**Release courtesy of UW-La Crosse Sports Information

Official NCAA Release

LA CROSSE, Wis.--The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced today that the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has been awarded bids to host the 2024 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships and 2026 NCAA Division III Women's and Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championships. 

The wrestling championships, to be held at the La Crosse Center in downtown La Crosse, will occur on March 8-9, 2024. It will mark the fifth time UW-La Crosse has hosted the NCAA III Wrestling Championships (2011, 2012, 2017, 2021, 2024). The 2021 national championships are set for March 12-13 at the La Crosse Center. 

UW-La Crosse placed third at the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships, fourth in 2012 and tied for 11th in 2017 at the La Crosse Center. 

The outdoor track & field championships, meanwhile, will take place at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex on the UW-La Crosse campus on May 21-23, 2026. It will also mark the fifth time (1986, 1997, 2013, 2018, 2026) that UW-La Crosse has hosted the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The three-day meet is the largest single site for number of competitors in any of the championships hosted by the NCAA Division III.

At the 1986 and 1997 NCAA III Championships in La Crosse, the Eagles' women's track & field team finished second. UW-La Crosse was fifth in 2013 and tied for 59th in 2018. On the men's side, the Eagles tied for second at the 1986 national meet and captured the championship title in 1997 and 2013. UW-La Crosse tied for 27th in 2018 at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. 

For only the third time in its history, the NCAA undertook a site selection process where most of its championships were put out for bid at the same time.

The result: The Association made more than 450 selections of host sites for preliminary rounds and final sites of predetermined championships in Divisions I, II and III, with most to be held from 2022-23 through 2025-26.  

The NCAA received more than 3,000 bid submissions from NCAA member schools, conferences, sports commissions and cities vying to host predetermined rounds for 86 of the NCAA's 90 championships. The sites were selected by the respective NCAA sports committees and approved by the divisional competition oversight and championships committees.

The university has hosted several other national competitions, including the 1995 NCAA III Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships.

UW-La Crosse has also served as the host of the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Division III Championships on four different occasions (1989, 1997, 2005, 2015). The university hosted the 1973, 1976 and 1981 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Men's Gymnastics Championships and the 1965 and 1970 NAIA Men's Swimming Championships. 

UW-La Crosse has also hosted numerous games in the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs (1991-93, 1995-96, 1999, 2003-04, 2006), the NCAA Division III Baseball (2015-16) and Softball (2017) Regionals and matches for the NCAA Division III Volleyball (1982-86, 2003-04) and Soccer (2017-18) Tournaments.