Feb 15, 2010 9:55:43 AM

The Division III Championships Committee took steps at its February meeting to formally ensure that a minimum number of at-large berths are available for team championships.

While championships policy has been to retain a minimum of two Pool C berths for Division III team championships, it is not legislatively required. As part of a larger effort to align the division's championships policies and bylaws, the committee recommended adopting legislation to require a minimum of two at-large berths in each championship.

The Division III Management Council will consider the recommendation in April.

The recommendation resulted from a much broader discussion of legislative questions related to automatic qualification, championships eligibility and selection criteria.

That discussion focused on such situations as:

• Defining a "core" member of a conference for purposes of gaining or retaining automatic qualification,
• Specifying a Division III sports committee's authority to withhold automatic qualification from a conference that fails to meet automatic-qualification requirements, and
• Considering whether committees have some discretion in applying legislated championships selection criteria.

Much of the discussion focused on defining core-conference members, which is important for recent and anticipated changes in schools' conference affiliations, and for the overall structure a conference may pursue.  

Currently, a conference must have seven members competing in a sport, including four core members, to earn automatic qualification to a team championship. A school must participate in more than one sport in that league to be considered a core member.

The committee reached no conclusions about amending the definition of "core" but will continue to discuss the topic in a future meeting.

The Championships Committee also launched a previously announced review of the division's regional structure for evaluating teams for championships, including examining current sport region alignments and regional ranking processes.

The review was sparked by various sport-specific requests the committee received last fall, which prompted the committee to study achieving more standardization in how schools are assigned to regions and related issues.

The review could eventually produce recommendations for consideration at a future Championships Committee meeting, after consultation with the Division III Commissioners Association, sports committees and other appropriate groups.

Budget issues

The committee also addressed championships budget issues in a step toward Division III finalizing its overall budget for the new two-year fiscal cycle that begins this fall.

The only new championships funding proposed for the 2010-12 budget is for a potential Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, as that sport appears to have gained the 50 sponsoring schools that are required for the creation of a new championship.

Division III's governance staff plans to produce a detailed timeline for establishment of the championship. A membership vote to establish the championship could come as soon as January 2011, clearing the way for the inaugural tournament in spring 2012.

In other budget actions, the committee agreed to provide $30,000 in reallocated and inflationary dollars to a pilot program aimed at helping early-round championships site hosts offset the costs of Webcasting contests. The committee originally had proposed providing funding for that purpose in the 2007-09 budget but later tabled the recommendation.

Squad sizes

The committee also began a review of championships squad sizes, prompted by multiple requests from individual sports committees in recent years for adjustments in the number of student-athletes permitted to participate in a championship.

As part of the review, the group compared current championships squad sizes to average on-campus squad sizes. It agreed to consider appropriate adjustments based on a financial analysis of any potential changes and following input from sport committees.  

Other highlights

The committee also approved sites for finals and regional sites in five sports:

• 2011 Men's Basketball Championship in Salem, Virginia, hosted by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the City of Salem, Virginia.
• 2011 Men's Golf Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, hosted at the Grandover Resort by Guilford and the Greensboro Sports Commission.
• 2011 Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by Capital.
• 2011 Women's Lacrosse Championship, hosted jointly with the Division II Women's Lacrosse Championship by Adelphi, which becomes the first Division II school to host the combined event.
• Regional sites for the 2010 Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, including Oneonta State (Atlantic), Wartburg (Central), Hope (Great Lakes), Carnegie Mellon (Mideast), Augustana (Illinois) (Midwest), Williams (New England), Rhodes (South/Southeast) and Willamette (West).