The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), founded in 1906, is the major governing body for intercollegiate athletics in the United States and currently conducts national championships in its sponsored sports, except for the top level of football. Before the NCAA offered a championship for any particular sport, intercollegiate national championships in that sport were determined independently. Although the NCAA sometimes lists these historic championships in its official records, it has not awarded retroactive championship titles.
Prior to NCAA inception of a sport, intercollegiate championships were conducted and usually espoused in advance as competitions for the national championship. Many winners were recognized in contemporary newspapers and other publications as the "national intercollegiate" champions. These are not to be confused with the champions of early 20th-century single-sport alliances of northeastern U.S. colleges that were named "Intercollegiate League" or "Intercollegiate Association." These leagues generally included some of the colleges that later became the Ivy League, as well as an assortment of other northeastern universities.
Even after the NCAA began organizing national championships, some non-NCAA organizations conducted their own national championship tournaments, usually as a supplement to the NCAA events. A notable example is that of NCAA Division III men's volleyball. Although the NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship, established in 1970, was in theory open to D-III schools, none had received a berth in that tournament. As a result, a separate championship event, open only to D-III schools, was created in 1997. That event was discontinued after its 2011 edition once the NCAA announced it would sponsor an official Division III championship starting in 2012.
The historical championship event outcomes included in the primary list section were decided by actual games organized for the purpose of determining a champion on the field of play. Lists of other championships for collegiate athletic organizations are referenced in later sections (see Table of Contents). It does not include Helms Athletic Foundation or Premo-Porretta Power Poll selections, which were awarded retrospectively. [1] [2]
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Inter-Collegiate Cross Country Association (1899–1907)
Inter-Collegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (1908–37) [49] [50] [51]
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Intercollegiate Fencing Association (1894–1943)
Team Foils
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Three-Weapon Championship
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† The first IFA three-weapon trophy was awarded in 1923. However, all three weapons (foil, épée, saber) were contested in the IFA tournament as early as 1920. [55]
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has never conducted a national championship event at the highest level of college football, currently its Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Neither has the NCAA ever officially endorsed an FBS national champion. Since 1978, it has held a championship playoff at the next lower level of college play. Prior to 1978, no divisions separated teams, and champions were independently designated by "selectors," composed of individuals and third-party organizations using experts, polls, and mathematical methods. [95] These efforts have continued and thrived for the higher FBS level. From the beginning, the selectors' choices have frequently been at odds with each other. [96] The NCAA has documented both contemporaneous and retroactive choices of several major national selectors in its official NCAA Football Records Book. [95] These selections are often claimed as championships by individual schools.
1897–1938
1924–79 [118]
In the contemporary press, the type of competition utilized for this match was referred to as "shoulder-to-shoulder." This distinguished it from the "telegraphic" or "postal" form of competition.
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1909–22
Competition was held in telegraphic form using the indoor ranges of each competing school.
1908 – ?
The indoor intercollegiate match was a single annual indoor match open to teams of any college. It was held in telegraphic form using the indoor ranges of each competing school.
1905 – ?
Matches were initially held at Sea Girt, New Jersey; after several years Camp Perry, Ohio, became the perennial venue.
(This competition is not to be confused with the National ROTC outdoor rifle team championship for the William Randolph Hearst Team Trophy (first awarded circa 1922 [160] ), which was not open to all students.)
1921–53
Beginning in 1921, an intercollegiate winter sports championship was held annually at Lake Placid, New York, and involved colleges from the US and Canada. It combined events from downhill and slalom skiing, cross-country skiing, and ski jumping, as well as speed skating, figure skating, and snowshoeing in some years. The overall winning team received the President Harding Trophy. Prior to the 1940s, in end-of-year accounts of national sporting champions, major newspapers regarded the winning team at Lake Placid as intercollegiate champion.
In the late 1930s, a major annual "four-way" (downhill, slalom, jumping and cross-country) intercollegiate event began in Sun Valley, Idaho. [174] [175] From the start it attracted not only college teams from the West, but also strong teams that traditionally participated in the Lake Placid meet, such as Dartmouth. [176] [177] After interruption by World War II, it usurped the older event.
