The wait to inch closer to Title IX compliance and add lacrosse as Ohio's third sport may finally come to a close.

Two steps need to be completed before lacrosse is crowned as a varsity sport, and the first will take place Oct. 2.

Athletics Director Thomas Boeh, along with a member from last April's recommendation committee and possibly senior associates athletics director Peggy Pruitt, will meet with the Athletics Advisory Board in the War Room of The Convo to present lacrosse as the department's choice and look for approval.

The board, which is primarily of faculty and administrators and is chaired by Raymie McKerrow, is an ad hoc committee that advises significant decisions made by the athletic department. But being ad hoc, they do not have the authority to override the final decision.

Boeh said the meeting is designed as a chance for the board to hear the reasons why lacrosse has been chosen and to throw up potential "red flags" that may have been missed. Boeh said a presentation will probably be given by a member of the recommendation committee, and Pruitt, who is on sick leave, may join the meeting via a conference.

Boeh is confident that it will go smoothly.

"The committee recommended lacrosse, and I don't think it will be slowed down," he said.

The final step in the six-month process will be presidential approval by Robert Glidden, which Boeh said the athletics department will seek "immediately" after the board gives its approval.

If lacrosse is approved, it would begin competing next fall.

The process to name a third sport began in April with the recommendation committee, which debated lacrosse and crew as the next varsity sport. Based on facilities, recruiting and cost, the committee chose lacrosse.

Boeh and Pruitt, who weighed the committee's decision, were to officially meet with the board earlier this fall, but were delayed because Pruitt has been out on sick leave since Aug. 25.

"I know part of the reason for the delay is because I'm not there," Pruitt said.

Boeh concurred and said that he decided he had to move on so he could reach a January deadline to hire a new coach.

Lacrosse would be the third sport added since Ohio's interdepartmental study from December 1993 to July 1994 that showed Ohio far from Title IX compliance. Women's golf began competing in the fall of 1996, and women's soccer began competition this fall.