CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

SPOKANE (June 15) -- The Great Northwest Athletic Conference Management Council has approved inaugural post-season conference championship tournaments in men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s soccer, GNAC Commissioner Richard Hannan announced today.

The first basketball tournaments will be held this coming season, however the first soccer events will not be held until November 2011 due to conflicts with previously scheduled contests.

The GNAC has been just one of two NCAA Division II conferences (along with the Pacific West Conference) that have not held a basketball post-season tournament to determine their automatic qualifiers for the NCAA tournament.

All games in the two basketball tournaments will be played at host sites. Eight men’s teams and eight women’s teams will compete in the opening round on Saturday, Feb. 26, with the top four regular-season finishers hosting games.

The two highest surviving seeds will host semifinal games on Tuesday, Mar. 1. The top remaining men’s and women’s seed will then host the championship games on Saturday, Mar. 5.

The soccer tournaments will include four men’s and four women’s teams and will be held at a site to be determined. The women’s tournament will determine the GNAC’s automatic berth in the playoffs. Currently no automatic berth to the NCAA playoffs is granted in men’s soccer.

“We’re really excited about adding post-season tournaments in basketball this coming season and in soccer in 2011,” Hannan said. “We’re still a fairly young conference and we see this as another step in the continual growth and development of our conference.

“This is something the athletic directors and our Management Council have examined for years,” Hannan said. “Due to travel challenges because of our geographical setting we have been unable to move forward.

“The Management Council felt it was time to explore this format and the opportunities it presents.”