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24-573: In 2006, they moved to the North Central Conference , because the Great Northwest Athletic Conference announced it would discontinue its participation in football following the 2005 season. Then in 2008, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference reinstated football, and Central Washington rejoined the conference. The football team shared an intense rivalry with Western Washington University until Western's football team

48-595: A tournament broadcast live on NBC. That same year CWU Rugby finished 2nd (losing in overtime) at the USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships . Tim Stanfill was voted MVP of the 2012 Tournament and a member of the All-Tournament Team along with Forward Patrick Blair. Central Washington won the 2012 Northwest 7s tournament to qualify for the 2012 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships . The Wildcats also played in

72-664: A triumphant first half. The Lions would go on to win the NCAA Division II Championship against the West Florida Argonauts . The Wildcats won the Division 2 NAIA Football National Championship in 1995 with Jon Kitna at quarterback. In 2008, Wildcat softball players Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace helped carry injured opponent Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University around the bases after she hit her first-ever career home run and injured herself running around

96-633: A university club sport from 1972 until 2013; the university announced in early 2014 that CWU Rugby would be a varsity sport within the CWU Department of Athletics. One of the factors in CWU rugby turning varsity was the exposure gained from the fact that the Varsity Cup tournament in which CWU plays every spring is broadcast live on NBC Sports . Of the variety of sports offered by Central, the men's rugby union team has been particularly successful. CWU established

120-462: Is an annual competition among the top men's college rugby teams in the country to decide a national champion in rugby sevens . USA Rugby organized the championship to capitalize on the surge in popularity of rugby sevens following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby to the Summer Olympics . USA Rugby recognized that rugby sevens is growing in popularity, participation and interest. At

144-658: The Big Sky Conference in all sports in 2006. In the fall of 2006, North Dakota State and South Dakota State were admitted to The Summit League ; they have also moved on to rejoin old conference mate Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. It was announced on November 29, 2006, that the 2007–08 athletic season would be the final season for the NCC and that the conference would cease operations on July 1, 2008. The NCC had seven full members in

168-664: The University of North Dakota , Morningside College (now Morningside University ), the University of South Dakota , and Nebraska Wesleyan University . The University of Northern Iowa was a member of the NCC from 1934 until 1978. UNI currently competes in Division I in the Missouri Valley Conference ; in FCS football , it competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference . In 2002 Morningside College left

192-633: The 2009 regular season. Central Washington then narrowly lost a playoff game to the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State, who then won the NCAA Division II championship. In 2017, CWU once again posted a perfect 11–0 record. This earned the team the #1 seed in Super Region 4, and earning a bye week. However, they lost at home on Saturday November 25 to the Texas A&;M–Commerce Lions in a double OT loss after

216-686: The 2013 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships, reaching the semifinals. In 2012, CWU Rugby's head 7s coach and 15s head attack coach Tony Pacheco was named as the head coach for the Collegiate All-Americans 7s program. Pacheco, a product of CWU Rugby (Class of 2003), selected two CWU Rugby players, Tim Stanfill and Patrick Blair, as Collegiate All-Americans, joining Scott Anderson (Class of 1999) in obtaining All-American status as members of CWU Rugby. North Central Conference The North Central Conference ( NCC ), also known as North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference ,

240-498: The NCC to join the NAIA . The University of Northern Colorado left the conference in 2003, followed in 2004 by North Dakota State University and South Dakota State University . These three schools all transitioned their athletics programs from Division II to Division I; they became founding members of the Division I FCS Great West Football Conference , which started play in the fall of 2004. Since that time, Northern Colorado moved on to

264-515: The WCHA for men's hockey. All of these schools, except for Omaha, have women's teams in the WCHA (Omaha women's hockey is a club sport). The women's side of the WCHA was not affected by this realignment. The NCC Tournament was held from 1991–1994, then it was brought back and used from 2001-2008. USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships The USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships

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288-620: The bases. CWU lost the game, ending the Wildcats' season. The story received national attention and the trio appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, CBS , CNN and ESPN . They also won an ESPY award for Best Moment in Sports in 2008, were featured in Sports Illustrated , and are part of a national billboard campaign promoting sportsmanship by the Foundation for A Better Life. CWU Rugby operated as

