CCAA Awarded 2024 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships
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The NCAA has awarded the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships to the city of Sacramento for the 2024 season. In partnership with the Visit Sacramento Sports Commission, the CCAA will play co-host at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex on Nov. 23, 2024, also the site of the 2019 national championship event.
“We are thrilled to partner with the Sacramento Sports Commission to host the 2024 Division II Cross Country National Championships,” remarked CCAA commissioner Mitch Cox. “The Commission did an excellent job hosting last fall, and I know will provide another memorable experience for all of the competing student-athletes, coaches and fans.”
Twenty-four teams automatically qualify to the championships by finishing as one of the top three teams at their regional meet, with regional selections across the country awarded to venues in Montana, Colorado, Alabama, Missouri, New York, Illinois and South Carolina. The remaining 10 at-large teams are selected by the NCAA Division II Cross Country Committee, and individual competitors are determined by their regional performances.
The event will feature a field of over 500 competitors from across the country, as the men will lace up first in the 10,000 meters with the women capping the day in a 6,000 meter race. Last year in Sacramento, the Chico State men ran to a third-place finish and the CCAA boasted five All-Americans. On the women’s side, the Wildcats were joined by Cal State East Bay with a top 10 team finish.
“The NCAA DII Cross Country Committee was very impressed with the Sacramento Sports Commission and CCAA’s bid for the 2024 DII Cross Country Championship," said Alex Eaton, associate director of athletics at Southern Indiana and chair of the Division II Men's & Women's Cross Country Committee. "The Sacramento Sports Commission had a successful 2019 DII Cross Country Championship. The entire committee as well as the coaches and participants were impressed and happy with the event and experience they had in Sacramento. The committee felt that the experience that was provided to the participants made Sacramento an excellent candidate to host another DII Cross Country Championship."
“As Sacramento continues to evolve, so does our prowess as a major sports destination,” said Visit Sacramento Sports Commission Director David Eadie. “We look forward to continuing to solidify our region as a premier location for competitions of all sizes and varieties.”
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Commission was involved in securing multiple bidding opportunities, and will also play host in preliminary and regional competition for Division I men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s outdoor track as well as hosting the championships in both men’s and women’s soccer during the 2022-26 bid cycle. All told, 43 states plus the District of Columbia were selected to host at least one NCAA championship event, with the state of California garnering the most, with 34.
This is the third time for this specific NCAA championship bid process, which created the largest host site announcement ever, spanning 86 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 86 of 90 NCAA championships began in August 2019 and more than 3,000 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 more than 450 total championship event sites being awarded. More than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships each year.