Empire 8 Appoints Six New NCAA RAC Members
The Empire 8 Conference announced the appointment of six new members to NCAA Division III Championships Regional Advisory Committees on Thursday.
St. John Fisher second year head coach Dave Dobbins will serve on the men’s lacrosse committee through 2020. Nazareth head coach Tarah Christenson begins a three year term on the field hockey committee this Fall, while Utica associate athletic director Gil Burgmaster begins his appointment on the women’s lacrosse regional committee this Spring. Alfred head coach Tracy Blake will serve on the men’s soccer committee and St. John Fisher head coach Melissa Kuberka will join the women’s basketball committee. Stevens head coach Kristaps Aldins will serve one year on the baseball committee.
The Regional Advisory Committee is comprised of individuals who work full-time at NCAA member institutions. Committee members are appointed by conference officials to represent their conference in each sport that the conference sponsors.
Conferences are grouped regionally and members of the RAC assist in the evaluation of teams, officials, and sites during the championship selection process. While the RAC does not have the authority to select teams or individuals to participate in NCAA championships, the RAC does advise the governing sports national committee in making tournament selections, as well as ranking teams in the region. Each representative is responsible for gathering feedback and reporting on behalf of their conference. RAC members also can serve as NCAA site representatives at preliminary-round competitions as needed.
Committee members serve a consecutive three-year term and cannot be re-appointed until they have been off of the committee for three years.