Division I Men's Cross Country Championship

Dates and sites: Regional qualifying will be conducted at nine sites November 12. The championships will be November 21 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana (hosted by Indiana State).

Field: A total of 255 runners will compete.

Selection date: Thirty-one teams and 38 individuals will qualify at regional meets or be selected at large November 13.

2004 team champion: Colorado.

2004 individual champion: Simon Bairu (Wisconsin).

Top contenders: Arkansas, Wisconsin, Colorado, Stanford, Notre Dame.

Championships notes: Wisconsin placed three runners, including returning individual champion Simon Bairu, among the top 11 team scorers at Terre Haute last year, but it wasn't enough to stop Colorado. The Badgers, who have finished second each of the past three years, will try again to collect their first team title since 1985 ... Arkansas moved into the top spot in the coaches' poll for the first time in five years in early October, led by senior Josphat Boit, who finished third individually last year, and Peter Kosgei, a cross country standout at Division II Harding who transferred to Arkansas last winter and promptly collected four Division I all-America awards in track ... Stanford won the first men's championship race at the Gibson course in 2001, while Colorado's men and women swept last year's races.

Division I Women's Cross Country Championship

Dates and sites: Regional qualifying will be conducted at nine sites November 12. The championships will be November 21 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana (hosted by Indiana State).

Field: A total of 255 runners will compete.

Selection date: Thirty-one teams and 38 individuals will qualify at regional meets or be selected at large November 13.

2004 team champion: Colorado.

2004 individual champion: Kim Smith (Providence).

Top contenders: Duke, Stanford, Michigan, Notre Dame, Arizona State.

Championship notes: Duke's six seniors improved from a 20th-place finish as sophomores in 2003 to runner-up honors behind Colorado last year. The Blue Devils' Sally Mayerhoff, Shannon Rowbury and Clara Horowitz all were top-25 team scorers last season on the Gibson course ... Stanford won the Blue Division race in Pre-Nats competition October 15 in Terre Haute, finishing well ahead of runner-up Notre Dame. The Cardinal's Arianna Lambie finished third individually with a time of 20:10.3 ... Meanwhile, in the Pre-Nats' White Division, Michigan outpaced Arizona State, though the front-runners in the race ran about 10 seconds slower than the Blue race's leaders ... The Pre-Nats' individual winners, Victoria Mitchell of Butler and Christine Bolf of Colorado, are among a strong field of contenders for individual honors at the championships.

Division I Field Hockey Championship

Dates and sites: The semifinals will be held on November 18 and the national title game will take place on November 20 at the University of Louisville.

Field: 16 teams.

Selection date: November 8.

2004 champion: Wake Forest.

Top contenders: Wake Forest, Maryland, Duke, American and North Carolina reflect the top five teams in an early October STX/
National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll.

Championships notes: The top five teams own a combined record of 50-5 with Wake Forest and American working on perfect seasons at 10-0 ... Wake is making a bid to become the first team in the history of the Division I championship to win four straight titles. Old Dominion has collected three straight national championships twice (1982-84; 1990-92) and North Carolina defended its title back-to-back-back from 1995 to 1997. Meanwhile, Duke has been national runner up on three occasions, but has yet to win a national championship ... Maryland is seeking its 18th overall appearance behind Janneke van Leeuwen, the 2004 Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year, who is third in Division I in assists with 10 in 13 games.

Division I Men's Soccer Championship

Dates and sites: Preliminary-round games are at campus sites. First-round games will be November 18-19; second-round games November 22; third-round contests November 26-27; and quarterfinals December 2-4. The Men's College Cup (semifinals and final) will be at the SAS Soccer Stadium in Cary, North Carolina, December 9 and 11. North Carolina State will host, along with the Capital Area Soccer League.

Field: Forty-eight teams, 23 selected through automatic qualification. The top 16 teams are seeded.

Selection date: November 14.

2004 champion: Indiana.

Top contenders: The October 25 National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll listed Akron, New Mexico, Maryland, North Carolina and Indiana as the top five teams.

Championship notes: Akron and Indiana saved their toughest match-up for last -- the two top-ranked teams met November 3 in the final game of the regular season ... New Mexico sophomore goalkeeper Mike Graczyk tied the school record for shutouts in a season when he recorded his ninth against UNLV October 29 ... The October 29 match-up between Maryland and Indiana ended in a 3-3 draw, though Maryland led, 3-0, at the half. Indiana scored the tying goal on a header with five seconds remaining in regulation ... North Carolina freshman midfielder Scott Campbell leads the team with seven goals this season. He also leads the Tar Heels in game-winning goals with four.

Division I Women's Soccer Championship

Dates and sites: First and second rounds will be November 11 and 13, third-round play will be November 18, 19 or 20 and quarterfinals will be November 25, 26 or 27 all at campus sites. The Women's College Cup will be December 2 and 4 at the Aggie Soccer Complex in College Station, Texas.

Field: Sixty-four teams, 34 at-large and 30 automatically qualifying institutions.

Selection date: November 7.

2004 champion: Notre Dame.

Top contenders: Penn State, Portland, North Carolina, UCLA and Notre Dame were the top five teams in the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.

Championship notes: Penn State has been to 10 consecutive NCAA tournaments, including two trips to the Women's College Cup ... Portland and Penn State both finished the regular season undefeated, though Portland did have one tie ... Both Santa Clara and Portland come from the West Coast Conference and have been fierce rivals. Portland won its October 21 matchup, 3-1. The two teams played each other in the 2002 NCAA championship game ... By late October, North Carolina senior goalkeeper Aly Winget had recorded eight shutouts. She ended the season with 34 for her career .