DENVER – The year 2019 is going to be a championship year at MSU Denver.
 
No doubt about it.
 
Because, barring whatever success Metropolitan State University of Denver athletic programs continue to have, the athletic department is also gearing up to host NCAA Division II national championship tournaments in softball and volleyball during the upcoming calendar year.
 
"It's exciting," said Dr. Anthony Grant, MSU Denver's director of athletics. "It's a good way to promote our athletic department and promote the institution on a national scale. As a department, we did an outstanding job executing the Division II spring sports festival (with national championships in multiple sports taking place at the same time) in 2016, and I believe it really put us on the map. We had an opportunity for NCAA administrators and staffers to come to Denver, to see what the city is like, to come to campus, to get that feel and then showcase our facilities. And as a result of that, there was a lot of interest in us putting in bids to host these national championships."
 
First up for MSU Denver in 2019 will be the softball national championship, from May 23 through May 27 at the Regency Athletic Complex. It's the first of three softball national championships in four seasons at one of the finest outdoor facilities in Division II. MSU Denver will also host softball national championships in 2021 (May 20 through May 24) and in 2022 (May 26-30).
 
And MSU Denver will wrap up 2019 by hosting the volleyball national championship from Dec. 12 through Dec. 14 at the venerable Auraria Event Center.
 
MSU Denver's coaches in each sport – Annie Van Wetzinga in softball and Jenny Glenn in volleyball – are both looking forward to the upcoming events.
 
"The softball championships were here two years ago when we hosted the festival, and it ran really smoothly," Van Wetzinga said. "The NCAA committee was really happy with the location and the facility. It seemed like, for the most part, the participating teams had a good experience. I think one of the biggest factors is that Denver is very centrally located and there's a lot of flights in and out, so a lot more fans can travel."
 
Said Glenn: "I think it's a great opportunity, not only for us, but for Colorado volleyball. The sport of volleyball in Colorado is very popular. We have a very good following with multiple Division I programs that do well, as well as a lot of Division II programs – and the adult circuit in Colorado is great. So to be able to host it in Denver, to showcase our campus and what we have here, as well as the sport of volleyball … hopefully we can create some excitement around Division II volleyball and get the community involved."
 
While the Regency Athletic Complex needs only minor touchups – new padding for the walls – to get ready for the national tournament, the Auraria Event Center has been approved for a university-funded $8 million upgrade for new bleachers and updated locker rooms. Additionally, the athletic department is working to find ways to bring in a new video board.
 
"I've got to definitely express my appreciation to (MSU Denver President) Dr. (Janine) Davidson for understanding the sense of urgency with the renovation, and providing the support and allowing us to move forward with the project in a timely manner so we can put our best foot forward," Dr. Grant said, "obviously for the championships that we will be hosting and the long-term impact of that, but also to enhance the experience for our general student population using those locker-room spaces."
 
While the upgrades to the Auraria Event Center pay obvious immediate dividends to athletics and to the university's image, there are long-term benefits to the general student population as well as meeting legal obligations.
 
Regarding the locker room renovation, the existing locker rooms will be upgraded to include a specific-use area for teams and officials that can be secured without taking general student-use areas of the locker room out of play.
 
"In addition to sharing that facility with the Community College of Denver and, to a lesser extent, with CU Denver, we also share internally with the Department of Human Performance and Sport and Campus Recreation," Grant said. "As it currently stands, the general-use locker room spaces (just outside the gymnasium) cannot be shut down for visiting teams when we are hosting regular-season competitions, and it doesn't lend itself very well for conference, regional and national tournaments because we don't have the designated locker-room space to host visiting teams and officials. During the regular season, we put them in classrooms and a faculty locker room upstairs. That is not really putting our best foot forward.
 
"We have an opportunity, particularly with us hosting the volleyball national championships, to get the locker rooms done so that – by specifications of our bid – we'll be able to comfortably and professionally house our visiting teams and our officials. And then long-term, it helps because we're able to renovate a space that is used by our general student population. It helps the academic side. It helps campus recreation. When you look at it, in terms of sheer duration of use, those areas use it more than we do. But, when we do have competitions, we do need to house visiting teams, and we want to have the designated space to be able to do that and to have that designated space be up to the standard of the premier institution that we feel like we're part of."
 
Meanwhile, the current bleachers have been around for about half of the 42-year-old facility's existence.
 
"They don't meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards," Grant said. "At the very top tier of the bleachers you see the yellow caution tape. There are some sections that lean back a little bit further than anybody would have intended. We have an opportunity with this project to do a complete renovation on those bleachers: for it to be aesthetically pleasing, for it to be operational, and for it to meet code."
 
Grant said capacity may decrease slightly from the 2,500 the arena currently can hold.
 
"But it's not going to be dramatic," he said. "In order to accommodate for the more gradual incline, we're going to need to cut down some rows, which is OK."
 
