California Baptist University athletics earned a few impressive awards this summer. After the academic year came to a close, the accomplishments of the 2011- 2012 Lancers were recognized, as they claimed the 2012 Pacific West Conference Commissioner’s Cup.
This is the first time in four years the Commissioner’s Cup has not stayed with a program from Hawaii. There are 14 different colleges in the PacWest, with Azusa Pacific and Holy Names universities entering the conference this year.
How the PacWest Commis- sioner’s Cup scoring works is relatively basic: each school gains 10 points for every championship they win out of the 11 different sponsored sports. When it came time to tally up the points, CBU came away with 89.5 total points out of 110, and Grand Canyon University with 91 points. CBU won the cup because its average points awarded per sport was higher than GCU.
“We have hard-working and talented coaches who get to work with a tremendous group of student athletes. Our coaches’ ability to recruit, develop and mesh talent is the reason we are able to honor Christ through excellence in athletics,” said Micah Parker, CBU athletic director.
In addition to nabbing the PacWest Commissioner’s Cup, the Lancers brought home the National Christian College Athletic Association Presidential Award. Similar to the Commissioner’s Cup, the NCCAA Presidential Award is decided by which college earns the most points through a national championship competition.
“Last year, we received national recognition from Sports Spectrum, a national print and on-line Christian sports publication that ranked CBU as the best Christian athletic department in the country for 2011 – that was a great achievement, especially when seeing who we beat out to win that. The NCCAA Presidential Award was also a nice recognition of being a school that is successful in athletics with a Christian focus,” Parker said.
Having such talented athletes, as well as focused coaching staffs, cannot be overlooked as main contributions to the Lancers’ success. Four new head coaches will look to add to CBU’s success this academic year.
“Most people don’t realize the amount of time it takes to prepare for each opponent,” Parker said. “All our coaches have great knowledge and passion for their sport. The championship teams are those that find a way to work together and continue to improve as the season progresses. Our coaches have a strong desire to put their teams in position to win.”
Toaddtothelistofachievements, Dr. Ronald L. Ellis received the Chuck Cane Leadership Award during the Riverside Sports Hall of Fame Introductory in May. The leadership award given to Ellis recognized his participation in the area of athletics.
For the 17 years Ellis has been president of CBU, the growth of athletics has been consistent. Ellis has been the impetus for the re-vamp and creation of athletic facilities on campus, as well as the addition of 12 sports throughout his tenure.
Athletes and coaches alike work long and hard to accomplish what CBU athletics has earned in just the past few years. This is just the beginning, as this is the Lancers’ last year in the provisional stage in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The schedules and upcoming tournaments for all sports are available at www.cbulancers.com.