Newspaper coverage referred to the 1946 and 1947 Sun Valley winners (Utah and Middlebury, respectively) as national champions. [178] A few days earlier than the 1947 Sun Valley meet, a similar skiing competition was held in Aspen, Colorado, overlapping the start date of the Sun Valley event. [179] In 1948 and 1949, Aspen, rather than Sun Valley, hosted the national "four-way" intercollegiate ski championships. [180] [181] [182] [183]
All of these competitions were held in the middle of the ski season rather than at the end. Then in 1950, an official annual post-season national championship event was established. [184] This event served to influence the NCAA to add skiing as a sponsored sport, with the first NCAA title event occurring in 1954. [185]
The Intercollegiate Ski Union (ISU), a conference of schools primarily in the Northeast, also conducted annual championship events for its members. [186] However, its geographic reach was more limited than the other competitions described.
Lake Placid, New York
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Sun Valley, Idaho
Aspen, Colorado
Post-Season National Championship
During the periods 1926–35 and 1946–58, annual champions were selected by collegiate soccer associations based on regular season records. All are considered unofficial. For the period of 1936–45, each year's outstanding teams claim unofficial national championships. See also Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association.
The Soccer Bowl [254] (played in 1950–52) attempted to settle the national championship on the field for the 1949, 1950 and 1951 seasons. The Soccer Bowl championship games were played in January, 1950; December, 1950; and February, 1952, respectively.
1883–1945 [255]
Intercollegiate Tennis Association (1973– )
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Amateur Athletic Union (1918)
Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (1923–64) [256]
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Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (1876–1920) [50] [260] [261]
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* University of Chicago won the 1904 Olympic Games collegiate championship meet, defeating Princeton, Illinois, Michigan State and Colgate. [262]
† A contemporary source [263] states, as part of an "international athletic games" (similar to the Olympics) in Chicago on June 28 – July 6, 1913, "The national intercollegiate track and field meet was won by the University of Michigan," with Southern California second and Chicago third.
Until 1969, men's trampoline was one of the events that comprised the NCAA gymnastics championships. The NCAA continued to bestow a national title in trampoline for two years. [264] [265] [266] For several years, there was an annual membership vote on whether to remove it as an NCAA competition, resulting in removal by 1971.
Discontinued after 1970.
United States Volleyball Association (1949–69) [267]
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Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship Tournament (1997–2011)
This was a championship solely for NCAA Division III schools. It was discontinued after its 2011 edition when the NCAA announced it would organize an official Division III championship starting in 2012.
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See AIAW Champions for listings of pre-NCAA champions for most of the current NCAA women's sports.
See DGWS/AIAW Basketball Champions (1969–82)
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has since 1926 conducted United States championship tournaments for women's amateur teams. On 28 occasions, small college teams (all from the central U.S.) have won the AAU women's basketball championship: [272]
United States Bowling Congress (formerly American Bowling Congress and Women's Intercollegiate Bowling Congress) [273]
Year and Champion | Year and Champion | Year and Champion | Year and Champion | Year and Champion | Year and Champion |
1975 Wichita State | 1984 Indiana State | 1993 William Paterson (NJ) | 2002 Morehead State | 2011 Maryland Eastern Shore | 2020 cancelled |
1976 San Jose State | 1985 West Texas State | 1994 Wichita State | 2003 Central Missouri State | 2012 Webber International | 2021 Wichita State |
1977 Wichita State | 1986 Wichita State | 1995 Nebraska | 2004 Pikeville (Kentucky) | 2013 Maryland Eastern Shore | 2022 Stephen F. Austin |
1978 Wichita State | 1987 West Texas State | 1996 West Texas State | 2005 Wichita State | 2014 Robert Morris-Illinois | 2023 |
1979 Penn State | 1988 West Texas State | 1997 Nebraska | 2006 Lindenwood (Missouri) | 2015 North Carolina A&T | 2024 |
1980 Erie Community College (NY) | 1989 Morehead State (Kentucky) | 1998 Morehead State | 2007 Wichita State | 2016 Webber International | 2025 |
1981 Arizona State | 1990 Wichita State | 1999 Nebraska | 2008 Pikeville | 2017 McKendree (Illinois) | 2026 |
1982 Erie Community College | 1991 Nebraska | 2000 Morehead State | 2009 Wichita State | 2018 Lindenwood | 2027 |
1983 West Texas State | 1992 West Texas State | 2001 Nebraska | 2010 Webber International (Florida) | 2019 Robert Morris–Illinois | 2028 |
The NCAA from 2004 has sponsored a women's team championship, apart from the USBC national championships. There were 80 schools in all divisions participating in NCAA bowling as of April, 2018.
Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (1929–63)
National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (1964–79) [274]
Until 1974, schools from the states of New York and New Jersey won every foil team title.
