Ariy-El Boynton

For three years, SDSU athletics was without a league. Not only did that mean the loss of many great traditions, but there were also growing pains in the D-1 move.

Now with the Summit League to call their home, one great tradition that was missing has now given the Jackrabbits a reason to compete for an overall title.

The Dr. Helen Smiley Women’s All Sports Award Standings, Dr. William Steinbrecher Men’s All Sports Award Standings and the Summit League Commissioner Cup measures men’s and women’s team performances in overall team standings’ rankings.

Currently, SDSU leads the Dr. Helen Smiley Women’s All Sports Award standings by over nine points. The Jacks have 44 points while both Western Illinois and NDSU are tied for second with 34.5 points each.

The men Jacks are tied for seventh place with UMKC in Dr. William Steinbrecher’s overall standings.

The Jackrabbits are currently second in the Commissioner’s Cup Standing, trailing Oakland University Golden Grizzlies 60 to 56 with only a few team results left. SDSU leads Western Illinois and Oral Roberts who have 54.5 points so far.

“The Commissioner’s cup rates the overall performance of all sports in the ten different Summit League institutions,” said SDSU Director of Athletics Fred Oien.

“The purpose of the competition is to unify all the sports and reward those who have the best overall program,” he said.

“It has (Summit League) made a tremendous impact on this program,” said Associate Athletic Director Rob Peterson.

The Summit League can bring championships, postseason dreams and all-league/honorable mention individual awards, and for the Commissioner’s Cup, each team is affected by the other.

That means not only does the baseball and volleyball assistant coaches have offices in the same building in the Stanley J. Marshall HPER Center, but both coaches rely on each and the rest of the program to place well in the Commissioner Cup.

“The Commissioner Cup brings coaches together for a common purpose,” said Oien.

“We have lined up ourselves to be in the upper tier of the Commissioner’s Cup,” he said.

Traditionally, SDSU has competed very well in the North Central Conference in the overall standings.

“We had some great runs where we placed well for several years,” said Oien.

The Women’s NCC ALL-Sports Trophy, which was established in 1983, was first won by SDSU; the Jacks won in ’94, ’95 and ’97 along with second place finishes in ’92, ’93 and ’96.

In 1971, the Men’s NCC ALL-Sports Trophy was established, and SDSU experienced a great amount of success. From 2000 to 2003, SDSU earned first place and has backed that up with a third place in 2004 and 1999. In 2004, SDSU’s last year in the NCC Cup, SDSU finished fifth out of eight schools in the combined men’s and women’s all-sport championship.