312-469: The conference's final season, one was a private school: The NCC had two affiliate members for football only in the conference's final season, both of which are public schools. The NCC had nine other full members during the conference's tenure, two were private schools: The NCC sponsored baseball, men's and women's basketball, football, cross-country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and wrestling. Six of

336-491: The location. Those mid-December dates were in the middle of exams for some schools. College Station, Texas, was ultimately announced as the venue in November. College Station lacks direct flight to many major cities, and this problem was compounded by the decision to hold the tournament over a Friday and Saturday, requiring students to miss both a Thursday and Friday. For these reasons, many colleges that qualified or were invited to

360-555: The men's rugby team in 1972. The rugby team plays and regularly defeats larger Division I universities, such as the University of Washington, Washington State University, University of Oregon, and Oregon State University. Rugby at Central has been quite successful against these and other larger schools. The Wildcats played in the College Premier Division until 2013, but in 2013 moved to the Varsity Cup competition, and finished

384-476: The nation. Central finished the 2010–11 season ranked 7th in the US, and finished the 2012–13 season ranked 6th. The Wildcats have also been successful in rugby sevens. The Wildcats won the 2011 Las Vegas Invitational to qualify for the 2011 Collegiate Rugby Championship. The Wildcats gained national attention for their rugby program when, led by Tim Stanfill, they finished fourth at the 2011 Collegiate Rugby Championship ,

408-513: The season ranked sixth in the country. Rugby has gained the Wildcats national recognition due to its high level of success in the national playoffs. Their most impressive accomplishments include making the Sweet 16 in 1998 and 2001. In 2001, Central defeated North Carolina 52–17 in their Sweet 16 match, before losing to Penn State 14–12 in the Elite 8. In 2007, the men's rugby team was ranked as high as 10th in

432-610: The seven members of the NCC sponsored Division I ice hockey, and five still do. In men's hockey, after a major conference realignment that took effect in 2013, Minnesota–Duluth, Nebraska–Omaha, North Dakota, and St. Cloud State field teams in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference , while Minnesota State–Mankato is a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Before the realignment, all of these schools had been members of

456-603: The time of the foundation of the tournament, rugby was one of the fastest growing sports across college campuses. This tournament is a major contributor to the selection process for USA Rugby Olympic athletes. USA Rugby announced in September 2011 the creation of a new sevens tournament. The launch by USA Rugby had a few hiccups. USA Rugby did not officially announce the December 16–17, 2011 tournament and its dates until September 2011, and at that time USA Rugby had still not determined

480-437: The tournament—such as Penn State, UCLA, Utah, BYU, Boston College, Navy, LSU, Iowa, Dartmouth, Delaware, Cal, and Bowling Green—declined to participate. The inaugural 2011 tournament was contested by 24 teams that qualified based on performance in qualifying tournaments throughout the fall of 2011. The 2011 tournament was won by Life University, defeating Central Washington 22–17 in overtime. Tim Stanfill of Central Washington

504-494: Was a college athletic conference which operated in the north central United States . It participated in the NCAA 's Division II . The NCC was formed in 1922. Charter members of the NCC were South Dakota State College (now South Dakota State University ), College of St. Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas ), Des Moines University , Creighton University , North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State University ),

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528-462: Was disbanded in 2009. Prior to the dissolution of Western football, the teams had been competing in a game called the "Battle in Seattle" taking place at Seattle's CenturyLink Field , although historically the matchup was called the "Cascade Cup" when held at the usual university venues. In 2009, Central Washington University posted a perfect 11–0 record, the only Division II team to post a clean slate in

552-569: Was held in May — unlike previous tournaments which had been held in December. The tournament took place in Denver over the weekend of May 23–24, less than one week before the 2015 Collegiate Rugby Championship in Philadelphia. Once again, several top teams did not play: BYU, California, Life University, and UCLA. Sources: The following rugby sevens tournaments, played throughout the fall season preceding

576-484: Was the tournament MVP, and Derek Patrick of Miami was the tournament's leading try scorer. The 2012 tournament was more organized, with only one team - UCLA - declining to participate in the tournament. The 2012 tournament also saw increased airtime, with the entire tournament available live via webstream and some of the knockout rounds broadcast on ESPN3. For the 2013 tournament, three teams—Cal, BYU, and UCLA—won bids but declined to participate. The 2015 tournament

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