Year | Foil Team | Year | Foil Team | Year | Foil Team |
1929 | New York University | 1946 | Hunter College | 1963 | Fairleigh Dickinson |
1930 | New York University | 1947 | Hunter College | 1964 | Paterson State College |
1931 | New York University | 1948 | Hunter College | 1965 | Paterson State College |
1932 | New York University | 1949 | New York University | 1966 | Paterson State College |
1933 | New York University | 1950 | New York University | 1967 | Cornell |
1934 | Brooklyn College | 1951 | New York University | 1968 | Cornell |
1935 | Hunter College | 1952 | Hunter College | 1969 | Cornell |
1936 | Hunter College | 1953 | Hunter College | 1970 | Hunter College |
1937 | Hunter College | 1954 | Elmira College | 1971 | New York University |
1938 | New York University | 1955 | Rochester Institute of Technology | 1972 | Cornell |
1939 | Hofstra University | 1956 | Paterson State College | 1973 | Cornell |
1940 | Hunter College | 1957 | Rochester Institute of Technology | 1974 | California State-Fullerton |
1941 | Brooklyn College | 1958 | Paterson State College | 1975 | San Jose State |
1942 | Jersey City State College | 1959 | Paterson State College | 1976 | San Jose State |
1943 | Jersey City State College | 1960 | Fairleigh Dickinson | 1977 | San Jose State |
1944 | Hunter College | 1961 | Paterson State College | 1978 | San Jose State |
1945 | Brooklyn College | 1962 | Paterson State College | 1979 | San Jose State |
AIAW 1980–82 (3 years). NCAA 1982–89 (8 years). NCAA (Coed) from 1990.
American Women's College Hockey Alliance
Year and Champion |
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1998 New Hampshire |
1999 Harvard |
2000 Minnesota |
National Rifle Association
Year and Champion | Year and Champion | Year and Champion | ||
192? unknown start date | 1928 George Washington [275] | 1934 Washington [66] | ||
1923 Washington [173] | 1929 ? | 1935 Carnegie Tech [67] [276] | ||
1924 Washington [173] | 1930 ? | 1936 Carnegie Tech [276] | ||
1925 Washington [57] | 1931 ? | 1937 Carnegie Tech [276] | ||
1926 ? | 1932 Maryland [64] | 1938–46? 1947 Penn State [277] | ||
1927 George Washington [275] [278] | 1933 Washington [65] | 1948–53? 1954 Monmouth (IL) [279] | ||
Pre-NCAA Coed Rifle: see above
The National Women's Rowing Association (NWRA) sponsored an annual open eights national championship from 1971 to 1979, among college and non-college teams. (There were no eights before 1971.) During this period, only in 1973 and 1975 did a college team win the national eights championship outright. According to US Rowing Association, contemporary news reports in 1976 and 1977 do not mention a national collegiate title. [280] Beginning in 1980, the NWRA sponsored the Women's Collegiate National Championship, including varsity eights. In 1986 the NWRA dissolved after recognizing US Rowing's assuming of responsibility as the national governing body for women's rowing.
NWRA Open National Championship, Eights top college finishers, 1971–1979 (champion in parentheses) :
NWRA / US Rowing Women's Collegiate National Championship, Varsity eights:
Year and Champion | Year and Champion | Year and Champion | Year and Champion | |||
1980 California [284] [285] | 1985 Washington | 1989 Cornell | 1993 Princeton | |||
1981 Washington | 1986 Wisconsin | 1990 Princeton | 1994 Princeton | |||
1982 Washington * | 1987 Washington | 1991 Boston University | 1995 Princeton | |||
1983 Washington | 1988 Washington | 1992 Boston University | 1996 Brown | |||
1984 Washington | ||||||
* simultaneous AIAW championship, the only one conducted
Followed by NCAA from 1997 , in which women currently compete in a Varsity 8, a Second Varsity 8, and a Varsity Four.
