out to a 3-0 lead after doubles on the Argos, picking up an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles in a show-down of the top-ranked duo of Georgi Rumenov and Mikk Irdoja against the No. 2-ranked duo of Kevin Du-cros and Bruno Savi. The Pirates won fairly easily at No. 2 doubles with No. 17-ranked Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia defeating No. 18-ranked Leandro Ferreira and Andrey Pozhidaev and then collected an 8-6 win by Eu-daldo Bonet and Matus Mydla at No. 3 doubles against Mike Lue and Domenico Sano.

In singles play, the Pirates won all six first sets, mak-ing it look like it would be an easy 5-0 win, but West Florida battled back in the second sets on all courts. No. 12-ranked Matus Mydla came up with the first point, getting a 6-2, 6-4 win against Leandro Ferreira at No. 4 singles. Top-ranked Georgi Rumenov then finished off the win, downing No. 7 Kevin Ducros, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 1 singles.

This is the third time that the Armstrong men and women have both won the NCAA DII National Championship and this is also the first time that both teams have run the table, finishing undefeated for the 2012 season.

Georgi Rumenov and Mikk Irdoja from Arm-strong Atlantic rejoice after a win during the DII Men’s Tennis Championship.


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IPS RECAPMen’s Outdoor Track and Field: Adams StatePUEBLO, Colo. – For the first time in Adams State history on Saturday night the Grizzly men celebrated a team title.

Never before in the school history had any Adams State track & field team topped the field at a national cham-pionship meet, but the Grizzly men changed that as a trio of point scorers in the men’s 5,000 meter run secured at least a share of the team title. Those points boosted the ASU lead to 10 points against second place Lincoln (Mo.), and as the Blue Tigers crossed the line third in the final event of the meet, the 4×400 meter relay, the mas-sive Grizzly cheering section let out a roar as the team title was secured.

The final tally had ASU on top of the field with 77 points, followed by Lincoln with 73. Third place was shared by St. Augustine’s and Western State with 54 points apiece, and Abilene Christian rounded out the top five with 50.

With the win, the Grizzlies became the first men’s team to take home the DII team title besides Abilene Christian or St. Augustine’s since 1982.

In all, ASU’s men took home 13 all-American accolades and claimed two individual national titles, both on Sat-urday from senior Drew Graham in the 1500 meter run, and freshman Boris Berian in the 800 meter run. For Graham, it was his third individual title is as many track & field seasons, as he defended his title in the event from last spring and also won the indoor mile this March. Berian, the indoor champ this winter at 800 meters, is now a 2-time national champion.

The team title ensured ASU at least one DII team title in every year since 2000, and wrapped up the program’s third consecutive U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association Program of the Year title in as many years of the award’s existence.

The entire Adams State team celebrates after cap-turing their first team title in men’s track and field.

Did you know...

• Division II has the best championships access ratio out of all three divisions, meaning that a greater per-centage of our student-athletes have the opportunity to play at the championship level.

• Division II spends over $20 million each year on its championships.

• For the 2011-12 year, 12,440 Division II student-ath-letes competed in championships. Almost 6,200 men competed in 12 DII championships and 6,241 women competed in 13 championships last year.


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Women’s Cross Country: Grand Valley State JOPLIN, Mo. – Grand Valley State captured its second Division II National Championship, earning the team tro-phy at the Robert W. Plaster Sports Complex on the campus of Missouri Southern State.

Three Lakers placed in the top 40, earning All-American honors and lead-ing the team to its second national title in three years. The first-place finish marks the eighth consecutive year the Lakers have placed in the top three.

The GVSU squad scored 101 points, just four points ahead of the 2011 cham-pion, Augustana (S.D.) (105), and eight points ahead of second-ranked Ad-ams State (109). Western State (172) and Chico State (200) rounded out the top five teams.

Senior Alicia Nelson became Adams State University’s sixth individual national champion by finishing first with a new NCAA Division II championship record time of 20:03.3. The Grizzlies had won the previous seven team titles.

Leading the way for GVSU was freshman Jessica Janecke, running in her first national meet, with a fourth-place finish in a time of 20:23.2 in the 6k race. Janecke’s fourth-place finish ties for the program’s third-highest individual finish.

Sophomore Allyson Winchester placed sixth, crossing the finish line at 20:29.0. Winchester, who won the 2012 GLIAC meet, earned All-American honors last season and is the second-highest finisher for the Lakers for the second con-secutive season.

Jessica Janecke of Grand Val-ley State races to a fourth place finish, leading her team to a national championship.

