St. Edward's Hilltoppers

St. Edward's Hilltoppers
University St. Edward's University
Conference Heartland Conference
NCAA Division II
Athletic director Debbie Taylor
Location Austin, TX
Varsity teams 13
Basketball arena Recreation and Convocation Center
Baseball stadium Lucian Hamilton Field
Softball stadium Diane Daniels Field
Soccer stadium Lewis–Chen Family Field
Nickname Hilltoppers
Colors Blue and Gold
         
Website athletics.stedwards.edu

The St. Edward's Hilltoppers are the athletic teams that represent St. Edward's University, located in Austin, Texas, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions. The Hilltoppers compete as members of the Heartland Conference for all 13 varsity sports. St. Edward's has been a member of the Heartland since 1999.

History

As of Fall 2014, the Hilltopper varsity athletic teams made 29 NCAA Tournament appearances over the last five seasons. Since joining the NCAA in 1999, the Hilltopper teams have won 55 Heartland Conference Championships. In 2008–2009, five St. Edward's athletes were named All-American, and 56 individuals were named to the All-Heartland Conference Team. St. Edward's men's soccer team was the Heartland Conference Champions in 2009. The women's soccer team has been very successful since 2006, posting winning records each season, and being selected to the NCAA Tournament 6 out of 7 years.[1]

The university's official spirit group is the HillRaisers. The university's student-athlete graduation rate of 88% is fourth highest in the nation out of 270 Division II institutions. The Dallas Cowboys football team used the campus for pre-season training from 1990 to 1997.[2]

Varsity teams

The Hilltoppers softball team in action against the Texas A&M–Commerce Lions in 2015

List of teams

Men's sports (6)

  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Cross country
  • Golf
  • Soccer
  • Tennis

Women's sports (7)

  • Basketball
  • Cross country
  • Golf
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Tennis
  • Volleyball

Club Sports and Campus Recreation

In 2009, the university added a Campus Recreation program to meet the growing needs of the student population. All club sports are housed within the Campus Recreation office. The university supports several club-level programs including:

Competitive Club Sports Teams

Conditional Club Sports Teams

Intramural Sports

Rugby Club

Founded in 2009, the St Edward’s University Rugby Football Club plays in NSCRO or National Small College Rugby Organization in the Lonestar Conference. St. Edward's joined the Lonestar Conference in May 2013. St. Edward's ascended from Division III to Division I being promoted to the next division in three straight seasons from 2011-2013. In 2010-2011, their first season, St. Edwards had an undefeated regular season, won the Texas DIII league, and finished fifth nationally among small schools. In 2011-2012, St. Edwards again had an undefeated regular season in DII winning their conference. 2012-2013 saw St. Edward's join the DI South West Conference where they finished as the runner up in both 15's and 7's rugby. St. Edward's then rejoined the NSCRO Lone Star conference and finished with consecutive undefeated conference records and conference championships in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. In 2014 St. Edward's won the inaugural Texas Cup competition which is an open tournament across all divisions and brackets in Texas college rugby, they also became the first team in the history of NSCRO to defeat a Varsity Cup team when they defeated the University of Texas.[3] In 2015 St. Edwards was named men's college rugby program of the year.[4] St. Edward's has seen an increase in applications and matriculating students who target the school because of its rugby program, and as a result, the administration has put more support behind the rugby program.

References

  1. ↑ http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/stedwards.sidearmsports.com/documents/2015/10/7/2015_16_All_Sports_Guide_lowres.pdf
  2. ↑ "Camp Returning to Oxnard", Dallas Morning News (Cowboys Blog), 29 Feb 2008
  3. ↑ http://www.nscro.org/news_article/show/440165?referrer_id=1276243
  4. ↑ http://rugbywrapup.com/2015/01/usa-rugby-class-of-2014-review-how-our-predictions-fared
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