American Volleyball Coaches Association , Collegiate Nationals
Year | Champion |
2006 | multi-school pair |
2007 | Nebraska (two-person team) |
2008 | Texas (four pairs per team) |
2009 | USC (four pairs per team) |
2010 | Loyola Marymount (two-person team) |
2011 | multi-school pair |
2012 | Pepperdine |
2013 | Long Beach State |
2014 | Pepperdine |
2015 | USC |
Intercollegiate Tennis Association
Year | Champion | Year | Champion | Year | Champion | Year | Champion | |||
1988 | Florida | 1999 | Florida | 2010 | Northwestern | 2021 | North Carolina | |||
1989 | Stanford | 2000 | Stanford | 2011 | Stanford | 2022 | North Carolina | |||
1990 | Stanford | 2001 | Stanford | 2012 | UCLA | 2023 | ||||
1991 | Florida | 2002 | Georgia | 2013 | North Carolina | 2024 | ||||
1992 | Florida | 2003 | Duke | 2014 | Duke | 2025 | ||||
1993 | Stanford | 2004 | Stanford | 2015 | North Carolina | 2026 | ||||
1994 | Georgia | 2005 | Stanford | 2016 | California | 2027 | ||||
1995 | Georgia | 2006 | Stanford | 2017 | Florida | 2028 | ||||
1996 | Florida | 2007 | Georgia Tech | 2018 | North Carolina | 2029 | ||||
1997 | Florida | 2008 | Georgia Tech | 2019 | Georgia | 2030 | ||||
1998 | Stanford | 2009 | Northwestern | 2020 | North Carolina | 2031 | ||||
Women's National Collegiate and Scholastic Track Association
Telegraphic meets conducted during specified dates each May
Year | Champion [286] : 52, 56–58 |
1922 | ? |
1923 | Winthrop College |
1924 | Iowa |
1925 | Winthrop College |
1926 | Humboldt State College |
1927 | ? |
Amateur Athletic Union
The AAU conducted senior women's national track and field championships for all athletes, both indoors and outdoors, beginning in the 1920s. Two college teams won numerous championships in each sport against other clubs from throughout the country.
Tuskegee Institute won the AAU national title 14 times in 1937–1942 and 1944–1951. Tennessee State won national outdoors 13 times in 1955–1960, 1962, 1963, 1965–1967, 1969 and 1978. [286]
Amateur Athletic Union
Tuskegee Institute won the AAU national indoor championships four times in 1941, 1945, 1946 and 1948. Tennessee State won the national title 14 times in 1956–1960, 1962, 1965–1969 and 1978–1980. [286]
USA Water Polo [287]
Year and Champion | Year and Champion | Year and Champion |
1984 UC Davis | 1990 UC San Diego | 1996 UCLA |
1985 Stanford | 1991 UC San Diego | 1997 UCLA |
1986 UC San Diego | 1992 UC San Diego | 1998 UCLA |
1987 UC Santa Barbara | 1993 UC Davis | 1999 USC |
1988 UC Davis | 1994 UC San Diego | 2000 UCLA |
1989 UC Santa Barbara | 1995 Slippery Rock (PA) | |
ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relationship ended in 2004; however, the ECAC abbreviation was retained in the name of the hockey conference. ECAC Hockey is the only ice hockey conference with identical memberships in both its women's and men's divisions.
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics and to administer national championships. During its existence, the AIAW and its predecessor, the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS), recognized via these championships the teams and individuals who excelled at the highest level of women's collegiate competition.
The NCAA Boxing Championship was discontinued by the National Collegiate Athletic Association after 1960. The popularity of college boxing peaked in 1948, when 55 colleges participated in intercollegiate competition. The popularity of college boxing had been waning in the years leading up to 1960, and only 20 teams competed at the 1959 championship. At the 1960 NCAA Championships Charlie Mohr, a boxer on the University of Wisconsin–Madison team, collapsed with a brain hemorrhage and died one week later.
The Dartmouth College Big Green are the varsity and club athletic teams representing Dartmouth College, an American university located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth's teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Ivy League conference, as well as in the ECAC Hockey conference. The college offers 34 varsity teams, 17 club sports, and 24 intramural teams. Sports teams are heavily ingrained in the culture of the college and serve as a social outlet, with 75% of the student body participating in some form of athletics.
The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The intercollegiate athletics logo was commissioned in 1983.
The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfills this role for women's open weight rowing. It is the direct successor to the Rowing Association of American Colleges, the first collegiate athletic organization in the United States, which operated from 1870–1894.
The Navy Midshipmen are the athletic teams that represent the United States Naval Academy. The academy sponsors 36 varsity sports teams and 12 club sport teams. Both men's and women's teams are called Navy Midshipmen or "Mids". They participate in the NCAA's Division I, as a non-football member of the Patriot League, a football-only member of the American Athletic Conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and a member of the Collegiate Sprint Football League (men), Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (men), Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges, Eastern Intercollegiate Gymnastics League (men), Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference (men) and Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. Navy is also one of approximately 300 members of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The Alaska Nanooks are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The Nanooks name is derived from the Inupiaq "nanuq", meaning polar bear. The school colors are blue and gold. The Nanooks compete at the NCAA Division II level for all sports except men's ice hockey. The majority of Nanooks sports are members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), the hockey team is an Independent and plays at the 4,595-seat Carlson Center located west of downtown Fairbanks, while the women's swim team is a member of the Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference (PCSC), the men's and women's skiing teams are members of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA), and the rifle team competes as a member of the Patriot Rifle Conference.