Women’s Volleyball: Concordia-St. PaulSAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — For the first time in Division II women’s volleyball history, Concordia captured a fifth consecutive NCAA Division II Championship by defeating top-ranked, previously unbeaten and tournament host California State-San Bernardino in consecutive sets 25-20, 31-29, 25-18.

The Golden Bears (34-2) have won 30 consecutive NCAA tournament matches and have eliminated CSUSB in four consecutive years. This is the second time that the Golden Bears have defeated CSUSB on its home floor in

the national tournament, also doing so in the 2003 NCAA Semifinals. It’s also their second victory against CSUSB in the national championship match, winning in five sets in 2008.

Leading CU on the night were their two seniors Taylor Fieldsted and Megan Carlson who led the team emotion-ally all night and going 60-61 in serve receive. Carlson added 13 kills and six digs and Fieldsted added 15 digs, leading the team.

Offensively, all-tournament team member Kayla Koe-necke led the way with 15 kills and Ashley Murtha was right behind her with 13. Murtha added 10 digs, picking up the double-double and was also named all-tourna-ment. Amanda Konetchy also had a double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs. Cassie Haag had seven kills and a team leading three blocks.

Concordia-St. Paul makes it five national titles in volleyball following a straight sets win over Cali-fornia State-San Bernardino.


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Women’s Soccer: West FloridaEVANS, Ga. – West Florida had to survive the first half of Saturday’s Division II national championship game against UC San Diego before taking control of the second half for a 3-2 victory.

With Chelsea Palmer providing the game-winning goal for the second match in a row, the Argonauts held off the Tritons 1-0 for the victory.

“UC San Diego was so fierce in the first half, we were just hanging on,” West Florida coach Joe Bartlinski said. “Part of it was because of how tired we were from the Saint Rose game. We had to expend so much energy against Saint Rose. All we did [Friday] and [Saturday] morning was try to recover physically from everything.

The shot count was 11-4 in favor of the Tritons in the first half, but the Argonauts were determined to turn that around in the second half. With Palmer leading the way – she mustered 10 shots all by herself, including four on goal – the second half turned in West Florida’s favor.

West Florida in action on the way to the 2012 women’s soccer national championship title.

Field Hockey: West ChesterLOWELL, Mass. — For the second year in a row, the NCAA championship came down to West Chester against UMass-Lowell and the outcome was the same.

Defending national champion West Chester jumped out to an early lead and held it, defeating UMass-Lowell 5-0.

The margin of victory is the largest in the national cham-pionship since 2002.

Senior Kayla Gluchowski got the Golden Rams on the board first, scoring just two minutes into play off an assist from Megan Callanan. The goal was Gluchowski’s 14th of the season.

Before the River Hawks could strike back, junior Kelsi Lykens scored another goal for the Golden Rams, giving them a 2-0 lead.

West Chester continued to put pressure on the River Hawks’ back line through the first half. Ten minutes after Lykens’ goal, freshman Alexis Versak tipped in junior Stef Pirri’s shot attempt, pushing the lead to 3-0.

Just one minute into the second half, senior Michele Schrift ripped a shot home to push the lead to 4-0. The goal was Schrift’s 24th for the season.

With time running down, West Chester sealed the shutout with a score from sophomore Kelsey Cheek.

UMass-Lowell got a couple of good scoring opportunities in the closing minutes, but was not able to capitalize.

The team from West Chester holds the trophy high after winning their second straight DII Field Hockey National Championship.


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The shot count ended up 15-4 in West Florida’s favor in the final 45 minutes, and Palmer finally scored a goal in a crowd off a rebound after UC San Diego goalkeeper Kelcie Broadsky rejected Sashana Campbell’s initial shot.

Palmer claimed her third national championship trophy on Saturday, having won the NJCAA Division III nation-al championship at Richland in 2009 and the NJCAA Division I national championship at Tyler Junior College last year before transferring to West Florida.

But she could not have done it on Saturday without some solid defensive play from her teammates, espe-cially goalkeeper Sarah Story. Also a junior college transfer playing her first season at West Florida, Story turned away a number of shots by UC San Diego – including a pair within 30 seconds of each other in the first half. One shot by UCSD’s Kylene Hill glanced off Story’s hands and hit the top crossbar before soaring out of bounds.

UCSD’s season ended with a 17-3-4 record, while West Florida finished at 24-1-0.

