Selection shows to receive more attention on ESPNews

More people likely will tune in to see selections for several NCAA championships now that they will air on ESPNews.

The NCAA has announced that ESPNews will air selection shows for Division I women's soccer, Division I men's soccer, Division I-AA football, Division I women's volleyball, National Collegiate men's volleyball, Division I women's tennis, Division I men's tennis, Division I men's lacrosse and Division I softball.

ESPNews reaches 40 million households and will have the exclusive right to have the first announcement of those nine brackets. In past years, many of those announcements would come in the form of a 30-minute show on various regional sports networks. The announcements on ESPNews will be shorter than past shows but will reach a much larger audience.

Immediately after the television announcement of the selections, the official NCAA championship Web site (www.ncaasports.com) will post the team brackets.

Four other Division I bracket announcements will continue to appear on CBS, ESPN or ESPN2 as 30-minute or 60-minute selection shows during the 2002-03 year: women's basketball, men's basketball, men's ice hockey and baseball.

Dates announced for Title IX Seminar

The NCAA will host the 2003 Title IX Seminar at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla in San Diego April 28-29.

Athletics administrators, attorneys and others who have first-hand experience in working with Title IX and gender-equity issues will present on a variety of Title IX-related issues.

The seminar is free to staff members of NCAA member institutions. Others may attend for a fee.

More information about the seminar will be available in the coming months.

College sports loses a political advocate

Paul Wellstone, a Democrat running for re-election to the U.S. Senate, was killed in a plane crash October 25 in >northern Minnesota.

Wellstone was a former Atlantic Coast Conference champion wrestler at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In 2000, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Hall of Outstanding Americans, which recognizes wrestlers who have achieved prominence in other fields, such as government, business, science and the arts.

While at North Carolina, Wellstone earned a bachelor of arts in political science and went undefeated two years as a varsity wrestler in the 126-pound weight class, winning the 1964 Atlantic Coast Conference title.

Wellstone earned a doctorate from North Carolina in 1969 and was a professor of political science at Division III Carleton College from 1969 until he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1990.

Wellstone is remembered in the athletics community for his love of wrestling, which he even refereed while at Carleton.

Last year, he sponsored the Olympic Sports Revitalization Act, which would have provided funds to support Olympic sports and also required institutions to notify student-athletes before discontinuing a sport. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

-- Compiled by Kay Hawes

Number crunching

Looking back

Mary Beth Riley of Canisius College, who successfully battled Hodgkin's disease while continuing to compete in cross country and track and excel in the classroom, received the inaugural NCAA Woman of the Year award October 30, 1991.

NCAA President Judith M. Sweet presented the award to Riley during the awards banquet in Chicago. Robin Roberts served as the emcee of the event. The award was sponsored by Hanes Her Way, a division of Sara Lee Corporation, the Association's official corporate partner for women's athletics programs. Hanes Her Way donated $10,000 to the women's athletics program at Canisius, in addition to the $5,000 awarded earlier to the school for Riley's selection as New York's state woman of the year winner.

Riley, a summa cum laude graduate, emerged from 10 finalists. She earlier had received the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Award of Valor, which was presented in recognition of her fight against cancer.

Riley became ill during her freshman year in 1988, but she stayed in school and competed in track. By 1990, the cancer was in complete remission, and Riley went on to set a school record in the 800 meters during her senior season.

Woman of the Year winners

1991 -- Mary Beth Riley, Canisius College (cross country, track and field)

1992 -- Catherine Byrne, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (swimming and diving)

1993 -- Nnenna Lynch, Villanova University (track and field, cross country)

1994 -- Tanya Jones, University of Arizona (track and field)

1995 -- Rebecca Lobo, University of Connecticut (basketball)

1996 -- Billie Winsett-Fletcher, University of Nebraska, Lincoln (volleyball)

1997 -- The late Lisa Ann Coole, University of Georgia (swimming and diving)

1998 -- Peggy Boutilier, University of Virginia (lacrosse, field hockey)

1999 -- Jamila Demby, University of California, Davis (track and field)

2000 -- Kristy Kowal, University of Georgia (swimming and diving)

2001 -- Kimberly A. Black, University of Georgia (swimming and diving)

2002 -- Tanisha Silas, University of California, Davis (track and field)