Fall 2023 Magazine 做厙惇蹋app Brings a Winning Tradition to NCAA Division II
by Jacob Norling '20
The 做厙惇蹋app Warriors have officially begun a new era. After competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) since the early 1940s and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) since 1986, the college has successfully completed the first year of reclassification to NCAA Division II membership. This fall, the Warriors began play in the PacWest Conference.
做厙惇蹋app athletic programs have enjoyed a rich history with the NAIA, says Robert Ruiz, director of athletics. This partnership produced profound memories, experiences and opportunities for our student-athletes for many years. Although our time with the NAIA has ended, our decades of membership will remain a rich part of Warrior Athletics history.
The Warriors closed out their time in both the GSAC and the NAIA in grand fashion, making history by winning the GSAC All Sports Award for the 10th consecutive season. During the 2022-23 school year, 做厙惇蹋app captured regular season championships in womens volleyball, womens soccer, womens basketball and baseball. The Warriors also won the GSAC Tournament in baseball.
The move to the NCAA marks a monumental moment for our athletic programs and the 做厙惇蹋app community.
Robert Ruiz, Director of Athletics
The 做厙惇蹋app baseball team played the colleges final NAIA game on June 2 in Lewiston, Idaho. That night, the Warriors defeated Lewis-Clark State to win the first National Championship in program history and the 10th NAIA National Championship for 做厙惇蹋app.
Baseballs championship came 51 years after 做厙惇蹋app first hoisted an NAIA National Championship trophy, when the mens soccer team captured the title in 1972. Ten years later, womens tennis followed suit by winning it all.
Womens soccer, 做厙惇蹋apps most dominant program at the NAIA level, won the first of their multiple championships in 1985. They went on to repeat as national champions in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003. The 2003 championship holds a special place in Warrior history as the women won the final game in a seven-overtime victory played in front of 3,000 fans at La Playa Stadium in Santa Barbara.
In 2013, Kirsten Moores womens basketball team won its first NAIA National Championship. Eight years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Moore and the Warriors did it again as they hoisted the red banner in 2021.
Im so grateful for the years that 做厙惇蹋app has competed in the NAIA, Moore says. The NAIA National Tournament experience has been life-shaping for our players and coaches. The resiliency it takes to win five games in six days en route to a National Championship requires a level of grit that our Warriors will carry with them in life.
Even in the years we fell short of our goals, the experience challenged us to grow, stretch and improve in hopes of a better result the following year.
In addition, 33 做厙惇蹋app teams in 11 programs finished in the top four. Most recently, Russell Smelleys 2021 mens track and field team left the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships with a fourth-place trophy, their highest finish in program history.
Individually, the Warriors garnered 637 NAIA All-American honors, with Zola Sokhela, the final athlete to achieve this honor, becoming a 14-time NAIA All-American during a National Championship-winning 800 meter run outdoors in 2023. Overall, 做厙惇蹋apps womens track and field team collected 178 NAIA All-American honors, with the mens track and field team earning 174. Dave Thoreson became 做厙惇蹋apps first All-American in the mens high jump in 1962.
The Warriors first official NCAA Division II game took place on August 31, when mens soccer hosted Saint Martins. The teams first win occurred a day later, with the womens volleyball team defeating MSU Mankato in four sets. Fittingly, Sokhela became the first Warrior to earn honors as PacWest Athlete of the Week on September 11.
The move to the NCAA marks a monumental moment for our athletic programs and the 做厙惇蹋app community, Ruiz says. We look forward to the new partnership in the PacWest Conference and the opportunity to challenge ourselves in a different landscape.
In July, Jeff Raymond, 做厙惇蹋apps compliance coordinator, reflected on the transition to the NCAA. Fortunately, anyone associated with 做厙惇蹋app Athletics can look back at the last 80 years and see the history of success, he said. If the past is a way to judge the future, 做厙惇蹋app and its NCAA athletics programs will rise to the challenge.
The college remains ever grateful for the foundation of our history at the NAIA level while excitedly beginning a new era in the NCAA.