Women’s Basketball: ShawSAN ANTONIO — Sequohay Griffin scored 24 points and Shaw rallied to win its first national title, beating Ashland 88-82 in overtime in the national championship game.

Aslea Williams added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Kyria Buford had 10 points for the Lady Bears (29-6), who erased an 11-point halftime deficit.

Jena Stutzman scored 32 points, and Kari Daugherty had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Eagles (33-2). Alyssa Miller added 12 points for Ashland.

Shaw opened overtime with a 13-2 run and held on to snap Ashland’s 33-game winning streak following its loss in the season opener.

Both teams went basket-for-basket until Ashland’s Stutzman hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 72 and force the extra period.

After Shaw’s burst to start the extra period, Ashland could get no closer than six.

The Lady Bears, who lost in the national semifinals last season to eventual champion Clayton State, won their 15th consecutive game and 26th in their last 27.

Shaw is the number one DII women’s basketball team in the nation after defeating Ashland 88-82 in overtime.


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IPS RECAPMen’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving: Drury (men) and Wayne State (women)MANSFIELD, Texas -– In the end, it was Drury (again) for the men, Wayne State (Mich.) for the first time for the women. And in all, 13 records were set — nine in the men and four in the women — at the 2012 Division II Swimming and Diving Championship.

The Wayne State (Mich.) women claimed their first title by holding off defending champions Drury by one point.

Wayne State entered Saturday with a 54.5-point advan-tage against the three-year defending champion, but the Panthers whittled the Warriors’ advantage down to nine points entering the final event of the night, the 400 free-style relay.

Drury won the relay, but by virtue of a third-place finish by Ashley Corriveau, Gloria Martinez Perez, Kayla Scott, and Kei Cze Prentis, the Warriors held on to win the national championship by the slimmest of margins.

Wayne State had been the runner-up each of the past three years to Drury, which has finished first or second at the NCAA Championships each year since 1997.

“I’ve always believed in our athletes,” Wayne State head coach Sean Pe-ters after taking his celebratory jump into the pool.

“We weren’t the biggest dog in this fight, that’s for sure. We went out there and we believed in each other. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

“I’m not going to lie, it feels great to hold this championship trophy,” he said.

The women’s title is the first national championship in any sport for Wayne State since the women’s fencing team won the 1989 NCAA Championship.

The Warriors, who claimed four relay national titles during the four-day meet, added their fourth individual title Saturday night as Carol Azambuja won the 200 backstroke.

The final 11 individual champions were crowned Saturday night at the Division II Swimming and Diving Championship.

The Drury men won their eighth consecutive national title.

“I’m just thrilled,” Drury head coach Brian Reynolds said. “We had to re-build from the bottom up. We saw a lot of really great things and we are excited for the future.”

Drury’s Erin Dolan won the women’s 1,650-yard freestyle with a time 16:33.00. She outpaced her closest rival, Kassandra McNichol of West Chester, by 15 seconds.

The Drury men jump into the pool to celebrate their team championship in swimming and diving.

The Wayne State swimmers hold the trophy high after capturing their first team national champi-onship in swimming and diving.


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“It just feels good to win,” she said after stepping down from the podium. “My team has been backing me up for four years and my coach has been amazing. It’s just awesome. I love the mile – it’s just my favorite.”

Iaroslav Denysenko won the men’s 1,650-yard freestyle by posting a time of 15:13.74. It was his third trophy of the finals for this Wingate sophomore. He won the 1,000 freestyle on Wednesday and set an NCAA record in 500 freestyle, winning the season-ending distance event for the second year in a row with a time of 4:21.48.

“Iaroslav cut his foot [on Friday,]” head coach Kirk Sanocki said. “He had a very busy day. I was impressed with the way Iaroslav kept his composure.”

Melissa Gates just missed an NCAA record by posting a time of 49.34 in the women’s 100-yard freestyle. The record is held by Loni Burton of CSU Bakersfield, who in 2005 swam the freestyle in 49.33.

“It was quite a win, and really exciting,” the senior from California (Pa.) said. “I finished third last season, so my goal all season was to win a championship. So I did that.”

Ana Azambuja won her second event of the week, by posting a time of 1:57.08 in the 200-yard backstroke. Earlier this week, she was part of the Wayne State’s winning relay teams and she claimed the women’s 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.16.

Jeffrey Halfacre turned in a record time in the 200-yard backstroke. Halfacre, a Florida Southern junior, posted a time of 1:43.41.

“I had a feeling [I could break the record.] You just go out there and give it all you got and hopefully something good comes out it,” he said. “It certainly did tonight.”

