Ariy-El Boynton

“Tone based on the American classic Grease: Summer Nights:”

Summit League has a chance, Summit League grants a champ. The league used to be a Mid-Con, now it’s just based in Illinois. Wonder what the league is going to bring us now. Tell me more, tell me more.

I apologize for the song, and I am even more sorry if you heard my voice; I just wanted to show you how excited I am for an actual league championship. With the men’s and women’s cross-country competing at Western Illinois University on Oct. 27 at Macomb, Ill., it was the first league championships in the new Summit League. The SDSU women took third place, while the men took fourth place, respectfully.

Cross country coach Rod DeHaven will keep is hair. He told his girls he would cut his hair if preseason favorite Oral Roberts won the championships. ORU ended up finishing fourth.

The women’s race was a great first for the Jackrabbits. Just one point seperated SDSU (67) from co-champs IPFW (68) and Southern Utah (68). Sadly enough even if SDSU overtook Southern Utah and IPFW and placed first they would not have advanced to the Great Lakes cross country regional championships in Bloomington, Ind. due to the NCAA Division I reclassifaction. Luckily there will be one team that will be able to compete for Division I championship.

The only women’s team (men’s wrestling the other) will be able to compete for an actual league title and an NCAA birth; due to an agreement with the NCAA. Both SDSU and NDSU are eligible for the volleyball Summit League championships and the NCAA championships at Sacramento, Calif., on Dec. 1 and 2. Coming into the second to last week of the season, SDSU is in the middle of a five-team sandwich in the Summit League. All five top teams have identical records at 9-3 in league play. What a fanatic first playoff stretch run for SDSU!

With only four teams advancing (three wins should be enough for SDSU, with four games remaining in the Summit) the final spot is very tightly contested, and no team wants to end its season without going to the championships. If SDSU does advance, Andrew Palileo and team would earn the right to travel to Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (how many points would that be worth in Scrabble?) on Nov. 16-17.

If the Jacks advance past the Summit League semi-finals and net the championships they would move on to the regional. The four sites which will host the regional /locations are: Florida University at Gainesville, Fla., Penn State University at University Park, Pa., Stanford University at Stanford, Calif. and University of Wisconsin at Madison, Wis. (It feels really good for the SDSU family to think of postseason possibilities.) For a long time SDSU has been thirsty for an NCAA championship, ever since the SDSU women won the 2003 Division II championships.

I personally can’t wait for the Summit League volleyball playoffs to take shape. On Oct. 27, instead of having the audio on the Ohio State University/Penn State University, game three of the World Series or the tightly contested University of California/Arizona State University game, I had the audio game on radio 910 and listened to the SDSU volleyball team sweep Oakland University (M.I) and move into first place.

A volleyball team is so much more exciting to watch and follow when every game is important. Last year the Jacks volleyball team traveled to North Dakota State University for the Division I Independent Championships, pretty freaking boring.

Not only is volleyball and cross-country competing in the Summit League championships, swimming will also take part in the post-season championship. Swimming took part in the championships as a Mid-Con associate member in the 2006-2007 season. The men and women swimming Summit League championships will take place on the campus of Oakland University at Rochester, Mich. Feb. 21-23.

Other Summit League championships, which the Jacks will compete for in 2007, will be golf (Apr. 20-22), indoor track (Feb. 29-Mar. 1) and outdoor track (May 15-17,20) all at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill. Men’s and women’s tennis will compete in singles and doubles at IPFW April 25-26.

While the Jacks are forced to travel in order to compete for the Summit League Championships in the 2007-2008 season, this will not always be the case.

Edgebrook Golf Course will host the Summit League cross country championships in 2012. The Jacks are scheduled to host the outdoor track championships, but without an up-to-date track to host the championships, SDSU will more than likely compete at another facility at Brookings High or in Sioux Falls.The Summit League offered the indoor championships to SDSU, but DeHaven would not rent the dome from SD (yes, it is a swear word).

Coming sooner than the outdoor championships will be the men’s and women’s basketball Summit League championships on Mar. 7, 2009 at the Sioux Falls Arena. The tournament will be a great chance to showcase SDSU as a premiere athletic university. Please realize that ESPN will be showing off Sioux Falls and giving props to SDSU.

With a league championship in the coming future, following Jackrabbit sports will be that much more enjoyable.

I will see you at the championships.