The Vikings have placed in the top 2 in the GNAC All-Sports standings all 17 years of the conference. PHOTO: WWU Athletics
WWU Athletics Places 2nd in GNAC All-Sports Standings
May 22, 2018
PORTLAND, Ore. – For the second consecutive season Western Washington University has placed 2nd overall in the 2017-18 Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Sports Championship standings, announced Tuesday by the conference office.
Western’s 15 intercollegiate varsity programs placed 2nd behind Alaska Anchorage for the second consecutive year, after WWU won eight straight championships from 2008-09 to 2015-16. In the 17 years of the GNAC, WWU has won 12 of the 17 All-Sports Trophy titles and placed in the top 2 every year.
In addition to finishing second overall in 2017-18, the WWU men were 2nd behind Western Oregon and the WWU women were 4th in respective GNAC Men’s All-Sports Championship and GNAC Women’s All-Sports Championship standings.
WWU’s men’s teams were led by a balanced effort from the six programs, with men’s basketball, men’s golf and outdoor track & field all finishing 2nd in the GNAC standings. Western Oregon won the GNAC Men’s All-Sports Trophy.
The women were led by the volleyball program winning the conference title, and women’s soccer finishing 2nd in the league standings. Alaska Anchorage repeated as the GNAC Women’s All-Sports Trophy winner.
Overall 9 of WWU’s 15 programs had representation in the NCAA Championships, led by NCAA Division II West Regional championship game appearances by women’s soccer and volleyball. The women’s rowing program is competing in its 17th NCAA Championships in the last 18 seasons, but is not counted in the GNAC standings since it is not a conference-sponsored sport.
For the second time, the GNAC all-sports championship was determined using the Dormeyer System, which gives each school an average score based on its finish in each conference sport and the number of GNAC sports sponsored by each school. The averages are based on regular season finishes in football, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball and conference meet finishes in men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor track & field, men’s and women’s outdoor track & field and men’s and women’s golf. The system treats each conference title equally, with 10 points awarded to first place with values dropping incrementally based on the number of schools sponsoring that sport.
In previous years, the all-sports championship was based on points awarded in two-point increments based on a team’s regular season or conference meet finish.
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