The official start of summer was last week and though schools are out for the summer break right now, there is still much to report in the world of university sport. Read on for the latest and enjoy the upcoming July 4th holiday weekend.
NC Universities and Athletes Excel in NCAA Championship Competition
The end of May and much of the month of June have been big across North Carolina’s University Hub region for NCAA Championship activities, both locally and in major competition around the United States. NC State’s Katelyn Touhy (pictured below) became the NCAA Champion in the Women’s 5,000 meter run in the NCAA Track & Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, June 8-12, with a winning time of 15:18.39. Also, NC A&T State University standout and 2020 Tokyo Olympian, Randolph Ross (pictured below), was the national champion in the Men’s 400 meters with a time of 44.13. Local NCAA Champions were crowned in lacrosse with UNC Women’s Lacrosse taking the national title over fellow ACC Conference rival Boston College 12-11 in a thriller in Baltimore. In addition, Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller became the first-ever Women’s Tennis National Champions for NC State when the duo captured the doubles title in Champaign, Illinois.
In NCAA Baseball, East Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Greensboro, and Wake Forest made the NCAA Tournament. Both East Carolina and UNC hosted NCAA Regionals over the first weekend of June, where each team prevailed, qualifying them to host Super Regionals over the following weekend. Unfortunately, Arkansas won the Chapel Hill Super Regional while Texas prevailed in the Greenville Super Regional, concluding the excellent seasons of both UNC and ECU respectively.
While we are on the subject of Baseball, the Town of Cary again successfully hosted the NCAA Division II Baseball Championships at the USA Baseball National Training Complex from June 4 to June 10. North Greenville (South Carolina) captured the title with a 5-3 win over Point Loma in the finals.
In Softball, Duke Women’s Softball Team won the ACC Championship, then hosted NCAA Regional’s on campus at Duke Softball Stadium where they won their first-ever NCAA Regional Championships, later succumbing to UCLA in the Super Regionals out west.
Some of the most significant representation from schools in central North Carolina participating in June championship competition was in the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where no less than 31 athletes competed. Five different North Carolina Division I schools were represented – Duke, NC A&T, High Point, NC State, and UNC – with NC A&T having the highest team finish as their Men’s Team finished in 9th place.
In other NCAA Championship action, the UNC Men’s Golf Team finished tied for 5th Place in the NCAA Golf Championships in Scottsdale, AZ. NC State’s Women’s Tennis also finished in the Top 5 at NCAA’s, while the NCSU Men’s Tennis Team finished their season in the top 16. UNC’s Men’s Tennis also made the NCAA Round of 16, while UNC Women’s Tennis, ranked number one in the country at the time, lost to Texas in the NCAA Semi-Final Round for Team competition, but UNC’s Fiona Crawley made It to the individual semi-finals before bowing out of the tourney.
New Dates for the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, China
Originally, the World University Games were scheduled to be held in Chengdu in 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Games were postponed to this year. However, with the pandemic still lingering in many countries, including in China, FISU and the China LOC decided to postpone the Games once again to 2023. Just this week at its Executive Board Meeting in Brazil, the International University Sports Federation (FISU), announced the new dates for the Chengdu Games in 2023. The Games will now be held from Friday, July 28 to Tuesday, August 8, 2023. FISU has indicated that age limit and eligibility rules for athletes competing in Chengdu next year will be adjusted to allow for the participation of student athletes who would have been able to compete if the Games had been held in either 2021 or 2022.
“The pandemic has taught us all a valuable lesson about uncertainty,” said Eric Saintrond, CEO of FISU. “National University Sports Federations can look forward to a very special event, and I know that at FISU we are very much looking forward to first Lake Placid and then Chengdu next year.” This will be the third edition of the Games in China after Beijing hosted the 2001 Games and Shenzhen hosted the 2011 Games.
News Briefs
New Sponsors: We are excited to welcome four new sponsors to the fold: the Greensboro Sports Council, the Greensboro Sports Foundation, Tego Data, and the W. Trent Ragland, Jr. Foundation. The Greensboro Sports Council, a local non-profit volunteer organization, has been in operation since 1959 providing community support to events at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. The Greensboro Sports Foundation is the local organizing committee for many of the major NCAA, ACC, Olympic, youth, and professional sports events held in Greensboro. Tego Data of Raleigh is a local technology company specializing in mission-critical data center and cloud services. The W. Trent Ragland, Jr. Foundation, also located in Raleigh, primarily supports initiatives in Wake County that demonstrate “conservation, knowledge, compassion, and community.” This brings our total number of sponsoring organizations to 45 on our way towards our goal of 50 or more, so the finish line is in sight!
Presentations: On the first day of June, Hill Carrow, Chairman & CEO of the North Carolina Bid Committee, was asked to present on the World University Games bid opportunity to the Cooperating Raleigh Colleges (CRC). The CRC is a non-profit consortium led by Maura DiColla, Executive Director, and the chancellors and presidents of the member institutions. The CRC has been operating since 1968 and facilitates collaboration and co-operation among the 6 colleges and universities in North Carolina’s capital city of Raleigh, but also links those institutions to the community. CRC members include Meredith College, NC State University, Shaw University, St. Augustine’s University. Wake Technical Community College, and William Peace University. The meeting was hosted on the campus of Shaw University at historic Estey Hall by Dr. Paulette Dillard, President of Shaw University, where the World University Games bid was met with much enthusiasm and support from the CCR.
On June 8, Hill was the speaker at Cary MacGregor Rotary held at MacGregor Downs Country Club. As the pandemic continues to wane, it was great to be back on the civic club speaking circuit doing presentations to a live audience of Rotarians excited about the potential of hosting the 2027 World University Games.
Committee News: The Transportation Committee held a major committee meeting this week that had broad participation across the entire North Carolina University Hub region. Led by Chuck Lattuca, the CEO of GoTriangle, members of the committee include Will Allen of CAMPO the Triangle area’s regional transportation planning group; Sharon Chavis of GoTriangle, Johanna Cockburn of the Greensboro Transit Authority, Darcy Downs of the NC Department of Transportation, Sean Egan of GoDurham Transit, Michael Landguth of the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority, Brian Litchfield of Chapel Hill Transit, Michael Moore of GoRaleigh (who is currently also acting Assistant City Manager), Doug McNeal of NC DOT, and Scott Rhine of PART (the regional transportation organization in the Triad area). Also participating in the meeting was Tom Halleran, consultant on the Winter World University Games in Lake Placid, scheduled for January of next year. Will Allen, Hill Carrow, and Tom Halleran are all veterans of the highly successful U.S. Olympic Festival that was held previously in North Carolina’s University Hub region
Support the Bid
You can support the bid in a number of ways: corporate sponsorship, individual contribution, volunteering, or purchasing bid merchandise. (Bid apparel could make an attractive gift. Just click here.) We encourage you to visit our award-winning website at www.ncwug2027bid.com and join our team.
Sponsor Thank You’s
We cannot thank our sponsors enough for their strong belief in, and generous support of, North Carolina’s bid for the World University Games. We encourage you to patronize their businesses and give them your own personal thanks when you do.
Sponsors
