Division III Men’s Golf Championships

Dates and sites: Nebraska Wesleyan hosts the finals May 8-11 at the Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Field: A total of 120 golfers will compete in the 72-hole championship tournament.

Selection date: May 1.

2005 champion: Guilford.

Top contenders: Guilford, Huntingdon, Otterbein, Oglethorpe and Methodist were the top five teams in the most recent Golf Channel poll.

Championship notes: Methodist won its final regular-season tournament at Emory behind Nick Bova, who won his first college tournament with a 36-hole total of 142. Adam Horton and Cory Schneider were at 145. The tournament featured a strong national field. Top-ranked Guilford finished third behind Joseph Poplin, who tied for third in the individual standings, and Oglethorpe placed second behind strong rounds from Taylor Urbanski, Danny Swanick and Joe Green ... Otterbein won its own 10-team tournament April 10 by 18 strokes. Sophomore Zach Sebert and Junior Matt Collins finished 1-2 for the Cardinals.

Division III Women’s Golf Championships

Dates and sites: Oglethorpe and the Central Florida Sports Commission host the finals May 9-12 at the Mission Inn Golf and Tennis resort at Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.

Field: Sixty golfers will compete in the 72-hole championship tournament.

Selection date: May 1.

2005 champion: Methodist.

Top contenders: Methodist, DePauw, Gustavus Adolphus, St. Thomas (Minnesota) and Middlebury were the top five teams in the most recent Golf Channel poll.

Championship notes: Gustavus Adolphus won the 11-team Wartburg Invitational April 9 over the host Knights and third-place finisher St. Thomas (Minnesota). The Gusties placed three individuals in the top 10, including sixth-place finisher Kimbra Kosak ... Methodist was the top Division III finisher at the Division I-dominated Bonnie Hoover Invitational at James Madison. The Monarchs placed fifth, 16 strokes behind winner Penn State. Charlotte Williams shot a 152 to lead Methodist and finish tied for sixth overall. Heather Martin carded a 155 and finished 12th.

Division III Women’s Lacrosse Championship

Dates and sites: First-round games are May 10 at campus sites. Regionals are May 13-14, also on campus. The semifinals and final are May 20-21 at Debaun Field in Hoboken, New Jersey. Stevens Institute of Technology is hosting the finals.

Field: Twenty-four teams, 15 from automatic-qualifying conferences. Three berths are reserved for true independents and teams that are members of conferences that do not meet the criteria for automatic qualification. Four teams are selected at large.

Selection date: May 7.

2005 champion: TCNJ.

Top contenders: Salisbury, Middlebury, Cortland State, TCNJ and Gettysburg topped a recent Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association poll.

Championship notes: TCNJ has placed first, second or third in the championship 19 times in the last 20 years ... Salisbury was undefeated through early April, including a victory over second-ranked Middlebury. The loss to Salisbury was the only blemish for the Panthers through early April ... Last month, Cortland State snapped a 17-game TCNJ win streak that stretched back to last season. The Red Dragons bested the Lions, 9-8, despite the Lions’ four goals in three minutes down the stretch ... Gettysburg junior defenseman Laurie Goon also is a member of the Bullets’ soccer team.

Division III Softball Championship

Dates and sites: Competition begins at eight double-elimination first-round campus sites from May 11 through 15. The eight winners advance to the finals, which will be held in a double-elimination format, at the Walnut Creek Softball Complex in Raleigh, North Carolina, May 19-23.

Field: Forty-three teams.

Selection date: May 8.

2005 champion: St. Thomas (Minnesota).

Top contenders: St. Thomas (Minnesota), Rowan, Ithaca, Louisiana College, Chapman, Muskingum, Wartburg, Rutgers-Camden.

Championship notes: As of April 12, St. Thomas held a 42-game win streak against Division III competition ... Rowan’s Colleen Oswald was 20-1 as of April 13 ... Ithaca set a program record April 12 by extending its win streak to 14 games ... Louisiana College will be looking to advance to the national finals after missing the trip by one game in 2005 ... Chapman’s Janet Lloyd has coached 21 all-Americans during her 12 seasons ... Muskingum’s Donna Newberry began her 32nd season as head coach as the all-time wins leader in NCAA Division III with 736 victories.

Division III Men’s Tennis Championships

Dates and sites: The first and second rounds are May 6-7 on the campuses of participating institutions. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of the team championship will be May 17-19, and the singles and double championships will be May 20-22 at Mary Washington.

Field: The team championship is a 27-team, single-elimination tournament. Individual championships consist of 32 singles and 16 doubles teams. Seven teams are selected from the Northeast and Atlantic South regions, eight teams from the Central region and five from the West. Eight singles players and four doubles teams from each of the regions will be selected.

Selection date: May 1.

2005 team champion: UC Santa Cruz.

Top team contenders: Recent Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings listed Gustavus Adolphus, Emory, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Middlebury and UC Santa Cruz as the top five teams.

Championships notes: Gustavus Adolphus beat UC Santa Cruz, 6-1, in the ITA Division III indoor championships earlier this year ... Claremont-Mudd-Scripps junior Eric Chow served in the school’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as a freshman and was a member of the 2003 Inland Empire Ranger Challenge team ... Middlebury has made it to the NCAA championship match in each of the past two tournaments. In 2004, the Panthers won the title, and last year they were runners-up to UC Santa Cruz ... Four doubles teams were tied for the top ranking as of March 20, including teams from Middlebury, Gustavus Adolphus and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Division III Women’s Tennis Championships

Dates and sites: First and second rounds are May 6-7 at campus sites. The finals are May 17-22 at UC Santa Cruz.

Field: Twenty-six teams for the team championship and 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams for the individual championships. Seven teams will be selected from the Northeast, Central and Atlantic South regions and five teams will be chosen from the West. Four singles players and two doubles teams will be named from each of the four regions with the remaining positions to be chosen at large. A maximum of 222 participants will be selected for the championships.

Selection date: May 1.

2005 team champion: Emory.

Top team contenders: Emory, Washington and Lee, Amherst, Gustavus Adolphus and Redlands round out the top five in last month’s Fila/ITA national rankings.

Championships notes:  Three-time national runner-up Washington and Lee will be making its 14th overall appearance in the tournament. The Generals’ perfect 25-0 record includes wins over top-five teams Emory, Amherst and Gustavus Adolphus ... Emory is looking to become the first team to win four straight Division III national championships. Before the Eagles’ title run began in 2003, only Williams had managed back-to-back championships (2001, 2002) in the history of the tournament ... Behind Emory’s 21 NCAA tournament berths, only Gustavus Adolphus and Mary Washington have more appearances with 17 each ... Defending national doubles champions seniors Tara Houlihan and Lyndsey Palen of Gustavus Adolphus are once again a force with a 13-2 record so far on the season.