The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the varsity and club levels for men and women. The association traces its history through predecessor organizations back to 1882, although it received its present name and became a governing body with unlimited membership in 1926. The association is based in Louisville, Kentucky.
Lacrosse has been played in Pennsylvania since the 19th century. The state has amateur programs at the club, college, and high school level, and several past and present professional teams in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and Major League Lacrosse (MLL).
The first tier of intercollegiate sports in the United States includes sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies. The major sanctioning organization is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Before mid-1981, women's top-tier intercollegiate sports were solely governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). Smaller colleges are governed by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Two-year colleges are governed by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in most of the country, except for the unaffiliated California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) and Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC).
The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League was an athletic conference for men's college basketball, beginning with the 1901–02 season and ending with the 1954–55 season. Its membership ranged from four to eight members; all of these teams now compete in the Ivy League, which began play in 1955–56. The Ivy League's men's basketball league claims the EIBL's history as its own. Through the EIBL, the Ivy League is the oldest basketball conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association; the next oldest, the Big Ten Conference, began play in 1905–06.
The 1919–20 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1919, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1920.
The Haverford Fords compete at the NCAA Division III level in the Centennial Conference. Haverford boasts the only varsity cricket team in the United States. Its men's and women's track and field and cross country teams are perennial powerhouses in their division. The outdoor track and field team won the first 16 Centennial Conference championships, and men's cross country has won all but two Centennial Conference championships. The soccer team is among the nation's oldest, having won its first intercollegiate match in 1905 against Harvard College. The lacrosse team has placed well nationally in the NCAA championships, while Haverford's fencing team has competed since the early 1930s.
The Cornell Big Red wrestling team represents Cornell University of Ithaca, New York in collegiate wrestling. It is one of the most successful and storied collegiate wrestling programs in the nation with over 20 individual NCAA champions, 43 Ivy League championships, and 28 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships since the program's 1907 founding.
The Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of Pennsylvania State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling program is an intercollegiate varsity sport at Pennsylvania State University. The wrestling team is a competing member of the Big Ten Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Nittany Lions compete at Rec Hall in State College, Pennsylvania, on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. The Nittany Lions have claimed 13 team National Championship titles and 55 individual NCAA National Championship titles.
The Penn State Nittany Lions women's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team at Pennsylvania State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Nittany Lions play at Jeffrey Field in State College, Pennsylvania on the campus of Pennsylvania State University.
Army, by taking first in the sabres and epee events and fourth in the foils, won the new three weapon trophy offered this year by the Intercollegiate Fencing Association for all-around efficiency.
In 1899 the first important intercollegiate gymnastic association meeting was held, the result being as follows: Horizontal bar, E. B. Turner, Princeton, and R. G. Clapp, Yale, tied, 12 points; side horse, F. J. Belcher, New York University, 10 5/6; parallel bars, R. G. Clapp, 12⅓; flying rings, R. G. Clapp, 11 1/6; club swinging, R. G. Clapp, 13½; tumbling, W. L. Otis, Yale, 10; all-around championship, R. G. Clapp, Yale, 7 5/6 points.
With a view to bringing about a recognized national championship in collegiate gymnastics, Secretary T. H. Burch, Jr., of Columbia, was authorized to correspond with the Western Intercollegiate Gymnastic Association with the view of an affiliation, arranging for the Western champion team to meet the Eastern champion team in some city of the middle West, the winner of this competition to become known as the national champion. This course was heartily indorsed by all of the collegians present, and is one that has been the object of achievement for some years.
University of Washington captured first place in the senior national intercollegiate rifle team matches, Ninth Corps Area Headquarters announced here today. The winning score was 7811. Washington State College won second place with 7732.
Dartmouth has won the Harding Trophy five of the 11 years the competition has been staged.
The Wolverines [in 1969] possessed the very best trampolinists in the world, two of which had previously each won individual world trampoline titles in consecutive years. ... The Wolverine's trampoline team [was] the strongest in the world[.]