SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University will be hosting the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships for the third time next year.

Only this time, that event will have some company.

As the result of a joint bid between SRU, and SportsPITTSBURGH, The Rock has been chosen as the host institution for the 2018 Division II Fall Festival, 2019 Division II national men’s and women’s soccer championships, and the 2018 and 2020 Atlantic Regional cross country championships.

“We were approached by the organization SportsPITTSBURGH, which was looking for a local Division II institution to join them in this bid,” SRU athletic director Paul Lueken said. “We were all in.”

Cooper’s Lake will serve as the venue for the cross country championships. SRU last hosted that national event there in 2008.

The Division II Fall Festival also includes the national championship tournaments in field hockey, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer.

While those other events will be held at Pittsburgh venues — Rooney Field for field hockey, the Palumbo Center for volleyball, Highmark Stadium for soccer — SRU will be coordinating most of them. Clarion University will coordinate the volleyball.

“This will take a collaborative effort on the part of everyone at the university,” Lueken said. “Our sports management majors will receive hands-on experience working some of these events.

“It’s going to be fun, but there is a lot of work involved. This is an opportunity to showcase our university and all of Western Pennsylvania. People will see what we have to offer.”

SRU Director of Athletic Communication Jon Holtz said “it’s going to be challenging” to shoulder the responsibility of so many national events so close together.

The soccer, volleyball, field hockey and cross country championships will all take place between Nov. 25 and Dec. 1 of 2018.

“We’ll be contacting some (sports information directors) from other schools in Western Pa. to hopefully step up and volunteer,” Holtz said. “In terms of press conferences, statistical information, etc., our department will have to coordinate all of that stuff.

“Over the next six months, a number of meetings will be taking place.”

Luken said the joint venture with SportsPITTSBURGH has been going on since last fall.

“All of these championships are funded entirely by the NCAA,” he pointed out. “There is no negative impact on our budget at all.

“These events also provide a nice target for our own teams. It’d be great to see Slippery Rock competing in nationals locally.”

Holtz welcomes the opportunity for the region to showcase national Division II competition.

“These championships will be every bit as exciting as Division I national events,” he said. “People are going to see that.”