April 20-23 were days full of excitement for Loras sports management majors. A group of nine Loras students along with faculty attended the College Sports Research Institute’s annual conference at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Four students, senior Dolly Duffy, junior Jacob Hanselman, senior Andrew McGinnis and sophomore Tim Kelly were selected to represent Loras.

This group of students delivered a 10-minute presentation in front of a panel of three judges involving a case study about the University of New Orleans and its current decision of whether to allow the school to stay NCAA Division I or move to Division III.

Nine students tried out for this opportunity. As part of the application process, students were required to individually write a 1,000-word essay as well as present a sample case study in groups of three – something similar to what would be presented at the conference, according to Dr. Matt Garrett, chair of the Division of Physical Education and Sports Studies and coordinator of the sports management program.

“It wasn’t about picking the best four individuals; it was about selecting the best team of four,” said Garrett.

Thirteen undergraduate colleges competed. After each school presented the first case study, the judges made their decision of which three schools would advance to the next round.

Loras, along with Ithaca College in New York and St. Leo University in Florida, were the three schools chosen to advance to the second round.

When Duffy, Hanselman, McGinnis and Kelly were notified of their accomplishment, they had less than 24 hours to prepare for their 15-minute case study to be presented before the panel of judges.

 On April 23, the last day of their trip, the team was told they had won and would be bringing home a national championship.

Hanselman is grateful for the wonderful opportunity he was given.

“I’d like to thank Student Senate for the funding they were able to provide us. It really helped offset the costs of the trip and made it viable for us to take nine students to experience the conference. My advice for other students is to try to do all you can to get yourself out there while at Loras. Take advantage of trips or conferences that are part of your major because they can really open up opportunities for yourself,” stated Hanselman.

The Conference is something Loras will definitely be pursuing in future years, according to Garrett.

“Winning the CSRI championship against high-caliber competition only affirms the notion that our sport management major is becoming well-respected by peers as one of the premier programs in the country,” proclaimed Garrett.

“It was a great educational experience that benefited the program and school as a whole, where I learned a lot from the panels and symposiums as well as the case study. The trip initiated contact with many professionals in our field and provided great networking opportunities,” said Kelly.