NCAA Fall Championships Highlight Show to Air Saturday on CBS
Stonehill College's W.B. Mason Stadium served as host of the 2009 NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships which will be featured as part of the Fall Championships Highlight show on CBS Sports this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Three Skyhawk team competed at championships which will be featured, including field hockey and men's and women's cross country. |
EASTON, Mass. (December 22, 2009) - For the eighth consecutive year CBS Sports Presents Championships of the NCAA will air at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, Saturday, December 26, on CBS Sports. Highlights and stories from cross country, field hockey, soccer and volleyball will be featured in the program. For the 2009-10 academic year, CBS Sports will feature more than 40 of the NCAA's 88 championships in its three seasonal shows.
Stonehill College figures to feature somewhat prominently in the highlight show as the College and W.B. Mason Stadium served as host of the 2009 NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships the weekend of November 13-15. Stonehill's men's and women's cross country teams also participated in the NCAA Championships in Evansville, Ind., the following weekend.
As individuals and teams pursue
their ultimate goal to become an NCAA champion, some of the feature
stories include:
* In the women's Division II volleyball finals, the Bears of
Concordia-St. Paul University look to cap their perfect season with
a 3rd straight national championship; while in Division III
volleyball, Freshman of the Year Kelly Pang looks to aide
Washington University in St Louis in their quest for a
record-setting 10th national championship.
* The Division II Field Hockey Championship, hosted by Stonehill,
featured the 3-time defending national champion Bloomsburg Huskies.
Their coach, Jan Hutchinson, announced her retirement after 32
years at the helm of the program. She is the winningest coach in
NCAA field hockey history, and had won 15 national titles going
into this season. Their opponents were the River Hawks from the
University of Massachusetts-Lowell. One of their seniors, Jaci
Mouton, tore her ACL early in the season, but instead of taking the
normal route of season ending surgery, she decided to rehab the
injury and played the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. The
game was a competitive, back-and-forth shootout, but when the dust
settled, Jan Hutchinson ended her career a champion, with her 16th
career, and 4th straight national title for Bloomsburg.
* The Division III men's and women's soccer feature is the story of
small Christian college in Pennsylvania called Messiah College and
their attempt to each win the national championship for the second
straight year. Both the men and women have been to the soccer final
four six straight years. The men and women each win their semifinal
matches and take home the national championship and complete the
unprecedented feat two years in row.
* Division II cross country runner Suzie Strickler, a redshirt
senior at Seattle Pacific University, was on a mission trip in the
summer of 2008 in the Dominican Republic. One day Suzie was riding
on the back of a motorbike and her foot got caught, resulting in a
possible career ending injury. Upon returning home to the United
States, Suzie learned about the severity of her injury and the
trials she would endure throughout her healing process.
* Anthony Luna, senior at Metropolitan State College of Denver, had
a scholarship to attend DII cross country powerhouse Adams State,
but had to turn it down due to his then girlfriend's pregnancy.
Anthony is now the proud father of four-year old Anthony Jr., is a
national champion runner and will be the first person in his family
to graduate from college. Anthony credits his focus and commitment
to running to his son.
* Jason Lindelhof from University of Wisconsin-Superior has had a
long road to nationals. At 25, he's had an injury plagued career
and his expectations at the beginning of the season were merely to
be healthy. Due to financial restraints, he can only enroll in
school part of the year and always makes sure he's there in the
fall for the cross country season. Now he's at the national
championships running for a title.
* Caitlin Masse from Trinity University has experienced loss on
several levels. First her mother passed away when she was sixteen
due to a heart condition. Then her boyfriend passed away this year
in a swimming accident. She knows something about perseverance and
has trained all season for the Division III Cross Country
Championships.
CBS Sports' Sam Ryan will serve as host of the CBS Sports Presents
Championships of the NCAA for the third time. The fall highlight
show was produced by Mark Burghart, with Sarah Rinaldi, Alanna
Campbell, Julie Landa and Lindsay Goward serving as the feature
producers.
Through the NCAA-CBS 11-year bundled rights agreement, CBS Sports
has aired 21 seasonal shows from the three NCAA sports seasons
(fall, winter, spring) over the last seven years. The December 26
show is the 22nd edition of CBS Sports Presents Championships of
the NCAA. Each seasonal show features highlights and unique NCAA
student-athlete stories from a variety of NCAA Division II and III
championships.