2011-12 Year in Review

6/26/2012 12:00:00 AM

The 2011-12 Season in Photos

THE SUMMIT LEAGUE

Celebrated its 30th Anniversary season, which included naming a list of Top 30 Distinguished Contributors.
Won four NCAA Championships, nearly doubling its total entering 2011-12.
Two student-athletes won individual NCAA statistical championships.
IUPUI’s Chen Ni and Southern Utah’s Cameron Levins became the league’s second and third two-time NCAA champions.
Set record for basketball tournament attendance (40,290).
All 14 men’s and women’s basketball tournament games aired live on national cable television (Fox College Sports/ESPNU/ESPN2).
Launched new and improved website through PrestoSports.
Produced 10 Academic All-Americans and 23 Academic All-District selections.
An all-time high 15 teams received Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA.
Twelve teams posted perfect APR scores.
The Summit League’s 10 members combined to raise over 73,290 lbs. in the “Food Fight” initiative, a 46 percent increase over last year’s total. Southern Utah claimed 2011-12 title with 23,200 lbs., more than doubling last year’s winning amount.

BASEBALL

Oral Roberts won its 15th consecutive Summit League Championship, the second-longest streak in NCAA baseball history.
Completed the most competitive championship tournament in history with seven games decided by a combined 10 runs, including five one-run decisions and two extra-inning contests.
ORU was the only team to upset a national seed in the first round of NCAA Regionals. The win over No. 4 Baylor marked the highest-ranked team defeated by the Golden Eagles in program history.
Defeated four nationally-ranked teams during the season (Oral Roberts def. No. 4 Baylor and No. 12 Cal State Fullerton; North Dakota State def. No. 5 Arizona; Western Illinois def. No. 8 Georgia).
Featured two first team Academic All-Americans (NDSU’s Tim Colwell and Zach Wentz) and a pair of Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award candidates.
Oral Roberts’ Jose Trevino and Southern Utah’s Kevin Kline were named Freshman All-Americans.
Five Summit League players were selected in June’s MLB Amateur Draft.

BASKETBALL – MEN’S

All-time best final RPI ranking (No. 16), peaking as high as No. 11 mid-season.
Recorded the highest home attendance in league history (350,653).
Sent most teams (five) to postseason play in league history.
Saw its first team win three games in a national postseason tournament (Oakland in the CIT).
One of only two leagues with multiple participating teams to post perfect records in nationally-televised BracketBuster games.
Posted a winning percentage of .500 or better against 15 of the 17 mid-major conferences.
Most season victories and highest winning percentage against both Division I and all non-league competition on record.
Record two teams among the top 19 in the season’s final Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
Boasted the NCAA’s active career scoring leader (IUPUI’s Alex Young) and The Summit League’s first NCAA scoring champion (Oakland’s Reggie Hamilton).
National-best three Lou Henson Award (Mid-Major Player of the Year) finalists.
Record four first team NABC All-District selections.
Most Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America selections in nearly two decades.
Three Academic All-District honorees, most on record.
One Division I-AAA Athletics Director Association Scholar-Athlete Team selection.

BASKETBALL – WOMEN’S

Highest ranking (No. 19) in the Collegiate Basketball News RPI since the 2005-06 season and the fifth-highest in league history.
Led nation in home court winning percentage for league games (60-30, .667).
Record women’s tournament attendance (17,867) and quarterfinal session attendance (5,933).
National leader in steals per game (Oral Roberts).
Set a league-record for most teams (four) in postseason tournament play.
Sent record three teams to the WNIT.
Held a winning record against 11 different conferences played.
Record three teams received votes in the final CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll.
South Dakota State set a record with its fourth consecutive tournament title.
ORU’s Kevi Luper became league’s all-time scoring leader and first three-time Player of the Year.
Luper was the only NCAA player ranked in top-5 for points per game (2nd) and steals per game (5th).
ORU’s Luper was named to the 2011 USA Basketball Pan American Games Team.
Record two Capital One Academic All-Americans.
Two student-athletes named to the Division I-AAA Athletics Director Association Scholar-Athlete Team.

CROSS COUNTRY

Southern Utah’s Cameron Levins earned All-American selection after finishing fourth at the NCAA Championship, The Summit League’s second-highest finish and best since 2006.
Five runners (three men and two women) earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors.
UMKC’s Cosmas Ayabei and Southern Utah’s Diana Medina-Mitchell were named USTFCCCA All-Academic honorees.
Nine teams (six women, three men) were named to USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams.
Five teams (three men, two women) finished among the top-15 in their region in the USTFCCCA poll.
Levins won his second consecutive Canadian Cross Country Championship.
Three runners finished among the nation’s top 80.

GOLF

North Dakota State’s Amy Anderson was one of five amateurs selected to play for Team USA in the Curtis Cup and World University Golf Championships.
Anderson won the National Golf Coaches Association’s Dinah Shore Trophy and earned her third-straight at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
IUPUI’s men won a school record seven tournament titles.
Oral Roberts won its 15th-consecutive Summit League Women’s Golf Championship.

