Pittsburg State readies for historic weekend

It would be hard to blame Pittsburg State women’s basketball coach Lane Lord for feeling unhappy about having to share the spotlight as his school plays host to the NCAA Division II Central Regional this weekend.

Fortunately, it’s quite the opposite. Turns out, Lord is a track and field fan.

Which is convenient, as Pittsburg State is also hosting the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend.

“I know when we’re not playing, I’m going to make my way over there and watch one of the great events in the country,” Lord said. “I know I’ll be doing that, at least, and I don’t think it’ll take away from basketball at all. I’m excited for so many people to come to Pittsburg and see what this city has to offer.”

For a sports fan, that will be quite a bit over the next few days, with eight women’s basketball teams in town and an estimated 540 track and field athletes competing in the $14 million Robert W. Plaster Center which opened last spring and seats 1,500.

“You see it happen in the fall where somebody might host a playoff football game and a volleyball regional,” Pittsburg State athletic director Jim Johnson said. “But I think this is something unique.”

Pittsburg State got test runs for dealing with the scope of the track and field meet, hosting several meets this winter and using them as a way to gauge preparedness for this weekend’s chaos.

This weekend will also serve as a test run for future national meets — Pittsburg State is the site of the NCAA Division II indoor championships again in 2018 and will host the NJCAA indoor championships in 2017 and 2019.

“I have a lot of good people putting in a lot of hours right now,” said Johnson, who was formerly the MIAA commissioner. “And we’re fortunate because (Pittsburg State track and field coach) Russ Jewett has been to hundreds of these championships, and I’ve been on the NCAA Division II football and basketball committees in the past. So we have a lot of experience.”

There aren’t enough hotel rooms in Pittsburg to handle everyone, but per NCAA guidelines, Pittsburg State only had to make sure the basketball teams had rooms, and those rooms could be within 30 miles of the site. So that means towns like Fort Scott, Joplin, Mo., and Carthage, Mo., all get to benefit from the windfall – Crawford County Convention and Visitor's Bureau Director B.J. Harris told the Associated Press he expects an economic impact of up to $2.5 million in the region thanks to visitors and their spending.

“We used every resource we could,” Johnson said. “We were afraid we weren’t be able to find rooms, even for basketball, and have to forfeit the opportunity. But we made it work.”

Hosting the women’s basketball regional was the result of a scheduling quirk. Top-seeded Emporia State had to forfeit the right to host because the Class 4A-Division II high school tournaments were being held at their home arena this week, so the bid went to No. 2 seed Pittsburg State, which opens play Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 7 Sioux Falls.

Emporia State plays No. 8 Northern State on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and No. 5 Fort Hays State plays No. 4 Winona State at 1 p..m.

“One thing about us is we’ve always been really good at working together, with our administration and our president leading the way,” Lord said. “We pride ourselves on that as an institution. It’s the Gorilla Way … we make it work to the best of our abilities. I know it’ll be crazy around here, but I’m 110 percent sure we’re going to put out a great product.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Pittsburg State readies for historic weekend."