Division III Men’s Basketball Championship

Dates and sites:  First- and second-round games are March 2-5 at campus sites. Sectionals are March 10-11 at campus sites. The national semifinals and finals are March 17-18 at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia.

Field: Fifty-nine teams.

Selection date: February 27.

2005 champion: Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Top contenders: Wooster, Lawrence, Baldwin-Wallace, Wittenberg, Hope.

Championship notes: Wooster set a North Coast Athletic Conference record with 22 successful three-pointers February 8 ... Lawrence has won three consecutive Midwest Conference championships, a feat last accomplished by Beloit (1981-83) ... Baldwin-Wallace leads the nation in field-goal percentage (.545) ... Wittenberg leads the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 54 points per game. ... Hope went 14-0 in its new home arena, the DeVos Fieldhouse.

Division III Women’s Basketball Championship

Dates and sites: First- and second-round games are March 1-4 at campus sites. Sectionals are March 10-11 at campus sites. The national semifinals and finals are March 17-18 at Blake Arena in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Field: Sixty-three teams.

Selection date: February 27.

2005 champion: Millikin.

Top contenders: Southern Maine, Scranton, Washington-St. Louis, Hope, DePauw.

Championship notes: Southern Maine has won 59 consecutive games against Little East Conference opponents ... Scranton has won 43 consecutive home games with its last loss coming February 15, 2003 ... Washington-St. Louis will appear in the Division III tournament for the 17th straight season ... Hope became the first women’s team to finish 16-0 against Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association competition ... DePauw’s 23-game win streak in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference is a league record.

Division III Men’s Ice Hockey Championship

Dates and sites: First- and second-round games are at campus sites March 8 and 11, respectively. The semifinals and final are March 18-19 at Elmira.

Field: Ten teams, six from automatic-qualifying conferences.

Selection date: March 5.

2005 champion: Middlebury.

Top contenders: St. Norbert, Norwich, Middlebury, Manhattanville and Hobart were the top five in the February 13 U.S. College Hockey Online poll.

Championship notes: Babson played giant killer February 15 by giving Middlebury only its second loss of the year.  Freshman goalie Skyler Nipps recorded 31 saves in the 3-1 Babson win. Middlebury had dropped an overtime decision to Norwich two weeks earlier that snapped the Panthers’ 28-game winning streak. Norwich, though, turned around and lost its next game to Williams ... St. Norbert is 20-2-2 after clinching its fifth straight Northern Collegiate Hockey Association title with a 5-1 win over Lake Forest ... Manhattanville sophomore Jason Murfitt is third nationally with 1.81 points per game. Norwich senior Garrett Winder is close behind at 1.78. Rick Cleaver of Norwich is tied with Sean Burke of Buffalo State with 24 goals on the year. Winder has 23. All five top-ranked teams have goalkeepers ranked among national leaders, including Hobart’s Keith Longo, who is second nationally with a .942 save percentage. Middlebury’s Ross Cherry leads in goals-against average with 1.50.

 Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Championship

Dates and sites: First-round games are March 10, 11 or 12 at campus sites. The semifinals and final also are on campus sites March 16-17.

Field: Seven teams, four from automatic-qualifying conferences.

Selection date: March 5.

2005 champion: Middlebury.

Top contenders: Plattsburgh State, Middlebury, Manhattanville, Gustavus Adolphus and Wisconsin-Superior were the top five in the February 13 U.S. College Hockey Online poll.

Championship notes: Middlebury’s perfect season ended with a February 4 loss to Williams, snapping the Panthers’ 24-game win streak. Four nights later, host Plattsburgh State beat the two-time defending champs in front of a Division III-record crowd of 1,736. That was the 14th straight win for the 21-1 Cardinals. Plattsburgh State senior Jenn Clarke scored two goals in her 100th game at the school ... Manhattanville sophomore Amanda Nonis sports a nation-leading 2.05 points per game (16 goals and 25 assists). Junior Erin Kegley has 18 goals in 20 games for Wisconsin-Superior.

Division III Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Dates and site: Carleton hosts the finals March 16-18 at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 225. All qualifiers who have met the “A” standard will be admitted into the meet; those who have met the “B” standard will be considered for the field. No team is allowed more than 18 competitors.

2005 team champion: Kenyon.

Top team contenders: Kenyon, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Denison, Williams.

