JANUARY 2, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

News and notes on the largest and best Division in the NCAA. #whyD3
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Headlines
1️⃣  Hop Tops Fall Directors’ Cup Standings
🏃  Schreiner Complains About Lack of Transgender Opportunities at DI
↪️  Midyear Transfers
📜  Biden Withdraws Title IX Athletics Proposal

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TOP STORY
1. Hop Tops Fall Directors’ Cup Standings

With top five finishes in football, women’s cross country, field hockey and volleyball, Johns Hopkins soared to the top spot in the run Division III Directors’ Cup standings.

The Blue Jays amassed 495.5 points during the fall slate, nearly 150 points better than second-place Middlebury (348). Washington and Lee (343.5), Tufts (305.5) and Emory (303) rounded out the top five.

The final fall totals that will include the point totals for football for Mount Union and North Central will be released January 23.

» Conference Leaders

» Conference Standings

LEGAL
2. Schreiner Complains About Lack of Transgender Opportunities at DI

by Valerie Richardson, Washington Times

“Even blue-state colleges are becoming wary of signing transgender athletes to play on women’s teams, based on Sadie Schreiner’s experience.

Schreiner, a biological male who competes as a sprinter in women’s NCAA Division III collegiate track, sought to transfer this year to a Division I program, but was rejected or ignored despite winning two-time All-American honors while competing at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.

A junior, Schreiner said she was in contact with 42 Division I universities, some of which were unable to make her offers because of state bans on male-born athletes in female scholastic sports.”

» Background. “Schreiner set records and won multiple track titles during the 2023-24 track season, but fell short at the NCAA Division III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship in May, placing third in the 200-meter and eighth in the 400-meter races.”

» Quotable. “After entering the transfer portal, it quickly became clear that among all the hurdles transfers usually have, there is an extra layer because I was trans,” said Schreiner in a Monday video on Instagram. “Fifty percent of the country banned me from participating, and that meant I couldn’t attend any of those colleges even if they reached out to me with full rides. It also became clear that even in the states that did, no matter how adamant the coaches were to have me on their teams, the college administrations would usually stop them from allowing me to participate,” Schreiner said. “So I took the time to document all this.”

» Of Note. Tennis great Martina Navratilova had a message for Schreiner: “Please keep documenting. You are free to compete. In the male category. Very simple. And also fair.”

» Worth Noting. “The NCAA is also facing a lawsuit filed in March by 19 female athletes accusing the association of violating Title IX by allowing male-born players to compete in women’s sports based on gender identity.”

» Keep Reading

ELIGIBILITY
3. Midyear Transfers

“In Division III, transferring midyear does not prevent student-athletes from being immediately eligible for competition at their new institution. If you’re working with a student-athlete who transfers to your institution following the 2024 fall term, you will want to confirm if they would have been academically eligible had they remained at their previous institution. If the answer is yes, they may be immediately eligible per Bylaw 14.5.5.1.

This is true even if the student-athlete participates in a winter sport and has already begun their season at the previous institution. In that instance, their participation at your institution during the 2025 spring/winter term would be considered a continuation of the same season. Please note, however, that the student-athlete may not participate in more than the Bylaw 17 maximum permitted contests or dates of competition for the sport between both institutions.”

WRESTLING
4. Biden Withdraws Title IX Athletics Proposal

by Kara Arundel, Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive

“The Biden administration withdrew proposed rules that would have extended Title IX protections to transgender student athletes and could have offered debt relief to millions of borrowers facing financial hardship.

Both proposals faced mixed public sentiment and significant legal challenges, and the withdrawals come as President-elect Donald Trump gears up for his second term in office.”

» The Big Picture. “Title IX regulations have ping-ponged back and forth between Democratic and Republican administrations since President Barack Obama’s administration. Trump and some conservative lawmakers have criticized the proposed rule. The proposal would have prohibited blanket bans on transgender students’ participation on sports teams aligning with their gender identities.”

» What They’re Saying. ″​​The Biden-Harris administration’s proposed rule to hurt women’s sports is antithetical to the cornerstone of sports — fairness,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who chairs the House’s education committee. She said allowing transgender women — who she referred to as men — and cisgender women to compete limits the latter’s opportunities and runs antithetical to Title IX.”

» Of Note. “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association over its inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports.”

» Read More

NEWS YOU CAN USE
5. Lightning Round ⚡️ 

🏀 Basketball (M). It was a tough Monday for three top-10 teams as #6 Wooster, #9 Illinois Wesleyan and #10 Tufts all suffered defeats. Babson toppled the Scots, 69-61, while UMHB bested the Titans, 78-77. The Jumbos also fell by a single point to Nichols, 72-71.

TRANSACTIONS
6. Comings and Goings

• ATLANTIC EAST CONFERENCE - Announced addition of Penn State Schuylkill as an associate member in women’s flag football

• ELMHURST - Chris Harrison resigned as director of tennis

• GOUCHER - Greg Royce stepped down as assistant athletic director for communication and operations

• ILLINOIS WESLEYAN - Melissa Valenzuela named head flag football coach

• IMMACULATA - Mary Kirchner named head women’s volleyball coach

• MCLA - Julia Dessart named head women’s ice hockey coach. Zack Farber named head softball coach

• NORTH PARK - Announced addition of women’s flag football as a varsity sport beginning in 2026. Ramon Palma named head coach

• SIMPSON - Dani Kohut Lynch named head volleyball coach

• UNION - John Ciano named

• WOOSTER - David Mottice named head women’s golf coach

1 THING
7. Welcome Gen Beta

The newest generation — Beta — will see its youngest members be born roughly from 2025 through 2039.

• Beta's experience will be defined by unpredictable technological advancements and climate crises, Axios' April Rubin reports.

By the numbers: Projected to reach about 2.1 billion people, per Mark McCrindle, a social researcher and demographer who coined "Generation Alpha" and determined its bounds.

• It would be the second largest cohort following Gen Alpha's 2 billion.

» Continue Reading

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