Oct. 28, 2003

Bucknell University will serve as the host site for the 2005 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship, the NCAA announced today. The championship tournament will be held in Bucknell's Arthur D. Kinney Jr. Natatorium, a state-of-the-art 54-meter aquatic facility housed in the Kenneth G. Langone Athletics and Recreation Center.

With their selection to host the championship event, the Bison men's water polo squad becomes the first program in Bucknell history to host an NCAA championship game.

"It is truly an honor for Bucknell University to be selected by the NCAA to host the 2005 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship," said John Hardt, director of athletics and recreation at Bucknell. "What better way to showcase Bucknell's exciting new aquatics center than by hosting this prestigious national championship. Our institution looks forward to working with the NCAA Men's Water Polo Committee and our supporters to host a first-class event here in the Susquehanna Valley."

"Hosting the NCAA championship represents a tremendous opportunity for both Bucknell and East Coast water polo," commented Bucknell head coach John Zeigler. "Particularly for Bucknell, this is representative of just how significant a top facility, such as Kinney Natatorium, can be for a program and the university."

Bucknell will become just the fifth non-California school in the 36-year history of the championship to host the tournament, and it is the first time the championship event will take place in Pennsylvania. Other non-California host sites or schools have been New Mexico (1972), Brown (1977), Indianapolis (1989) and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (1997).

Since the beginning of the championship in 1969 through the 2002 season, no team from outside the state of California has ever reached the championship final.

"Bucknell hosting the championship is highly significant for East Coast water polo," said Zeigler. "The eastern programs have gradually improved to a high level of competitiveness with the West Coast programs, and having the tournament rotate to the East Coast seems fitting for promotion and continued development of the sport as a whole."

In the 26-year history of Bucknell varsity men's water polo, the Orange and Blue have sent five teams to the NCAA tournament, highlighted by a four-year stretch in the program's first four years at the varsity level (1977-80). During that span, the Bison turned in two seventh-place finishes (1977, 1980), a sixth in 1978, and a program-best fifth-place finish in 1979. BU also received an invitation to the national championship in 1985, achieving a seventh-place performance.

At the 37th annual National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship in 2005, a four-team, single-elimination tournament will be played, with a losers' bracket to determine third place.

Stanford University will serve as the host of the championship event in 2003 and 2004.