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Summer issue of Champion available online

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The Summer 2011 issue of the NCAA’s Champion magazine is now available online.

This edition of Champion, the NCAA’s official quarterly magazine, features Indiana distance runner Andrew Poore on the cover. Poore, who most recently finished third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2011 Division I Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, will be a senior on this year’s Hoosier squad and is among several in-state stars committed to illuminating the track program in Bloomington.

The cover photograph, captured by Jamie Schwaberow of NCAA Photos, was taken at the famous Rooftop Quarry just south of Bloomington, where a few scenes from the 1979 film “Breaking Away” were shot.

Among the features in this edition of Champion is a look at the evolution of spring football from a casual community affair to the sell-out crowds and live broadcasts of today. What happened along the way?

Also, given the shift in the Division I conference landscape over the past two years, several conferences have gone through brand studies and have made adjustments while others did not. Find out why the 12-member Big Ten stayed the Big Ten and the 10-member Big 12 stayed the Big 12 while the Pac-10 changed to the Pac-12.

Speaking of numbers, the upcoming academic year is the 75th anniversary of when the NCAA began officially keeping national sport statistics. The operation started with football, but Champion takes a look at how it expanded and became more efficient over time.

In addition to the profile on Indiana’s Poore, Champion also features recently retired NACDA Executive Director Mike Cleary, Occidental College women’s basketball coach Heidi VanDerveer and former NCAA membership president and Nevada president Joe Crowley in its “Faces of the NCAA” section. Also, learn what Hawaii Associate AD Marilyn Moniz-Kaho’ohanohano has to go through to get to her many NCAA committee meetings in Indianapolis. It’s more than a hop, skip and a jump.

Other highlights in this issue of Champion include a look at the upcoming presidential retreat on Aug. 9-10, a review of the new bat standards that affected performance in baseball this year, and  how Alabama cross country runner Nathan Corder reacted when tornadoes tore through Tuscaloosa in April.

Also, did you know there were 11 aces during this year’s NCAA golf championships? Check out the News Briefs section. And for a recap of all the NCAA’s spring-sport tournaments and more great shots from NCAA Photos, see the championships section.

Hard copies of the magazine will begin arriving on campuses later this week.