UC San Diego’s Emily Adamczyk won the women’s 200-yard backstroke with a 2:13.18.

Grand Canyon’s Eetu Karvonen and Incarnate Word’s Thiago Parravicini set record times in the men’s 200-yard backstroke. Karvonen won the event with a 1:56.11 swim. While Parravicini posted a 1:56.15 time. Both men broke the record of 1:57.19 set in 2011 by UC San Diego’s Nicholas Korth.

Christopher White of St. Cloud State won the men’s 3 meter diving.

Both the Drury men’s and women’s team won the 400 freestyle relay. The women’s team posted a 3:21.97 mark and the men finished with a record time of 2:56.42.


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IPS RECAPWomen’s Indoor Track and Field: Grand Valley StateMANKATO, Minn. — Grand Valley State led from start to finish en route to claiming its second consecutive NCAA DII Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Championship. The Lakers dominated from the opening event and scored 94 team points, 43 more than second-place Adams State (51). Lincoln (Mo.) finished third (43) and Central Missouri fourth (42). In addi-tion, the Lakers won five event National Championships and claimed three second-place finishes.

“When you look at the results and we have five national championship event winners, three second-place finishes and five additional top-eight placers that earned All-American honors, you see how strong our entire team was,” said head coach Jerry Baltes.

Senior Lauren Buresh won the 2012 shot put National Championship on the final throw of her indoor career. Buresh, who has now won three con-secutive shot put National Championships, tallied a throw of 52-10.25, bettering the toss of teammate Sam Lockhart who was in first prior to Buresh’s toss and eventually finished second (52-04.75).

Senior Rachel Patterson crossed the finish line first and claimed the Na-tional Championship in the 5000 meter run. Patterson did so in an NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field National Championship meet-record time of 16:07.28, smashing the previous record time of 16:16.77 held by former Laker National Champion Mandi Zemba.

Senior Chanelle Caldwell finished second in the 800 meter run (2:10.26), just missing out on an individual national championship of her own by just over one second. Kalena Franklin earned All-American honors with her seventh-place finish in the 60 meter hurdles (8.53), while Karie McDonald finished sixth (4:53.88) and Betsy Graney seventh (4:54.61) in the mile to each earn All-American honors.

Leiah Hess celebrates after an-choring her team in the 4x400 relay.

Softball: Valdosta StateLOUISVILLE, Ky. – Valdosta State is the 2012 NCAA Division II National Champion after an impressive 4-1 vic-tory against defending champion UC San Diego. The championship is Valdosta State’s sixth overall title and first in softball. The win also marks the first softball national championship for the Gulf South Conference.

The championship game started with a bang for Valdo-sta State as freshman Courtney Albritton lifted a leadoff solo home run over the left-field fence in her first at bat of the game. With the early 1-0 lead the Blazers played strong defense, only allowing one run to UC San Diego. That run came in the fifth inning and was unearned on an illegal pitch.

The tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Alanna Had-ley struck five out in the game and fought through three illegal pitch calls. She gave up three walks, just three hits and a run.

Five Blazers were named to the National Championship All-Tournament team: Hadley, Posey, Morozova, Albritton and Morgan Johnson.

Courtney Albritton rounds the bases to score and help Valdosta State to a 4-1 victory over UC San Diego in the national championship game.


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Women’s Lacrosse: C.W. PostLOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sophomore attacker Jackie Sileo set an NCAA Division II championships record with a game-high nine points as fifth-ranked C.W. Post defeated No. 7 West Chester, 17-16, for the 2012 Division II National Championship, at Owlsey B. Frazier Stadium at Bellarm-ine University.

Sileo was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, joining teammates senior Nan Mayott, senior Lauren Spagnoletta, senior Chelsea Donaldson and ju-nior Ashley Olen , all of whom were named to the NCAA Championships All-Tournament team.

In a game that featured two programs with a storied history against each other in NCAA competition, the championship game did not disappoint, as the Pioneers jumped out to an early lead, then held off a furious comeback attempt by the Golden Rams to earn the victory. The Pioneers are just the second program in DII history to win three national championships.

Junior goalkeeper Dominique Mosca made eight saves, including several key stops down the stretch.

C.W. Post celebrates its 17-16 national title win over West Chester for the DII women’s lacrosse championship.

Women’s Golf: Nova SoutheasternSHELBYVILLE, Ky. – Nova Southeastern overcame the grueling par-72, 6,283 yard Persimmon Ridge Golf Course to win its fourth consecutive Division II national champi-onship. The Sharks finished atop the 12-team field with a collective score of +82 (308-306-315-305 — 1,234), 20 strokes ahead of runner-up Florida Southern.

