THE RETURN!: GNAC Announces 2021-22 Championship Slate
The GNAC has unveiled its dates for all 22 championship sports during the upcoming 2021-22 academic year.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"ALL 22 IN '21-22"
WINTHROP, Mass. – After successfully crowning champions this past spring in baseball, men's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, and softball, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is excited to unveil its complete championship schedule across its 22 sports for the upcoming 2021-22 academic year.
This fall will mark the first for newest incoming core member Elms College, and it will also mark the inaugural GNAC seasons for many Dean College programs following the COVID-19 pandemic, as the Bulldogs joined the GNAC in 2020-21.
FALL 2021
The first 2021 event will be the men's golf championship beginning on Columbus Day, hosted by defending GNAC champion Albertus Magnus College at New Haven Country Club and featuring the GNAC's five sponsoring programs. The Falcons captured their first-ever GNAC Men's Golf team title this past April, and will get set to host the two-day, 36-hole tournament on Monday-Tuesday, October 11-12.
The GNAC will host its Women's Tennis final at the Winchester Indoor Tennis Club on October 23, with the NCAA automatic qualifying team going on to compete in the 2022 Division III Tournament next spring.
Saturday, October 30 will be a jam-packed afternoon across the GNAC, as the Cross Country Championships will take place at Franklin Park in Boston, with the women's 6K commencing at 2:30 PM, followed by the men's 8K course at 3:15 PM.
Quarterfinal action will also take place Oct. 30 for the GNAC field hockey, men's soccer, women's soccer and women's volleyball tournaments. The tournament final for all four fall sports will take place at the highest remaining seed on Saturday, November 6.
WINTER 2021-22
As the calendar shifts to winter and the basketball season takes hold, the GNAC will also sponsor its Swimming & Diving Championships at the Wellesley Sports Center in Wellesley, Mass., this time taking place the weekend prior to Super Bowl Weekend.
After the 3M diving events occur on Friday evening, February 4 at a site to be determined, the GNAC's swimming & diving student-athletes will compete at Wellesley Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 5-6. The GNAC held the event at Wellesley for the first time in 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 shutdown.
The following weekend will mark the second-ever GNAC Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center on Sunday, February 13. Although last year's event was unable to take place, the inaugural event back in 2020 was a successful and exciting event just prior to the pandemic.
Two weeks later will mark the always exciting GNAC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments, with playoff action beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 22, followed by the semis on Thursday, Feb. 24, and the finals on Saturday, Feb. 26. The University of Saint Joseph (CT) men and Emmanuel College women last captured GNAC hoop championships back in 2020 before COVID-19 forced cancellations midway through the 2020 NCAA D3 Tournaments.
SPRING 2022
The GNAC's busy spring kicks off with the GNAC Men's Volleyball Championship on Saturday, April 9, with six teams qualifying for the tournament and perennial GNAC powers Rivier University and associate member Wentworth Institute of Technology looking to return to championship glory. Wentworth earned an NCAA Division III Tournament at-large berth this past spring.
The GNAC began its sponsorship of men's and women's outdoor track & field back four years ago, as Colby-Sawyer College will get set to host its first-ever and the third overall GNAC Outdoor Championship on Sunday, April 22 in New London, N.H.
The year will culminate on the May 7-8 weekend, with the men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, and men's tennis championship contests scheduled for Saturday, May 7.
The GNAC Baseball and Softball Postseasons are set to finish on Sunday, May 8, with the top seed hosting the baseball four-team double-elimination portion of the tourney, and the No. 1 North Division seed hosting the softball six-team double-elimination part of the bracket.
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
– #TheGNAC –