Lawrence has been selected to host the 2017 USA Track & Field Junior Olympic Championships.

The city was one of two finalists for the bid and was officially selected as the host Saturday. At its convention in Houston, USA Track & Field youth chairs selected Lawrence over Des Moines, Iowa.

“This is a great opportunity for Lawrence to be seen on a national scale on sports and recreation,” said Megan Gilliland, communications manager for the city.

The city’s visitors bureau, eXplore Lawrence, prepared the bid in conjunction with its nonprofit subsidiary, Lawrence Sports Corporation, and the Missouri Valley USA Track and Field Association, according to a news release. Bob Sanner, of eXplore Lawrence, and representatives from Kansas University Athletics gave the presentation at Saturday’s convention.

“The team at the convention and visitor’s bureau has worked hard for many months just to prepare the bid and the presentation for this event,” Gilliland said. “But it’s been years of building relationships and building our credibility to be able to host an event like this.”

The championship, which will be held in Lawrence from July 23 through 30, 2017, will welcome the nation’s top track and field athletes between the ages of 7 and 18. The event will be held at Rock Chalk Park in northwest Lawrence.

“When the idea of Rock Chalk Park was born, with the help of so many, this is exactly what Kansas Athletics and Bliss Sports had in mind,” said KU Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger. “This event will have a significant economic impact on the city of Lawrence, and there will be more events to come.”

About 9,500 athletes and 33,000 family members, coaches and spectators are expected to visit Lawrence for the championships. Toni Dixon, manager of marketing and communications for eXplore Lawrence, said Lawrence currently has about 1,300 hotel rooms, and because of renovations already in the works there will be about 1,400 by 2017. Representatives with eXplore Lawrence are working with visitor’s bureaus from surrounding cities to coordinate lodging, she said.

“We are working with convention and visitor’s bureaus in Topeka, Overland Park, Olathe and Kansas City to set up hotel rooms for these people to stay in because Lawrence doesn’t have enough hotel rooms for that big of a crowd,” she said.

Dixon said regardless of where athletes and their families stay, many visitors will impact businesses in Lawrence. The event has generated between $17 million and $22 million for previous hosts, and that potential would be spread across the region of northeast Kansas in addition to Lawrence, she said.

“The exciting part is the athletes and their families will be here for potentially as much as a week, so it’s going to impact Lawrence and the surrounding area through hotel rooms, restaurants, buying gas, shopping and entertainment,” she said.

In mid-October, eXplore Lawrence submitted the bid to host the annual seven-day championships. Sanner said they have been highlighting the attractions of Lawrence and the surrounding area in preparation for the bid to bring the championships to Lawrence.

“It came down to a vote between our city and Des Moines,” he said. “I think we showed them we had a whole lot to offer.”