SOCCER – MEN’S

IUPUI’s Perez Agaba was named to Lowe’s Senior CLASS All-America Team.
Agaba earned a selection to the Capital One Academic All-America team.
Five players named NSCAA All-Region, most since 2008.

SOCCER – WOMEN’S

South Dakota State’s Kayla Braffet was a third team All-Region selection.
North Dakota State’s Megan Dean was a Capital One Academic All-America first team selection.
Four players were named to the Capital One Academic All-District Teams.
Oakland became the first No. 4 seed to win The Summit League Championship.

SOFTBALL

Southern Utah’s Mikkel Griffin earned a second-team selection as an Easton Division I All-American.
Western Illinois’ Sammy Marshall led the NCAA in stolen bases per game and set a league-record with 45 total steals.
UMKC’s Kaelene Curry earned her second-consecutive Capital One Academic All-America honor with a third-team selection.
IPFW’s Alex Bousquet and North Dakota State’s Krista Menke were named NFCA Division I All-Region second team.
IPFW’s Ashleigh Bousquet tied for the NCAA’s third-highest single-game home run total (three) and her 13 total bases was sixth-best all-time. She hit home runs in three consecutive at-bats, the second-longest streak in NCAA history.
North Dakota State won a league-record fourth-straight tournament crown and became the first team since 2006 to win both the regular season title and the tournament title.
North Dakota State beat No. 13/16 Hawai’i in an elimination game at the NCAA Tucson Regional and finished third.
Summit League pitchers threw three no-hitters this season, two in league play and one in non-league play.

SWIMMING & DIVING

IUPUI’s Chen Ni became the second two-time national champion in Summit League history when she won her second consecutive NCAA Platform Dive Championship. She also became the league’s first three-time swimming and diving All-American.
Former Oakland swimmer Scott Dickens won the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke at the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials and qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The Oakland men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams captured their record 13th-straight Summit League Swimming and Diving titles.
Twelve men’s and women’s swimmers, all from Oakland, were named CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major All-America Honorable Mention.

TENNIS

UMKC’s men became the first team to win consecutive league championships since 2008.
IPFW’s women posted the second-longest league winning streak in history (32).
Oral Roberts’ Iryna Khatsko became the ninth different player to win eight league matches in a season.

TRACK & FIELD - INDOOR

Four athletes were named USTFCCCA All-Americans, led by multiple first team honoree Levins.
Oral Roberts’ Jack Whitt became the first three-time Indoor All-American in league history.
Finished ninth among Division I men’s leagues in the final USTFCCCA conference index. The league spent four consecutive weeks at No. 8, its highest position of the season.
A combined 18 times/marks by Summit Leaguers ranked among the nation’s Top 50, including six athletes in the top-10.
Three teams (two men’s, one women’s) finished the season in the USTFCCCA top-15 regional rankings.

TRACK & FIELD - OUTDOOR

Southern Utah’s Cameron Levins won both the 10,000- and 5,000-meter races, becoming the first Summit League student-athlete to win multiple events at a single championship. He was the first to sweep the NCAA 10k and 5k since 2009.
Oral Roberts’ Jack Whitt won the NCAA pole vault championship.
SUU and ORU finished 11th and 20th at the NCAA Men’s Championships, marking the two highest team placings in Summit League history. South Dakota’s women placed 34th, the best finish in league history.
A total of eight All-America honors (five men, three women) were captured from the nine qualifying athletes (five men, four women) in 10 events at the NCAA Championships. A total of 52 competed at NCAA Regionals.
Levins held the IAAF No. 1 world ranking in the 10,000m was as high as ninth in the 5,000m. Both are Canadian Olympic qualifying times. His best 10k time is the second-highest in NCAA history and his top 5k mark is fifth-best all-time.
Levins was named Mountain Region Track Athlete of the Year and was named a semifinalist for the USTFCCCA’s Bowerman Award.
A combined 25 times/marks by Summit Leaguers ranked among the top-50 in the nation, including four top-10 individuals, two top-times in the nation, to finish the outdoor track and field season.
Three teams (two men’s, one women’s) finished the season in the USTFCCCA top-15 regional rankings.

VOLLEYBALL

Recorded wins against Pac-12 and SEC competition.
Two teams and two players finished in the top 10 of the final NCAA statistics.
North Dakota State’s Jennifer Lopez became the first honoree in league history to win both Player of the Year and Setter of the Year in the same season.
North Dakota State’s Megan Lambertson recorded the second-best season hitting percentage in league history and ranked fifth in the NCAA’s 2012 statistics.
The Summit League ranked as high as No. 13 of 33 Division I leagues in the Pablo Ranking system. On Oct. 31, the league was ahead of the Big East, Sun Belt, Atlantic 10 and Horizon League.