BOISE, Idaho -- The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced that effective in August 2009, the ITA membership will be aligned into 12 new Regions for all NCAA Division I men’s and women’s tennis programs. Boise State’s men’s and women’s tennis programs will now both fall under the Mountain Region, with the men remaining in their previous region and the women moving from the Central Region.

For almost 40 years, the Division I membership of the ITA has been divided into eight regions, based previously upon regional alignments created by the NCAA for the purpose of selection into NCAA championship events.

The goal of the realignment is to benefit the student-athlete well being and experience while being sensitive to the economic environment. The three main components considered with the expansion were: 1) Geographic location, 2) Increasing participation and recognition opportunities for student-athletes, and 3) Creating competitive balance with consideration to conference affiliation.

Boise State has been very competitive in their men’s and women’s respective regions up to this point. The Bronco men finished their 2008-09 season as the top-ranked team out of the 15 Mountain Region teams, while Clancy Shields held the No. 1 singles ranking and the James Meredith/Kean Feeder duo held the No. 1 spot in the doubles rankings. Feeder also sat at No. 3 in singles play while Meredith held the No. 4 spot. Cristian Hodel ranked No. 24 out of the 30 players in the singles rankings. Shields and Stanley Sarapanich held the No. 7 spot out of 15 doubles teams in the Mountain Region.

On the women’s side, Boise State held the No. 2 team ranking out of 15 teams in the Central Region. Out of 30 ranked singles players, Pichittra Thongdach finished the season ranked No. 3, Lauren Megale ranked No. 12 and Vivien Silfany ranked No. 18. Thongdach and Megale joined as the No. 4 ranked doubles team in the region while Silfany and Klaudia Wlodarczyk earned the No. 7 spot out of 15 teams.

The Broncos’ newly realigned region (Mountain Region) will consist of men’s and women’s teams from Boise State, BYU, Colorado State, Colorado, Denver, Idaho State, Idaho, Montana State, Montana, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico State, New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Southern Utah, Air Force, Utah State, Utah, Weber State and Wyoming.

The ITA Regional Championships Program is one of the premier ITA programs, and participation in these events is a highlight for thousands of Division I varsity student-athletes. By increasing the number of Regions and further minimizing the area per Region, a larger percentage of institutions will be able to drive to these Regional Championship events, thus helping to reduce travel costs. And at the same time, since a fewer number of schools will comprise each Region, student-athletes from those participating programs will have more opportunities to participate in these prestigious events.

For more information about the ITA Regional Realignment, including a map and full listing of schools highlighting the realignment, visit www.itatennis.com.