SAN BRUNO, Calif. -- The Saint Mary's College athletic department registered its most successful overall competitive season ever, finishing a program-best third in the West Coast Conference Commissioner's Cup competition.
The WCC Commissioner's Cup is an all-sports award presented at the end of each academic year to the league's top performing school in conference competition and is based on a point system, reflecting the finish of each team in conference play. The institution with the highest point total after combining the men's and women's point totals is honored with the Commissioner's Cup.
During the 2012-13 season, Saint Mary's won league titles in women's tennis and men's golf - each for the second time in school history. Gaels sports teams also finished among the top three in WCC standings in men's basketball, women's basketball, rowing, men's soccer and volleyball.
Last year, Saint Mary's won the Men's All-Sports Trophy for the first time since the Commissioner's Cup program began in 2002 and finished fourth among the nine WCC institutions in the overall standings, which equaled a program-best at the time.
In the first four years of the award, Saint Mary's finished seventh and eighth in the standings. In each of the last four years, the Gaels have finished fourth or better, including this year's third-place standing.
"We are extremely proud of the competitive accomplishments of our athletic programs," said SMC's director of athletics Mark Orr. "This year, we won WCC championships in men's golf and women's tennis and finished in the top three in five other sports. We continue to develop an athletics program that expects competitive success, while encouraging an educational experience that is consistent with the LaSallian mission and values of the College."
Saint Mary's competes in the WCC in 12 of its 17 sport programs. Softball, which will become a WCC sport in 2014, competes in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference and women's lacrosse is a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Outdoor track and sand volleyball competed without conference affiliation.
Overall, BYU finished atop the Commissioner's Cup standings with 78.0 points, besting second place San Diego (74.0 points) and third place Saint Mary's College (65.5 points). Gonzaga University finished fourth with 63.5 points, followed by San Francisco (62.5 points), Santa Clara University (60.5 points), and Pepperdine University (51.5 points). The University of Portland (50.5 points) and Loyola Marymount University (47.0 points) round out the 2012-13 standings.
En route to winning the Commissioner's Cup, BYU also won both the Men's All-Sports Trophy and the Women's All-Sports Trophy, becoming the first institution to capture all three awards in the same year since San Diego in 2007-08.
Saint Mary's has won eight WCC regular-season championships during the last six years, which represents more than half the titles the school has won since becoming a charter member of the conference.
Overall WCC Commissioner's Cup Standings
1. BYU 78.0
2. San Diego 74.0
3. Saint Mary's 65.5
4. Gonzaga 63.5
5. San Francisco 62.5
6. Santa Clara 60.5
7. Pepperdine 51.5
8. Portland 50.5
9. Loyola Marymount 47.0
Men's All-Sports
1. BYU 36.0
2t. San Diego 35.5
2t. San Francisco 35.5
4t. Gonzaga 35.0
4t. Saint Mary's 35.0
6. Santa Clara 25.5
7. Portland 22.0
8. Pepperdine 21.5
9. Loyola Marymount 20.0
Women's All-Sports
1. BYU 42.0
2. San Diego 38.5
3. Santa Clara 35.0
4. Saint Mary's 30.5
5. Pepperdine 30.0
6t. Gonzaga 28.5
6t. Portland 28.5
8t. Loyola Marymount 27.0
8t. San Francisco 27.0