No.1 Abbey Gittings also became the third consecutive individual champion from NSU. Her four-round tally of +10 (72-75-78-73 — 298) was two strokes better than Meghan Moore of UNC-Pembroke who finished at +12 (75-75-78-72 — 300).

“What can you really say, four national championships in four years is an amazing accomplishment,” said Director of Athletics Michael Mominey. “This championship may be the most special simply because of the pressure of graduating four seniors from last year’s team and the changing of the head coach.”

Gittings, who was suffering from a back injury through-out the tournament, came out on the final day of competition and carded a one-over 73 to move up from second where she started the round and capture the individual title. Gittings had a solid finish to her championship round, carding two birdies and two pars in the final four holes to solidify her spot at the top of the leaderboard and earn medalist honors.

The Sharks become only the second team in the history of the DII women’s golf championship to win four con-secutive titles. The Sharks are now tied with Florida Southern with four championships, trailing only Rollins who has five.

Abbey Gittings of Nova Southeastern poses with the individual championship trophy. She helped lead her team to its fourth consecutive champion-ship.


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Women’s Tennis: Armstrong AtlanticLOUISVILLE, Ky. – Armstrong Atlantic State senior Kathleen Henry captured a second-set tiebreaker to lift the No. 3-ranked Pirates to their seventh NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis National Championship in a 5-2 win against top-ranked BYU-Hawaii on Saturday morning at the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Louisville, Ky.

The Pirates completed an undefeated season, going 29-0 in winning their fourth NCAA DII Women’s Tennis title in the last five seasons. BYU-Hawaii – gunning for their eighth title – suffered their first loss of the season and

fell to 29-1. The two teams now are tied for the most DII women’s tennis titles in NCAA history with seven.

The Pirates got their first doubles point at No. 3 dou-bles as No. 17-ranked Kathleen Henry and Clara Perez notched an 8-5 win against Marika Kobayashi and Tanja Rebholz, then the No. 11-ranked duo of Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa converted a late break to come up with an 8-5 win against No. 5-ranked Yuan Jia and Mari-etta Tuionetoa at No. 2 doubles and give Armstrong the crucial 2-1 lead heading into singles play.

Armstrong got off to a fantastic start in singles play, winning five of six first sets in the singles matches. No. 30-ranked Clara Perez picked up the first point in singles with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Marietta Tuionetoa at No. 6 singles, then No. 21-ranked Marlen Hacke notched a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win at No. 5 singles put the Pirates just one singles match away from the title.

Armstrong Atlantic rejoices after upsetting top-ranked BYU-Hawaii 5-2 to win the DII Women’s Tennis Championship.

Offensively, Sileo was the leader for C.W. Post, with six goals and three assists. Mayott scored four goals, Spag-noletta finished with a hat trick, and Olen added two goals and two helpers.

The game was an extremely even affair on the stat sheet, as C.W. Post took 30 shots to 29 for West Chester. WCU won 19 draw controls to the Pioneers’ 16, and ground balls went to C.W. Post by a 13-11 margin. Free position shots were the main advantage for the Golden Rams as they were able to convert 8-of-15 attempts, compared to only 4-of-5 for C.W. Post. Turnovers were also relatively even, with 13 for WCU and 12 for CWP.

C.W. Post ends its season with a 17-3 record, tying the program record for wins in a season. West Chester wraps up its season with a 16-4 slate.


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Women’s Rowing: Humboldt State WEST WINDSOR, N.J. — After both races in the NCAA Division II Rowing Championships were completed, there wasn’t a dry eye in the Humboldt State party as tears of joy fell for the Jacks’ first-ever national championship.

Eighteen years ago, Humboldt State rowing became an intercollegiate program and head coach Robin Meiggs has been with it every step of the way. Meiggs has turned the Jacks into a high-caliber program, but she won’t take all the credit for it.

“None of this would be possible without Patrick Hyland, Adrienne McConnell and Ashley Donnell,” said Meiggs. “It was a great collective effort by the coaching staff.”

Feeling confident after dominating Friday’s preliminary races, HSU’s four boat took an early lead and never looked back.

With 500 meters left in the race, and a half boat length separating the Jacks from the Sharks, Nova Southeast-ern tried to make contact once again with Humboldt State, but the Jacks powered ahead to grab the event title, clocking in at 7:42.96. The win marks the second time in program history HSU has won the fours title after winning it back in 2004.

