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Spring 2012 festival lands in Louisville

Bellarmine and Louisville Sports Commission to host

NCAA.org

Bellarmine University and the Louisville Sports Commission have been selected to host the 2012 NCAA Division II Spring National Championships Festival.

The event, to be conducted May 15-19, will feature six Division II national championships in men’s and women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, softball, and men’s and women’s tennis. Louisville and Bellarmine also hosted the 2010 Fall National Championships Festival.

“The people of Louisville enthusiastically embraced our 2010 festival and made it a special occasion for the 800 student-athletes who participated,” said Sonoma State Athletics Director Bill Fusco, chair of the Division II Championships Committee, which chose Louisville. “We know Louisville and Bellarmine will do another great job this time around.”

Sites for the championships are:

• Men’s golf: Cardinal Club Golf Course
• Women’s golf: Persimmon Ridge Country Club
• Women’s lacrosse: Owsley B. Frazier Stadium, Bellarmine University
• Women’s softball: Knights Field, Bellarmine University
• Men’s and women’s tennis: Top Gun Tennis Academy and Springhurst Tennis Club, and E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park

The National Championships Festival series is unique to Division II. The festivals provide student-athletes with an opportunity to support their peers and to interact outside of practice or competition periods. They also engage in community events within the host city.

The 2012 festival will be the sixth. The others were Orlando, spring 2004; Pensacola, fall 2006; Houston, spring 2008; Houston, winter 2009; and Louisville, fall 2010.

“We’re delighted and honored the NCAA has chosen Bellarmine and the city of Louisville to host the 2012 Spring National Championships Festival,” said Bellarmine President Joseph McGowan. “Our experience hosting the fall festival last year proved that we can partner with the Louisville Sports Commission and the NCAA to create a truly first-class event that represents Bellarmine and our community very well in the national spotlight. We appreciate the confidence the NCAA has shown in us by awarding Bellarmine the opportunity to replicate that environment next spring.”

Karl Schmitt, executive director of the Louisville Sports Commission, said that hosting the festival “is a gift that keeps on giving for Louisville.”

“Besides the positive economic impact generated through full hotel rooms, we have the opportunity to deliver a memorable experience to 1,000 student-athletes and soon-to-be college graduates who will be entering the workforce in the next few years,” Schmitt said. “These are young women and men who will tell their friends and classmates about our community and who might be interested in locating here someday as part of our workforce.”