Next up, Dr. Grant hopes, is a new video board.
 
"I want a new video board," he said. "The video board that we have is out of date. It was donated to us by the Nuggets (in 2014) and we really appreciate that donation. At the time we were – if not the first – one of the first schools in the conference to have a video board. But now, more schools are getting video boards of their own. They're LED, crystal-clear and you can do so many things from a video perspective to enhance the overall experience of the event. We're limited in that capacity, so in my opinion it's about time to get an upgrade.
 
"From the reports that I've heard back from the volleyball national championships, there is a lot of fan engagement and a lot of video that is connected with the overall execution of the tournament. And we need to be able to mirror that at a high level at our institution as we're hosting the championships.
 
"It's a priority of mine to get that video board in place in time for the fall season."
 
The MSU Denver athletic department will be called upon to help execute the championships, with Jerrid Oates, the assistant athletic director for facilities operations, playing a major role. Practice setup and scheduling for competing teams, a championship banquet and working with the NCAA championship committees are also major parts of the program.
 
"My main role will be making sure the facilities are set up and ready to host the championships," Oates said. "Our athletic department and volunteers will manage and run the whole championship."
 
Glenn was among the contingent of MSU Denver officials that traveled to the Division II Fall Sports Festival in Pittsburgh earlier this month to observe how the volleyball national championships were conducted.
 
"From a coaching perspective, it was fun to see all the different teams play and to see what level they are playing at to see what we need to do as a program to compete at that level," Glenn said. "So there was a lot of learning. And we were able to see how the NCAA ran the event – we'll be responsible for certain aspects, but a lot of it is run by the national committee as well as the NCAA. So to be able to present a great facility as well as getting support from the community, those are things we'll be able to contribute most to create a great championship experience for the student-athletes."
 
Eight regional champions qualify for the single-elimination Division II volleyball national championships. Tampa (Fla.) won the Division II national title earlier this month by defeating Western Washington.
 
MSU Denver qualified for the national tournament for the 19^th consecutive year, but the program is still seeking its first-ever trip to Division II's Elite Eight.
 
"I think there's always a little bit of extra motivation any time you are the host institution," Glenn said. "Of course we would love to be playing on our home floor for a national championship in front of our fans – it doesn't get much better than that. What a great opportunity and extra motivation that is for our athletes. There will be a lot of pride in the fact that we are hosting it. And regardless of the outcome, we'll be able to learn a lot about what it takes to win at that level."
 
The softball season is about a month away from starting, and Southern Indiana is preparing to defend its 2018 championship. Like volleyball, eight regional champions advance to the national tournament, but softball plays a double-elimination format to determine its two finalists, and those two teams then play a best-of-3 series.
 
After just missing the NCAA tournament the past two seasons, the Roadrunners are hopeful of making it to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010.
 
"Our region is really tough," Van Wetzinga said. "Our job is to compete against the best teams in our region, and if you do, you're probably putting yourself in position to compete at the national level at the World Series. Then at some point it's about putting it together at the right time and having some luck. If you can compete with the Colorado Mesas, the Angelo States and the West Texas A&Ms, and with Dixie State who is in our region now, then you can be confident to say that you can compete with anyone in the nation."
 
Both coaches are hoping to use the experience and motivation from hosting a national championship to take their programs to an even higher level.
 
"It's something we talk about with recruits, and at different camps," Van Wetzinga said. "You get a positive reaction from it, and people are excited about it and impressed by it. What we tell recruits is that it's cool that we're hosting it and you get to see it, but the bigger goal is that we don't want to be chasing foul balls for all three of the championships watching somebody else compete. It would be a really cool experience to be playing for a national championship on your home field."
 
Said Dr. Grant: "Beyond showcasing what we have and getting our name out on a national level, obviously you would like to have our sports competing for a national championship at home. We want to have that opportunity. But if that's not the case, then having those sports be involved in the planning and preparation and everything that leads up to getting to a national championship, I believe pays long-term dividends by showing what we need to do in order to be able to compete at that level."
 
While MSU Denver currently has no other bids in for other national championships, Dr. Grant said pursuing events such as those coming in 2019 will continue to be a priority.
 
"Yes, 100 percent," he said. "Putting in bids and hosting national and regional championships are good to elevate the profile of the university. It really means a lot, I believe, to our individual programs, to show that we're invested in their respective sports. Because the goal, ultimately, is for our sports to be competing for national championships. And if we're able to host those national championships, and have our teams be a part of it and competing in it, then that's a win-win. On the flip side, if we're not competing in those national championships, it really provides us with an educational opportunity to figure out which strategies we need to put in place in order to compete in the national championships. Facilities permitting and schedules permitting, we're going to continue to put ourselves in a position to host these national championships and tournaments."