Sunset Hills, Mo. - The Westminster College athletic programs finished at the top of the 2015-16 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) All-Sports Standings for the first time in program history and were honored with the All-Sports Championship Trophy at the SLIAC Awards Banquet on Tuesday, May 17, in Sunset Hills, Mo. The Blue Jays also took home the SLIAC Sportsmanship Award and the NABC Coaches vs. Cancer award.
Complete Standings
The Westminster Blue Jays generated 95 points to beat out Webster University, the defending champions for the previous 11 years, by .5 points. Out of the 12 sports in which conference teams compete, Westminster's men's soccer and women's basketball teams won the SLIAC title. Baseball and volleyball took second in conference play, and softball split second place points with Eureka. Women's cross country, women's soccer and women's tennis picked up third-place points, while men's cross country and men's tennis placed fourth.
Webster took second in total standings with 94.5 points and two conference titles. Greenville placed third with 93.0 points and one conference title.
Westminster was 2.5 points shy of first place in 2012-13 and placed second in 2011-12 by 28 points.
The SLIAC All-Sports Championship Trophy is determined by awarding points based on each school's finish in the Conference's 12 sports, earning ten points for a first-place finish, nine points for a second-place finish, etc. Teams finishing tied split the points for the tied spot and the spot(s) immediately following (two teams finishing tied for third receive 7.5 points). In 2010 the SLIAC All-Sports Trophy guidelines were changed to be determined by total points, rather than a points average. The change was made to further encourage the NCAA Division III philosophy of broad-based athletics programs.
This is also the first time Westminster has won the SLIAC Sportsmanship award. The Blue Jays took home the Team Sportsmanship awards in Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, and Women's Tennis. The SLIAC Sportsmanship Award was created to recognize the institution whose athletics program as a whole demonstrates the ideals of sportsmanship based on the results of each of the 12 team sportsmanship awards.
