October 14, 2020-Emporia State's Welch Stadium and Zola Witten Track have been selected as the host site for the 2024 and 2026 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. It will be the fourth and fifth time that Welch Stadium has played host to the national championships.
Welch Stadium previously served as the host site for the National Championships in 1995, 1999 and 2006 with the first meet in 1995 bringing 450 student-athletes to Emporia. The 2024 and 2026 meets are scheduled to bring 754 student-athletes, nearly 200 coaches and over 100 officials to the Flint Hills over the Memorial Day weekend.
During championship week, the NCAA Committee will come to Emporia on Monday with the first practice time available on Tuesday. Wednesday of championship week will see a variety of coaches and officials meetings before the actual competition begin on Thursday. The meet will wrap up on Saturday evening.
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. The four championships not included in the process due to preexisting site arrangements are: Division I baseball, Division I football, Division I softball and Division III women's ice hockey.
Emporia State will host a press conference on Monday, October 19 to talk about the impact and logistics of bringing the championships to Welch Stadium. Exact time and location will be announced soon.
