By Michael Freeman, Assistant Sports Editor
Normally, Wildcat sports fans do not have many chances to watch ACU play in the postseason because games are held out of town. But this weekend, fans will get more than one opportunity to cheer on their favorite team, as ACU will host two Lone Star Conference tournaments.
Starting Friday, the men’s and women’s track and field teams will host the Lone Star Conference tournament at Elmer Gray Stadium, while the Wildcat baseball team will welcome LSC teams to the conference tournament on Saturday at Crutcher Scott Field. The ACU men’s and women’s tennis teams already hosted their LSC tournament last Friday and Saturday at Eager Tennis Pavilion.
ACU director of athletics Jared Mosley said that the university has not hosted three Lone Star Conference tournaments within a week’s time since he has been at ACU.
“I can’t recall a time that this has happened,” Mosley said. “Hosting these three is kind of unique.”
Typically, the tournament site for most fall sports is determined on teams’ conference seedings.
But spring sports’ tournament sites are usually on a rotating basis, which coaches vote on where the championships should be held. Tennis sites, for example, rotate annually between Oklahoma City, Wichita Falls and Abilene.
“I think this is the best site of the three,” said ACU tennis head coach Hutton Jones. “We have a better viewing facility. It’s more fan-friendly.”
When the LSC tournament is hosted in Abilene, fans attending the event can help the university draw in revenue. ACU teams can also benefit from having a home-field advantage. But
because of some recent conference trends, ACU may not be able to benefit from tournaments in the same way in the future.
The Lone Star Conference is pursuing more neutral sites, such as cities, to hold its tournaments. Cities generally have a less difficult time than schools hosting tournaments because cities can more easily pay for staff and officials and offer championship banquets for the visiting teams. The 2008 LSC basketball tournaments were held in Bartlesville, Okla.
“I think the conference is trying to move in that direction,” Mosley said. “They can do a lot of the legwork that sometimes it’s hard for schools to do when you don’t have time to plan for a big championship.”
So far, ACU has planned the upcoming tournaments. The LSC track and field tournament run from Friday through Sunday, while baseball games will be played Saturday through Tuesday.
“I hope that at the end of all the championships that all the coaches and student-athletes that we hosted on our campus felt like it was a quality event,”
Mosley said. “We want it to be professional. We try to make our conference championships when we host them something similar to what teams would experience if they go to a regional. If we come close to that, then I think we’ve done a great job.”
