But in nineteen seventy-two, Congress passed the federal law known as Title Nine. It bars discrimination based on sex at educational institutions that receive federal money. Title Nine changed college sports forever. Joni Comstock is a top official for championships with the NCAA.

JONI COMSTOCK: “Women’s programs began to ramp up and get more support and resources and attention post nineteen seventy-two. And by nineteen eighty-one men’s and women’s programs were joined together under the umbrella of the NCAA.”

STEVE EMBER: More than four hundred thousand students take part in sports organized by the NCAA. Women and men still do not take part in athletics in equal numbers. But Joni Comstock says NCAA women’s participation has grown a lot.

JONI COMSTOCK: “In nineteen eighty-one, we had approximately sixty-four thousand women who are participating in NCAA intercollegiate athletics across this country. And today we have approximately a hundred and seventy-seven thousand female participants in our NCAA institutions.”

College teams may have both men and women in three sports: skiing, rifle shooting and fencing. Only in rifle do women compete directly against men. This year’s champion was Texas Christian University. In rifle, women competitors are so strong that TCU became the first all-female team to win the NCAA championship.

As senior vice-president for championships, Joni Comstock knows how hard it is to coordinate big sports events. She says the NCAA spends about seventy million dollars a year to organize championships. Fifty-seven thousand student-athletes take part. Joni Comstock says championships are held in rounds at different places around the country.