DENVER – South Dakota State won its third straight Summit League Commissioner’s Cup and eighth overall in one of the tighter races in recent memory. The League’s year-end awards for athletic performance were presented by Commissioner Josh Fenton at the annual meetings with the Presidents Council and Joint Council in Denver Wednesday evening.
The Jackrabbits claimed the top spot by earning 104.5 total points between their men’s and women’s programs, which included three combined regular season and championship titles that counted towards the cup. SDSU finished just a point ahead of North Dakota State in the overall standings as the Bison took second with 103.5 points.
The SDSU women’s basketball team became the fourth in Summit League history to run the table in regular season play, posting an 18-0 league mark and became the second Jackrabbit team to do so since joining the League.
The Jackrabbits’ softball team claimed its third consecutive regular season title, while the men's cross country team took home a league-record seventh consecutive Summit League Championship title. The Jacks also won the cup in 2010-11, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2020-21 and 2021-22.
SDSU also claimed the Dr. William Steinbrecher Men’s All-Sports Award standings for the eighth time in the last 11 years, finishing with 41.5 points to edge the Bison by half of a point. Oral Roberts took third with 35 points thanks to a trio of regular season titles in men’s soccer, basketball and baseball.
South Dakota topped the Dr. Helen Smiley Women’s All-Sports Award standings for the sixth time in the last eight years, finishing with 63.5 points. The Coyotes prevented a clean sweep by SDSU by owning a half-point advantage in the women's all-sport standings over their in-state rivals. The top three teams in the women’s standings were separated by just one point as NDSU took third with 62.5 points.
The Coyotes won the program's third regular season volleyball title in the last seven years and captured the program’s second indoor track and field crown to aid their efforts.
South Dakota finished third in the overall standings with 93.5 points, while Denver took fourth with 69.5 points. The Pioneers won a League-best eight combined titles in the 11 Summit League sports the Pioneers sponsor with six of those counting towards the cup standings. DU won championship titles in men's soccer, women's tennis, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and women’s golf to go along with regular season titles in women’s soccer and men’s and women’s tennis.
North Dakota and Oral Roberts shared fifth with 66 points. Omaha was seventh with 65.5 points and St. Thomas finished eighth with 61 points. Kansas City (46.5 points; ninth) and Western Illinois (39 points, 10
th) rounded out the overall cup standings.
The Commissioner's Cup is given annually to the member institution that collects the most combined points in relationship to its placement in the regular season standings for men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, softball and baseball and its championship placement in men’s and women’s cross country, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field and golf.
The All-Sports Awards are given to the institutions that accumulate the most points in men's sports and women's sports. The men's award is named for former Valparaiso Director of Athletics Dr. William Steinbrecher, who guided the Crusaders from 1979-2004, while the women's award is named for former Western Illinois Director of Athletics Dr. Helen Smiley, who headed WIU's athletic program from 1994-2001.
Standings for the 2022-23 Commissioner's Cup and the Dr. William Steinbrecher Men's All-Sports and Dr. Helen Smiley Women's All-Sports Awards are listed below. The breakdown of each institution's points and finishes within each sport can be found on the Commissioner's Cup
webpage.
| 2022-23 FINAL STANDINGS |
| Commissioner's Cup |
| Place |
School |
Points |
| 1. |
South Dakota State |
104.5 |
| 2. |
North Dakota State |
103.5 |
| 3. |
South Dakota |
93.5 |
| 4. |
Denver |
69.5 |
| T5. |
North Dakota |
66 |
| T5. |
Oral Roberts |
66 |
| 7. |
Omaha |
65.5 |
| 8. |
St. Thomas |
61 |
| 9. |
Kansas City |
48.5 |
| 10. |
Western Illinois |
39 |
|
| Dr. William Steinbrecher Men's All-Sports Award |
| Place |
School |
Points |
| 1. |
South Dakota State |
41.5 |
| 2. |
North Dakota State |
41 |
| 3. |
Oral Roberts |
35 |
| 4. |
St. Thomas |
30.5 |
| 5. |
South Dakota |
30 |
| 6. |
Denver |
25.5 |
| T7. |
Kansas City |
22.5 |
| T7. |
Western Illinois |
22.5 |
| 9. |
Omaha |
18.5 |
| 10. |
North Dakota |
18 |
|
| Dr. Helen Smiley Women's All-Sports Award |
| Place |
School |
Points |
| 1. |
South Dakota |
63.5 |
| 2. |
South Dakota State |
63 |
| 3. |
North Dakota State |
62.5 |
| 4. |
North Dakota |
48 |
| 5. |
Omaha |
47 |
| 6. |
Denver |
44 |
| 7. |
Oral Roberts |
31 |
| 8. |
St. Thomas |
30.5 |
| 9. |
Kansas City |
26 |
| 10. |
Western Illinois |
16.5 |
#REACHTHESUMMIT
