FEBRUARY 24, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

News and notes on the largest and best Division in the NCAA. #whyD3
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Headlines
📺️ DIII Announces Championship Livestreaming Partnership
🎾 CMS Claims Tennis Indoor Title
🏊️ Swimming and Diving Champs
📉 The Enrollment Cliff Comes to NEPA
🏒 Toughest Loss for Northland Doesn’t Come on Scoreboard

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TOP STORY
1. DIII Announces Livestreaming Partnership For Winter, Spring Championships

by Olivia Brown, NCAA

“Division III will livestream over 500 more games from the 2025 winter and spring championships free to fans on ncaa.com via Hudl. This partnership aims to enhance the visibility and accessibility of Division III championships.

"Hudl is proud to continue our partnership with Division III, ensuring that every fan, family member and supporter has seamless access to these incredible championship events," said Mark Krug, senior director at Hudl. "The commitment to livestreaming every team championship round aligns with our vision of making sports more accessible and engaging for all, and we're excited to help shine a brighter spotlight on Division III student-athletes."

Every game from the Division III Men's and Women's Basketball Championships (through the sectionals) and the Division III Men's and Women's Ice Hockey Championships will be livestreamed on ncaa.com. For the spring season, the baseball, softball, men's volleyball and men's and women's lacrosse championships will be livestreamed on ncaa.com.”

» Why It Matters. “This agreement for the winter and spring championships marks a significant step forward in providing comprehensive coverage and greater exposure for Division III, ensuring fans can support their favorite teams and student-athletes from anywhere. It also aligns with a strategic priority of Division III, which implemented a requirement this year that all team hosts must livestream every round of team championships.”

» Of Note. “Every Division III game will be available at ncaa.com/champs-pass and by using the NCAA Championships Pass app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Android TV devices.”

» Quotable. "This strategic partnership is enhancing the division's brand by providing seamless and free access to every round of our team championships. Building on the impressive viewership data from the fall, we confidently anticipate a surge in audience engagement for our upcoming championships," said Louise McCleary, vice president of Division III."

» See More

TENNIS (M)
2. Stags Capture National Indoor Team Title

Warren Pham bounced back from an opening-set 6-2 loss to win the final two sets and lift Claremont-M-S past Chicago, 4-3, for the DIII National Indoor Team Championship.

The Stags earned the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2-3, but the Maroons won three of the five singles matches to set the stage for the decisive match. Pham won the second set by a 6-3 count and finished its off, 6-2.

» 3rd Place. Denison d. Case Western Reserve, 4-2
» 5th Place. Emory d. Swarthmore, 4-1
» 7th Place. Trinity TX d. Gustavus Adolphus, 4-3

» Complete Results

CHAMPIONSHIPS
3. Swimming

And thus endeth the conference swimming and diving championship season as 15 leagues crowned team and individual champions last weekend.

• A-R-C | Luther (M) | Luther (W)

• Centennial | Swarthmore (M) | Swarthmore (W)

• CCIW | Augustana (M) | Augustana (W)

• Empire 8 | Geneseo (M) | Geneseo (W)

• Liberty League | RIT (M) | Ithaca (W)

• Michigan | Calvin (M) | Hope (W)

• Midwest | Grinnell (M) | Grinnell (W)

• Minnesota | Gustavus Adolphus (M) | Gustavus Adolphus (W)

• NESCAC | Williams (M)

• NEWMAC | MIT (M) | MIT (W)

• Presidents | Grove City (M) | Grove City (W)

• SCIAC | Claremont-M-S (M) | Pomona-Pitzer (W)

• SUNYAC/AMCC | Cortland (M) | Cortland (W)

• WIAC | Eau Claire (M) | La Crosse (W)

ENROLLMENT
4. Private Colleges in NEPA Prepare For ‘Enrollment Cliff’

by Michael Buffer, Scranton Times-Tribune

“Students nationwide have been moving toward less expensive alternatives to four-year degrees, and the number of U.S. high school graduates is expected to start declining this year. It’s due to a birthrate drop after the 2008 recession, and schools are calling it the “enrollment cliff” or “demographic cliff.”

