In the short time since becoming an NCAA Division I university, Utah Valley has had its share of ups and downs. There have been conference championships while competing in the Great West Conference and as an Independent in basketball.
The men’s cross country team has won three straight Western Athletic Conference championships. UVU softball won the WAC conference tournament in 2014 and received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The UVU men’s basketball team went 13-3 in their first year in the WAC in 2013-14 to win the regular-season title. The men’s and women’s track and field teams won the 2015 WAC championships with the men’s team pulling off the triple crown by winning the cross country, indoor and outdoor titles.
That momentum has carried over into a new school year thus far. The men’s and women’s cross country teams won their respective WAC championships with Jason Lynch and Sam Heaton bringing home the individual titles as well. The women’s soccer team won their first WAC championship and played in their first ever NCAA tournament.
The men’s soccer team, in just their second year of competition, was three minutes away from winning the WAC tournament title and receiving the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Instead, they were rewarded for their quality of play by receiving an at-large bid to the tournament, where they take on No. 7 SMU on Thursday evening in Dallas.
UVU’s volleyball team finished in a tie for second in the WAC standings and enter the WAC volleyball tournament as the No. 3 seed, where they take on UTRGV in a quarterfinal match on Thursday. The Wolverines moved up in the standings from one year ago where they finished fifth and lost in the quarterfinal round in five sets to Seattle University.
Head coach Greg Williams and the UVU wrestling team travel to Corvallis, Ore. to take on 18th-ranked Oregon State and 15th-ranked Rutgers in a dual meet on Saturday. Chasen Tolbert, Derek Thomas, Jade Rauser and company will look to pull off the upsets as they hope to make noise in their first year in the Big 12 Conference.
Many people may not know what is going on with UVU athletics and due to not having a football team, other media outlets might not give the Wolverines as much coverage as they deserve. One thing is for sure: UVU has stepped up their game so far in 2015 and after mixed results in the biggest weekend in UVU sports to date this past weekend, the Wolverines are looking to have another big weekend and show the world that they have arrived and are here to stay.
