MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the League is to provide its Members access to League competition and NCAA Division I championships that are conducted in an equitable and sportsmanlike manner in conformance with NCAA and League policies and regulations while sharing similar academic and athletic department principles.
ABOUT THE SUMMIT LEAGUE
Throughout 42 years of Division I athletics, The Summit League sponsors 19 championship sports and has a combined enrollment of nearly 100,000 at nine institutions, including five located in top 60 U.S. metropolitan populations and two land-grant universities. Member institutions include: the University of Denver, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of North Dakota, North Dakota State University, University of Nebraska Omaha, Oral Roberts University, University of St. Thomas, University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University. The Summit League was previously known as the Mid-Continent Conference before undergoing a rebrand in 2007. The Summit League has produced 15 NCAA National Champions along with more than 140 All-Americans and 110 Academic All-Americans, including numerous student-athletes competing at the highest professional level in their respective sports.
Each year, approximately 3,000 student-athletes continue to raise the bar and help The Summit League reach exceptional success both in competition and in the classroom. Within the past eight years alone, The Summit League has produced two national postseason team tournament champions in women’s basketball, an NCAA semifinal appearance in men’s soccer, a Men’s College World Series appearance, a trio of Sweet 16 appearances across men’s and women’s basketball and eight individual NCAA Champions. That level of success also carries into the classroom. A total of 30 Summit League teams achieved perfect NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores in the most recently released figures, while 23 other teams garnered NCAA Public Recognition Awards for top academic progress rates.
Recent Success for Summit League members …
>Advanced to the Men’s College World Series in 2023 (Oral Roberts)
>Advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (Oral Roberts)
>Advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2019 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament (South Dakota State) and 2022 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament (South Dakota)
>Won the 2017 Women’s National Invitational Tournament (South Dakota) and 2022 Women’s National Invitational Tournament (South Dakota State)
>Had two teams selected to the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament in the same year (2018; South Dakota and Denver)
>Reached the 2016 NCAA Men’s Soccer College Cup (Denver)
>Claimed NCAA Regional Championships in softball (2009; North Dakota State), men’s soccer (2016; Denver) and baseball (2023; Oral Roberts)
>From 2011-12 to 2020-21, won 25 NCAA Tournament games, which is second best 10-year stretch in League history
>Had 162 teams receive NCAA Public Recognition Awards (among top 10 percent of Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport) since 2010
>Crowned 13 of the league’s 15 NCAA Individual Champions since 2007
HISTORY
Since its inception in 1982, The Summit League has recorded several transcendent moments that resonate on the national stage. While known as the Mid-Continent Conference, the league’s first two decades produced a pair of appearances in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament’s “Sweet 16” and the Women’s College World Series as well as three individual NCAA Track and Field Champions.
Since rebranding as The Summit League, those transcendent moments have continued to increase. In June of 2023, Oral Roberts became the first Summit League baseball team to advance to the Men’s College World Series in Omaha. The Golden Eagles won their first game in Omaha, defeating TCU 6-5 in the opening game of the tournament thanks to a three-run homer by Blaze Brothers (pictured) in the top of the ninth.
In March of 2022, the No. 10 seed South Dakota women’s basketball team advanced to the program’s first “Sweet 16”, marking the second women’s team from the league to achieve that feat in the NCAA Tournament. The South Dakota State women’s basketball team also put together an impressive postseason run, capturing the 2022 WNIT title by winning six consecutive home games.
In March of 2021, the Oral Roberts men’s basketball team captured the nation’s attention by becoming just the second No. 15 seed in NCAA Tournament history to reach the “Sweet 16”. Led by the nation’s leading scorer, Max Abmas, the Golden Eagles knocked off No. 2 seed Ohio State and No. 7 seed Florida before coming up just two points shy from being the first league team to make the Elite 8, falling to No. 3 seed Arkansas.
Also in March of 2021, Summit League women’s basketball produced a pair of NCAA Women’s Tournament qualifiers for the second time in three seasons as South Dakota won its second straight tournament title and South Dakota State earned an at-large bid.
During the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 academic year, a pair of Summit League athletes etched their names in the NCAA record books. South Dakota’s Chris Nilsen, a three-time NCAA National Champion pole vaulter, set the NCAA indoor mark with a clearance of 19-05.5”. On the links, Denver freshman Anna Zanusso joined four other female golfers in equaling an NCAA record with a single-round score of 61 (-11) during round two of the Westbrook Invitational, an event she would go on to win.