“I think colleges are going to fail,” Marywood University President Lisa A. Lori said. “You saw one fail locally already, Clarks Summit University, and fortunately we were nimble enough to get on it and we took in some of those students who were in need of homes.”

As many as 80 colleges and universities may close over the next five years, according to a study released in December by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.”

» Situational Awareness. “Clarks Summit University, previously Baptist Bible College, in South Abington Twp., Lackawanna County, closed last summer amid financial struggles and declining enrollment. Keystone College, which straddles Factoryville in Wyoming County and La Plume Twp. in Lackawanna County, is struggling to stay open while hoping the Middle States Commission on Higher Education keeps its accreditation in place.”

» The Big Picture. “The U.S. Department of Education gauges the financial responsibility of for-profit and nonprofit higher education with a composite score of overall relative financial health on a scale from negative 1.0 to positive 3.0. A score greater than or equal to 1.5 indicates the institution is considered financially responsible and a score less than 1.0 is considered not financially responsible.”

» Why It Matters. Here are a sampling of institutions that have scores below 1.0 - Bethany (0.3), Pfeiffer (0.4), Albion (0.6), Baldwin Wallace (0.6), Drew (0.6), Illinois Tech (0.6), Lyon (0.6), and Marietta (0.6).

» Read More

ICE HOCKEY
5. Toughest Loss For Northland Hockey Team Doesn’t Show on Scoreboard

by Brian Lester, USCHO.com

“Northland played the final game of its men’s hockey season Saturday night. And like 25 other times this year, the Lumberjacks lost.

They fell 4-0 to UW-Eau Claire in the second and final game of an opening round WIAC tournament series.

But this loss feels different. It has a colder and harsher reality to it as there will be no hockey for Northland moving forward. There wont be any sports at the school for that matter once it closes its door at the end of this academic year.”

» Situational Awareness. “On Northland’s roster, there are 27 underclassmen. Fourteen of them are freshmen. That means all but two either have to hope they can land on their skates at a new school or bid farewell to playing the sport they have poured their hearts and souls into for most of their lives.”

» Worth Noting. “Northland hasn’t won many games lately. They haven’t had a non-losing season since the 2018-19 campaign when they finished 12-12-3. Win or lose, though, the Lumberjacks always competed. Effort was never in question.”

» The Final Word. “Northland isn’t the first school to announce its closing its doors. And, sadly, it won’t be the last. Schools are struggling to stay open because the cost of operation is just too high, and as hard as those schools try to fight against it, to find ways to keep the doors open and the lights on, it often takes a miracle bigger than the one on ice in 1980 to pull it off.”

» Keep Reading

NEWS YOU CAN USE
6. Weekend Roundup ⚡️ 

🎽 Track and Field. Southern Maine captured the Little East men’s and women’s indoor championships, while the UC Santa Cruz men and Christopher Newport women brought home the C2C championship trophies. The NJAC men’s crown went to Rowan, while TCNJ captured the women’s title.

🏊‍♂️ Swimming (M). Bates’ Max Cory swam what is believed to be the fastest 50-yard split in DIII history with an anchor leg of 18.59 as the Bobcat 200 medley relay finished second to Tufts.

⭐️ Conferences. Cory Hogue writes that talks between Hardin-Simmons, Mary Hardin-Baylor and the DII Lone Star Conference continue to intensify. More should be known about the future of the American Southwest Conference by the end of May.

TRANSACTIONS
7. Comings and Goings

BETHANY LUTHERAN - Dominic Santina named head cross country/track and field coach
LAKE FOREST - Nicki Pieart announced her resignation as director of athletics effective in March
MUSKINGUM - Chris Shank named offensive coordinator
NORTH CENTRAL (Minn.) - Faith Ooms resigned as head women’s volleyball coach
SAINT VINCENT - Michael Yarosz named assistant football coach

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