Guilford to Host Men's Golf, W&L Awarded Two Years of Field Hockey

FOREST, Va. --- The Old Dominion Athletic Conference and two of its schools were selected to host or co-host 14 NCAA Division III championships over the next four years thru 2018.  The conference will co-host 11 events, 10 of which will be in conjunction with the City of Salem.  Guilford College is charged with men's golf in 2018, and Washington and Lee University was awarded two years as host of field hockey in 2014 and 2015.  Salem will also host three NCAA Division II championships, of which the ODAC may assist.

“We really want to thank everyone who put in a bid,” said Mark Lewis, NCAA executive vice president of championships and alliances. “The competitiveness of the bids made it extremely difficult for the sport committees to select sites as there just weren’t spots for all of the great bids we received. Ultimately the sites that were selected will provide our student-athletes, coaches and fans the best experience possible.”

The new NCAA championship bid process creates the largest host site announcement ever, spanning 82 championships across a four-year cycle. Previously, selection announcements varied by sport. This process now gives the NCAA and host sites more time to plan each championship experience.

Bidding for 82 of 89 NCAA championships began in July and 1,984 bid applications were ultimately submitted. Each sport committee, per division, selected the host sites it believed would provide the ultimate experience for the respective student-athletes, resulting in 523 total championship event sites awarded. The seven championships not included in the process due to preexisting site arrangements are: Division I baseball, Division I men’s basketball, Division I football, Division I men’s and women’s golf, Division I softball and Division III women’s ice hockey.

Guilford's nod to host men's golf in 2018 will mark its fourth occasion, as the Quakers welcomed NCAA Division III men's golf to Greensboro in 2011 and were previously tabbed to host the championships in 2014 and 2015.  All the events have and will take place at the Grandover Resort, which features 36 holes over the East and West courses.  Grandover has served as the venue for Nationwide Tour and NCAA Division I events in addition to other feature outings.

Washington and Lee is no stranger to hosting field hockey, having served in that capacity in 2005 when Salisbury University captured the third of its three straight national titles with a 1-0 win over Messiah College.  The Generals will open the doors to W&L Turf Field in 2014 and 2015, marking the first time the national field hockey championship will be held in the same location in back-to-back years since it was at Ursinus College in 2007 and 2008.

The ODAC and the City of Salem will continue a long partnership of hosting NCAA Division III championships, which currently numbers 57 events including next week's 41st Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.  The Stagg Bowl will stay in Salem thru 2017, with the final year marking the 25th straight D-III football championship held in the Roanoke Valley.  Men's basketball, already slated to return to Salem in 2014, will remain four years after thru 2018.  Last year's championship in Atlanta snapped a string of 17 consecutive men's basketball championships in Salem.  The conference and "Virginia's Championship City" will also join forces on D-III softball in 2015 and 2016, the 11th and 12th time that sport has called Salem its championship home.

For its remaining championship, the ODAC will continue a partnership that began three years ago with the ODAC swimming championships.  The Greensboro Aquatic Center will serve as the venue and the Greensboro Sports Commission as co-hosts with the ODAC as they embark on welcoming the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships to Greensboro, N.C.

For more information on all of the NCAA championship sites awarded, log on to www.ncaa.com/site-selections.