Championships
Dates, Locations, AQ’s, DOI
FALL 2020 CHAMPIONSHIP DATES & LOCATIONS
A: Yes. As approved by the full body of the National Administrative Council on August 20, the following calendars were put in place for the fall sport National Championships:
Cross Country
Conference Deadline: March 28, 2021
Selection: March 29, 2021
Release of Qualifiers: March 30, 2021
National Championship: April 9, 2021
Women’s Volleyball – Sioux City, Iowa
Conference Deadline: April 10, 2021
Selection: April 11, 2021
Release of Qualifiers: April 12, 2021
Opening Rounds: April 17, 2021
Final Site: April 27 – May 1, 2021
Men’s Soccer – Columbus, Ga.
Conference Deadline: April 17, 2021
Selection: April 18, 2021
Release of Qualifiers: April 19, 2021
Opening Rounds: April 22 & 24, 2021
Final Site: May 4-10, 2021
Women’s Soccer – Foley, Ala.
Conference Deadline: April 10, 2021
Selection: April 11, 2021
Release of Qualifiers: April 12, 2021
Opening Rounds: April 15 & 17, 2021
Final Site: April 27 – May 3, 2021
Football – Grambling, La.
Conference Deadline: April 10, 2021
Selection/Release of Qualifiers: April 11, 2021
FCS First Round: April 17, 2021
FCS Quarterfinals: April 24, 2021
FCS Semifinals: May 1, 2021
National Championship: May 10, 2021
The Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving National Championships will be hosted by the Columbus, GA Sports Council at the Columbus Aquatic Center. The Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving National Championships will be split into two separate events for 2021 due to capacity restrictions at the Columbus Aquatic Center. The Women’s Swimming & Diving National Championship will take place March 3-6. 2021 and the Men’s Swimming & Diving National Championship will take place March 10-13, 2021.
The Indoor Track & Field National Championships have been relocated to Yankton, S.D. and will take place March 3-6, 2021. One additional day was added to the Indoor Track and Field National Championship to help mitigate the number of events taking place at one time, and limit the number of individuals inside the Ruth Donohoe First Dakota Fieldhouse.
The Competitive Cheer & Dance National Championships were relocated to Davenport, Iowa and will be hosted by St. Ambrose University and Visit Quad Cities. The Competitive Cheer & Dance National Championships will take place March 12-13, 2021.
REDUCTION OF FIELD SIZE FOR POSTSEASON
- A reduction in Qualifiers – Limited to the top 16 declared athletes in each event will qualify for the National Championship
- The schedule has extended from 3 to 4 days and will include morning, afternoon and evening sessions each day.
- No spectators will be permitted.
CONFERENCE AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS
- For conferences with 15 members, the conference will keep their three automatic qualifiers unless they drop below 12 members.
- Conferences with 12 and 10 members will retain their two automatic qualifiers unless their members drop below 9 and 7 respectively.
- Conferences with six or more members may drop below six members and will retain that automatic qualifier.
For example, in Women’s Basketball, the GPAC receives two automatic bids to the National Championship (GPAC #1 and GPAC #2) – If GPAC #1 was slated to be at an Opening Round site in Omaha and GPAC #2 was slated to be at an Opening Round site in Wichita, the Women’s Basketball Selection Committee would have the ability to swap the bracket placement of the two GPAC automatic qualifiers (move GPAC #1 to Wichita and GPAC #2 to Omaha) to allow for a more balanced overall bracket to be achieved.
DECLARATION OF INTENT/ RE-DECLARATION PROCESS
NCCAA POSTSEASON COMPETITION
SPORT SPECIFIC POSTSEASON NOTES
REPLACEMENT TEAMS IN POSTSEASON COMPETITION
Team Sports:
Men’s and Women’s Basketball
Replacement teams must be determined by noon (CST), March 4, 2021.
If a conference declares the regular-season champion as an automatic qualifier and that team must withdraw, the regular-season runner-up will replace that regular-season champion as that conference’s automatic qualifier. In the scenario where the regular-season champion must withdraw and the conference-regular season runner-up earns the conference tournament championship automatic qualifier, a conference’s regular-season third place team will replace the regular-season champion as the conference’s automatic qualifier. If none of the teams listed previously are able to compete in the national championship this bid will convert to an at-large and determined by Basketball National Selection Committee.
If a conference declares the conference tournament champion as an automatic qualifier and that team must withdraw, the conference tournament runner-up will replace the conference tournament champion as the automatic qualifier. If the conference tournament runner-up has already received an automatic berth to the national tournament, the bid will convert to an at-large and determined by the Basketball National Selection Committee.
Bowling
Replacement teams must be determined by noon (CST), March 11, 2021.
If a conference declares the regular-season champion as an automatic qualifier and that team must withdraw, the regular-season runner-up will replace that regular-season champion as that conference’s automatic qualifier. In the scenario where the regular-season champion must withdraw and the conference-regular season runner-up earns the conference tournament championship automatic qualifier, a conference’s regular-season third place team will replace the regular-season champion as the conference’s automatic qualifier. If none of the teams listed previously are able to compete in the national championship this bid will convert to an at-large and determined by Bowling National Selection Committee.
If a conference declares the conference tournament champion as an automatic qualifier and that team must withdraw, the conference tournament runner-up will replace the conference tournament champion as the automatic qualifier. If the conference tournament runner-up has already received an automatic berth to the national tournament, the bid will convert to an at-large and determined by the Basketball National Selection Committee.
Competitive Cheer & Competitive Dance
Replacement teams must be determined by noon (CST), March 1, 2021.
If a conference or regional grouping champions must withdraw due to COVID-19 a conference/regional grouping may replace that team with the team that received the next highest points. If the conference or regional grouping second place team has already received an at-large berth, the conference/regional grouping may follow the final qualifying event standings to fill identify the replacement team.
Individual Sports:
Indoor Track & Field
If a declared athlete is unable to compete, it is the coach’s responsibility to contact NAIA Championship Sport Manager, Courtney Fegter at 308-991-1039 to report this instance. Any fields that are open will be backfilled through 12:00 pm CST on Sunday, February 28th with the next available declared athlete (will work through a maximum of the next 5 declared athletes per event). Logistics of this process will be shared closer to the declaration period.
Men’s Wrestling
Should an individual need to withdraw, replacement individuals must be determined by 5 p.m. (CST), March 2, 2021. A conference will submit a list alternates when submitting their official entry form for the National Championships. If an individual withdraws, the next alternate will be entered into the National Championships.
Women’s Wrestling
Should an individual need to withdraw, replacement individuals must be determined by 5 p.m. (CST), March 9, 2021. A team will list alternates (2) when submitting their official entry form for the National Invitational. If an individual withdraws, the next alternate will be entered into the National Invitational.
Swimming & Diving
Replacements must be determined no later than noon (CST) February 26, 2021.
An alternate list of 10 swimmers is compiled in case a student-athlete is scratched prior to the meet.