The University of West Florida has been selected to host the 2006 Division II Fall National Championships Festival in Pensacola, Florida.

The event, the second of its kind, will be conducted November 15-20, 2006.

The fall festival will comprise Division II national championships in men's and women's cross country, field hockey, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball.

"It is a priority of Division II to enhance the student-athlete college experience, including national championships, and this festival does that by allowing outstanding student-athletes to interact and celebrate their successes together," NCAA Division II Vice-President Mike Racy said. "The choice of Pensacola is particularly special because it allows a community that was so devastated by Hurricane Ivan to celebrate its recovery with an exciting, first-class event."

West Florida President John Cavanaugh said that his institution was pleased to be hosting the event, which was selected last year by Sports Travel Magazine as the top collegiate sports event of the year in the multiple-event category.

"The selection of UWF by the NCAA is a tribute to the hard work and solid reputation of our intercollegiate athletics staff and students," Cavanaugh said. "For them to pull this off while dealing with the displacement and destruction of Hurricane Ivan to their facilities is quite remarkable. We look forward to a great festival."

The Division II Championships Committee conducted the first National Championships Festival in May 2004 in Orlando. In that festival, Division II champions were crowned in men and women's golf, women's lacrosse, softball, and men and women's tennis. The goal of the championships festivals is to enhance the student-athlete collegiate experience and to create more exposure for NCAA Division II sports.

The NCAA Division II Championships Committee plans to conduct fall and spring championships festivals once every four years to give each class of student-athletes the opportunity to participate. The committee also continues to study the viability of a winter championships festival.

The festivals feature an opening ceremony, social opportunities for student-athletes, community events and a salute dinner for participating teams. Student-athletes will be housed in beachfront hotels and will have an athlete-village atmosphere.

"This is a great opportunity for all of us in the local tourism industry to show off our finest assets. It's great news for the local sports community as well as our tourism partners," said Ray Palmer, executive director of the Pensacola Sports Association. "This is an opportunity for our entire community to welcome and embrace outstanding young student-athletes, their institutions, their families and fans."