Coming into the final 500 meters, the intensity elevated extremely as the Jacks started to make their move, tak-ing one seat at a time off Western Washington’s lead. With 250 meters left, Humboldt State pushed harder than ever to move into the lead and crossed the finish line to complete the upset against the seven-time na-tional champions with a 6:48.84 time.

Since Humboldt State won both event championships, the Jacks won the team title outright, ending Western Washington’s seven-year reign. HSU picked up 20 points for the victory, followed by runners-up Western Washington with 13 points. Nova Southeastern sat just one point behind the Vikings and Mercyhurst finished with 5 points.

Humboldt State races to victory in the Eights Grand Final and helps the team win the rowing championship for the first time.

BYU-Hawaii did not go down quietly. Top-ranked Hwang prevailed in a Top 10 battle at No. 1 singles with a 6-3, 6-1 win against No. 6-ranked Barbora Krtickova, and the Seasiders rallied for a second set win at No. 2 and No. 3 singles.

That’s when Henry, down 5-3 at one point in the second set, battled back with a break to force a tiebreaker. Henry raced out to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreak, then watched a shot go long on match point from BYU-Hawaii’s Tanja Rebholz for a 7-2 victory in the tiebreaker and the national title for the Pirates.

The appearance in the national championship was the 15th for the Pirates and the other national championship titles came in 1995, 1996, 2005 and 2008-10.


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2011-12 Elite 89 WinnersThe Elite 89 award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 89 championships. Each institution that has at least one student-athlete qualify for the finals round/site is eligible to nominate a student-athlete to win the award for that championship. All ties are broken by number of credits completed. For more information regarding this program, please contact Mark Bedics, Ryan Hall or Juliette Kenny at [email protected] or 317/917-6222.

Whitney Bishoff, Cross Country

Anderson University (South Carolina)

Early Childhood EducationGPA: 4.0

Sean Lowry, BasketballStonehill College

MarketingGPA: 3.794

Lisa Elmer, BasketballPittsburg State University

AccountingGPA: 4.0

Dalton Moberly, Cross Country

University of Central Missouri

Social Studies EducationGPA: 3.95

Nancy Stehman, Field Hockey

West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Special EducationGPA: 4.0

Daniel Stapff, GolfBarry University

FinanceGPA: 3.918

Liz Wilson, LacrosseWest Chester University of

PennsylvaniaSpecial Education

GPA: 3.934

Megan Northey, RowingWestern Washington

UniversityKinesiologyGPA: 3.92

Cody Lensing, WrestlingAugustana College (South

Dakota)Biochemistry & Philosophy

GPA: 3.96

Brianna Hancock, SoftballValdosta State UniversityAccounting and Finance

GPA: 3.95

Kristen McGlynn, Outdoor Track & Field

Adams State CollegeEnglish and Creative

WritingGPA: 4.0

Kate Barton, VolleyballCalifornia State University,

San BernardinoBusinessGPA: 4.0


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Ben Keller, BaseballMinnesota State University,

MankatoMechanical Engineering

GPA: 4.0

Eric Love, FootballPittsburg State University

Construction Engineering TechnologyGPA: 3.6829

Jenny Konop, GolfUniversity of Indianapolis

BiologyGPA: 3.923

Todd Nakasuji, LacrosseLimestone College

BusinessGPA: 4.0

Harold Grachoiski, SoccerLynn University

Business AdministrationGPA: 4.0

Megan Foster, SoccerCalifornia State University,

ChicoUndeclaredGPA: 3.942

Kristian Krc, Swimming and Diving

Ouachita Baptist UniversityPhysics

GPA: 4.0

Anna McIntyre, Swimming and DivingFlorida Southern College

BiologyGPA: 4.0

Shawn Boss, Indoor Track & Field

University of Central Missouri

Computer Information SystemsGPA: 4.0

Shelby Janutol, Indoor Track & Field

Ferris State UniversityBiology

GPA: 4.0

Dawson Vorderbruegge, Outdoor Track & Field

California State University, Stanislaus

EnglishGPA: 3.937

Tabtip Louhabanjong, Tennis

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Foreign Language, Litera-tures and Linguistics

GPA: 4.0

Ji Hoon Heo, TennisHawaii Pacific University

International StudiesGPA: 3.92

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for choosing Division II!

We’ll see you next year in San Diego, January 15-18,

2014!

Yearbook - NCAA.org

Documents

Transcript of Yearbook - NCAA.org