WICHITA, Kan. (2024-25 Commissioner's Cup Standings) - Kansas Wesleyan University has won the KCAC Commissioner's Cup for the 2024-25 academic year, the conference office announced Monday.
This marks the fifth time the Coyotes have taken home the KCAC Commissioner's Cup in the award's history (dating back to the 2012-13 academic year), and the fifth time in the past six years that Kansas Wesleyan has earned this honor. This year's Commissioner Cup win is also the third straight win for KWU, something that no other institution has done in the history of the award.
"KWU Athletics is honored to once again earn the Commissioner's Cup," Miguel Paredes, Athletic Director at Kansas Wesleyan University, remarked. "This win belongs to everyone in the Coyote family, the Salina community, our alumni, faculty, staff and our university leadership. This goes to show our commitment to excellence in everything we do, from top to bottom. Our student-athletes, the coaches and our staff are top-notch and have dedicated countless hours to making us the best we can be. To be the first institution to win the Cup for a third straight year reinforces our commitment to being to the best in everything we do."
The Coyotes led the conference with 185.5 total points, with 66 accumulated in the fall season, 44 picked up in the winter, and 75.5 accumulated in the spring. Friends University was not far behind in the standings, finishing second with 180 points. The third and fourth place institutions were only separated by half a point, with Evangel University finishing third with 162.5 points and the University of Saint Mary taking home fourth place with 162 points. Rounding out the top five was Ottawa University with 156 total points.
"Congratulations to Kansas Wesleyan for winning the KCAC Commissioner's Cup for the third consecutive year," Ted Breidenthal, KCAC commissioner, stated. "Expectations for excellence on and off the field have never been higher at Kansas Wesleyan. These results are proof that the challenge was met by an extraordinary group of student-athletes, coaches and administration."
Kansas Wesleyan found success in a variety of sports throughout the fall, winter, and spring seasons.
- Fall: The Coyotes led the Commisioner's Cup standings following the fall season after several KWU teams experienced success in that season, securing at least eight points in all six fall sports that factor into the Commissioner's Cup standings. Kansas Wesleyan finished in second place at both the Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, then had the following finishes in the final regular season standings:
- Men's Soccer: 2nd
- Women's Soccer: 2nd
- Football: 5th-best overall record
- Volleyball: 7th
- Winter: The Coyotes had a solid winter, but were in a tie for second in the standings alongside Friends University, with both the Coyotes and the Falcons trailing Saint Mary by 2.5 points. Highlights from the winter for the Coyotes include:
- Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship Title
- Women's Basketball Regular Season Title
- 5th Place Finish at the Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship
- Spring: A strong spring sports season was enough for the Coyotes to overtake the Spires and Falcons, and earn another KCAC Commissioner's Cup. Highlights from the spring include:
- Winning the KCAC Women's Golf Championships for the second year in a row (4th Women's Golf TItle in the Past Five Years)
- Tie for 1st in the Baseball regular season standings
- Finishing 3rd at the KCAC Men's Golf Championship
- 2nd Place Finish for the Coyote Men's Track & Field team at the KCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships
- 5th Place Finish for the Coyote Women's Track & Field team at the KCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships
About the Commissioner's Cup
In an effort to further recognize the achievements of its student-athletes and member institutions, the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference developed an award for the institution that performs the greatest over the fall, winter, and spring athletic seasons. The KCAC Commissioner's Cup will be awarded annually as a symbol of excellence in athletics representing 20 championships. Member institutions can earn points for their finish of each varsity team in those 20 officially recognized conference sports.
Points are assigned based on regular-season finish for men's and women's soccer, volleyball, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, and men's and women's tennis. In football, points are assigned based on overall conference record in the regular season. In competitive cheer, competitive dance, cross country, indoor track & field, men's and women's golf, and outdoor track & field, the conference championship meet results will determine point values. To be a conference sport there must be six member institutions competing in that sport at the varsity level.
Teams who finish in first place will be awarded a maximum number of points equivalent to the total number of teams competing in that respective sport. Point tallies will continue in reverse order until the last place team has been awarded its corresponding point value (i.e. if a sport only has seven teams, point values will be given from the maximum 7 to 1). When two or more teams tie for final placing in the conference standings, each team will be awarded the average of the respective placing. For example, if three teams tied for second place in a sport with 11 teams, those three teams will be given the score of nine points because those three teams are occupying the second (10 points), third (9 points) and fourth (8 points) positions in the standings. The sum of those three positions (27 points) divided by the three teams yields an average score of nine points for each of the teams.
Previous Winners:
2012-13: Tabor College
2013-14: Ottawa University
2014-15: Friends University
2015-16: Friends University
2016-17: Tabor College
2017-18: Friends University
2018-19: Friends University
2019-20: Kansas Wesleyan University
2020-21: Kansas Wesleyan University
2021-22: Friends University
2022-23: Kansas Wesleyan University