The South Dakota women’s basketball team became just the third Summit League squad to go undefeated in league play and win the tournament title as the Coyotes finished with the league’s highest-national ranking ever, finishing at No. 11 in the final USA Today Coaches’ Poll. The Coyotes, who finished 17th in the Associated Press poll with a 30-2 overall record, were led by senior Ciara Duffy who became the league’s first player to be named the ESPNW Mid-Major Player of the Year and Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year.
In the spring of 2019, South Dakota State became the first women’s basketball member to advance to the NCAA Tournament’s “Sweet 16” while Nilsen claimed his third national championship and the league’s 15th overall at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship.
In the fall of 2016, Denver became the first Summit League team to reach an NCAA Final Four when its men’s soccer team advanced to the College Cup semifinal round. The season prior, South Dakota won The Summit League’s first national postseason team tournament title by claiming the 2016 WNIT crown in women’s basketball.
Oral Roberts gave The Summit League its initial NCAA Baseball regional crown and Super Regional appearance in 2006 and three years later, North Dakota State became the league’s first softball team to achieve the same feat.
The 2008-09 season also saw South Dakota State’s women’s basketball team carry a national ranking throughout a majority of the year and cap its season with an NCAA Tournament first-round victory. In the spring of 2014, North Dakota State gained the national spotlight with a victory over Oklahoma in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Round of 64. A year later, the Bison softball team finished in the Top 25, one of six league teams to achieve a national ranking in their respective sport that year.
Throughout its history, The Summit League has produced 15 individual NCAA Championships, five Olympic medalists and dozens of All-Americans in the sports of track and field and swimming and diving. Several professional athletes and draft choices have come directly from The Summit League, including three Major League Baseball first-round picks, a pair of NBA first-round choices, and two WNBA selections. In addition, Summit Leaguers have competed in the MLS and on the PGA and LPGA Tours. Former Summit Leaguer Kevin Duckworth was a two-time NBA All-Star and former SDSU pitcher Blake Treinen is a two-time World Series Champion for the Dodgers.
The Summit League announced the formation of its Hall of Fame during its 35th anniversary season in 2016-17. The inaugural class celebrated eight decorated individuals who combined for 17 league Player or Coach of the Year awards, eight All-America honors, an Olympic Gold medal, and a World Series title. The latest class, inducted in 2020, included former IUPUI student-athletes George Hill (Men’s Basketball) and Chen NI (Women’s Swimming and Diving), former North Dakota State golfer Amy Olson, former Oral Roberts track and field standout Jack Whitt and Oakland Coach Pete Hovland (Swimming and Diving).
DID YOU KNOW...
> The Summit League had six players drafted in the 2023 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, including four in the top nine rounds. Omaha’s Mike Boeve was the highest selection, going No. 54 in the second round to the Milwaukee Brewers.
> In 2020, South Dakota’s Ciara Duffy became the first Summit League player to be named the ESPNW Mid-Major Player of the Year and Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year. Duffy led the Coyotes to the league’s highest national ranking ever as USD finished at No. 11 in the final USA Today Coaches’ poll.
> North Dakota State’s Payton Otterdahl became only the second man in NCAA history to sweep national titles when he won the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track & Field shot put and weight throw titles. His efforts helped the Bison tie for ninth on the men’s side, which equals the best finish by a league team at the national meet. In total, the Summit League sent a league-record 12 student-athletes to compete at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship.
> South Dakota’s Chris Nilsen became the first freshman in league history to win a national championship when he claimed the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field pole vault title. He collected his second national pole vault title at the outdoor championship in 2018 and repeated as the outdoor champion in 2019. He is the only Summit League student-athlete with three NCAA individual championships and went on to win the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
> In the fall of 2018, two Summit League volleyball teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament during the same season for the first time in league history and, in 2019, two Summit League women’s basketball teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.
> In 2016, Denver men’s soccer became the first league team to reach an NCAA Final Four in any sport and achieved the highest national ranking at that time (No. 3) of any men’s sport in Summit League history. The 2019 Pios’ would earn the league’s first No. 1 national ranking in any sport.
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