Championships notes: Kenyon fought for a 40-point victory over Denison in the North Coast Athletic Conference championships. It was the eighth straight NCAC conquest for the Lords and 22nd overall. Senior Andrejs Duda won three events, setting a league record in the 200-yard individual medley. He was a two-time winner at last year’s nationals. Kenyon snapped Johns Hopkins’ winning streak in dual meets against Division III teams with a 130-97 victory February 4. Duda won the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke. Sean Kim, Ryan Kim and Brad Test won events for the Blue Jays ... Kenyon has won 26 consecutive Division III championships, including last year’s 152-point win over Emory.

Division III Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Dates and site: Carleton hosts the finals March 9-11 at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 232. All qualifiers who have met the “A” standard will be admitted into the meet; those who have met the “B” standard will be considered for the field. No team is allowed more than 18 competitors.

2005 team champion: Emory.

Top team contenders: Kenyon, Emory, Denison, Williams.

Championships notes: Among conference championship winners as of February 14 were Wheaton (Illinois) (Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), Kenyon (North Coast Athletic Conference), Emory (University Athletic Association), UC San Diego (Pacific Coast Swimming Conference), Calvin (Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association) and Wisconsin-Stevens Point (Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) ... Samantha White fueled Emory’s UAA win with victories in three distance freestyle events. She was the Eagles’ lone event winner in last year’s upset of Kenyon in the NCAA meet ... Kenyon won the NCAC meet by almost 100 points over Denison. Jessica Connors (200-yard breaststroke), Jaime Straub (1,650-yard freestyle) and Rebecca Allison (200-yard backstroke) were among event winners for the Ladies. Denison’s M.C. Dain touched out Kenyon’s Danielle Korman in the 200-yard butterfly.

Division III Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships

Dates and site: The championships will be March 10-11 at St. Olaf.

Field: A maximum of 200 athletes will compete in the cham pionships. Athletes qualify by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event.

Selection date: The spots remaining in the field after the automatic qualifiers are entered will be filled from the descending-order list of provisional qualifiers March 6.

2005 team champion: Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Top team contenders: Wisconsin-La Crosse, Lincoln (Pennsylvania), New Jersey City, Nebraska Wesleyan, MIT.

Championships notes: Wisconsin-La Crosse seeks to extend its record streak of team indoor titles to six. The squad again is led by Nate Olson, the meet’s defending 400-meter dash champion. But the Eagles also are strong as usual in a variety of other events, including (literally) the weight throw, where senior Kevin Becker returns as a leading title contender and is working to toss away memories of fouling out of last year’s competition, and the pole vault, where the team returns all three of its scorers from last year’s championships ... Lincoln (Pennsylvania) halted the Eagles’ four-year streak of outdoor team titles last spring and has hopes of playing spoiler again at St. Olaf. The Lions’ Bobby Young beat Olson in the outdoor 400 meters, and could join teammate Lance Wigfall in racking up points in that event ... Defending 55-meter dash champion Anthony Miles could lead New Jersey City into contention ... Two other 2005 individual champions also are expected to return for this year’s competition — Macharia Yuot of Widener in the 5,000-meter run and Uzoma Orji of MIT, who won last year’s weight throw and also was shot put champion in 2004.

Division III Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships

Dates and site: The championships will be March 10-11 at St. Olaf.

Field: A maximum of 200 athletes will compete in the championships. Athletes qualify by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event.

Selection date: The spots remaining in the field after the automatic qualifiers are entered will be filled from the descending-order list of provisional qualifiers March 6.

2005 team champion: Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Top team contenders: Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Wartburg, Williams, Bates, The College of New Jersey, Oneonta State.

Championships notes: Wisconsin-Oshkosh has capitalized on strength in the throws to win two straight team championships, and pins its hopes primarily on those two events again, where defending shot put and weight throw titlists Robyn Jarocki returns for her senior season. Jarocki enters her final year of competition with a total of five individual titles (including two at last year’s outdoor meet), and is seeking her third straight weight throw victory ... Most of the teams that have challenged Wisconsin-Oshkosh most closely the past two years have lost key competitors to graduation, making it tough to predict top finishers. However, as many as seven individual champions may be back from last year (in addition to Jarocki), and their ability to repeat past success could give their teams a measurable boost in team competition. They include Bridget Burns of Wartburg in the 400-meter dash, Jenna Mitchler of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the 800-meter run, Shanda Jackson of Lincoln (Pennsylvania) in the 55-meter dash, Andrea Herbert of New Jersey City in the triple jump and Megan Rossi of North Central (Illinois) in the pole vault ... Two sisters who are defending titles also will be in the spotlight: Sheana Grigsby of Carthage, who is seeking her third straight victory in the 55-meter hurdles, and Kristal Grigsby of St. Thomas (Minnesota), whose win in the long jump last year helped the Tommies to a top-five finish.