West Florida Argonauts

West Florida Argonauts
University	University of West Florida
Conference	Gulf South (primary)
NCAA	Division II
President	Martha Saunders
Athletic director	Dave Scott
Location	Pensacola, Florida
First season	1974;51 years ago (1974)
Varsity teams	15 (7 men's, 8 women's)
Football stadium	Pen Air Field
Basketball arena	UWF Field House
Baseball stadium	Jim Spooner Field
Softball stadium	UWF Softball Complex
Soccer stadium	Publix Sports Park
Aquatics center	UWF Aquatic Center
Tennis venue	Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex
Mascot	Argie the Argonaut
Nickname	Argos/Argonauts
Colors	Royal blue and Kelly green [1]
Website	goargos.com
Team NCAA championships
9
Individual and relay NCAA champions
18

The West Florida Argonauts (or UWF Argonauts) are the athletic teams that represent the University of West Florida, located in Pensacola, Florida, in intercollegiate sports at the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Gulf South Conference (GSC) since the 1994–95 academic year. The Argonauts previously competed in the Southern States Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1974–75 to 1993–94, with a brief hiatus of dropping its athletics program from 1976–77 to 1979–80.

West Florida competes in 15 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer and tennis; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball. ^[2]

Varsity sports

Baseball

West Florida has had 23 Major League Baseball Draft selections since the draft began in 1965. ^[3]

Year	Player	Round	Team
1982	Thomas Czuk	24	Athletics
1987	Randall Ward	36	Braves
1989	Mark Ettles	33	Tigers
1991	Patrick Underhill	50	Rangers
1992	Jason Smith	37	Red Sox
1993	Chris Schmitt	21	Brewers
1994	Greg Beck	34	Brewers
1997	Ron Ricks	57	Angels
2003	Jeremy Noegel	34	Blue Jays
2004	Pat Cottrell	33	Devil Rays
2009	John Church	23	Mets
2010	Kevin Johnson	20	Angels
2011	Greg Pron	42	Mets
2011	Brandon Brewer	36	Angels
2011	Ben Hawkins	36	Nationals
2011	Daniel Vargas-Vila	28	Angels
2011	Dustin Lawley	19	Mets
2012	Brian Ellington	16	Marlins
2014	Jordan DeLorenzo	12	Cardinals
2014	Dawson Brown	24	Athletics
2014	Cliff Covington	30	Giants
2015	Ledarious Clark	12	Rangers
2024	Darrien McDowell	6	Padres

Football

See also: West Florida Argonauts football

UWF made the decision to add a football program in 2013. The Argos signed their first recruiting class in February 2015 and the fall of 2015 featured practice and intrasquad scrimmages. The first year of varsity competition was the 2016 season. The Argos’ first home game was on September 10, 2016, at Blue Wahoos Stadium against Missouri S&T Miners. In 2017, the Argonauts advanced to the national championship game, where they lost to Texas A&M–Commerce 37–27. In 2019, West Florida won their first national title when they defeated Minnesota State 48–40.

Program achievements

Title	Years won
Gulf South Conference Champions	2021, 2022
NCAA Division II Team Playoff Participants	2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
NCAA Division II Regional Championships	2017, 2019, 2022
NCAA Division II National Championships	2019

Achievements

Source: ^[4]

NCAA Division II Team National Championships (9)

• Baseball: 2011
• Football: 2019
• Men's Golf: 2001, 2008
• Men's Tennis: 2004, 2005, 2014, 2017
• Women's Soccer: 2012

NAIA Team National Championships (1)

• Softball: 1993

Gulf South Conference All Sports Trophies (30)

• Men's: 8 (97-98, 02–03, 06–07, 11–12, 12–13, 15–16, 16–17, 17–18)
• Women's: 16 (97-98, 98–99, 03–04, 05–06, 06–07, 07–08, 08–09, 09–10, 10–11, 11–12, 12–13, 13–14, 14–15, 15–16, 16–17, 18–19)
• Overall (started in 2013–14): 6 (13–14, 14–15, 15–16, 16–17, 17–18, 18–19)

NCAA Division II Individual National Championships (18)

• Men's Golf – Orjan Larsen (1998)
• Men's Golf - Chandler Blanchet (2017)
• Women's Swimming & Diving - Monica Amaral (2016 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving)
• Women's Swimming & Diving - Theresa Michalak (2016 100-Yard Breaststroke)
• Women's Swimming & Diving - Monica Amaral (2017 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving)
• Women's Swimming & Diving - Theresa Michalak (2017 50-Yard Freestyle, 100-Yard Freestyle, 100-Yard Breaststroke, 100 Butterfly)
• Men's Tennis – Jens Gerlach/Matt Wallhead (1996)
• Men's Tennis – Radovan Chrz (2000 – ITA Singles, ITA "Super Bowl")
• Men's Tennis – Radovan Chrz (2000 – ITA Singles)
• Men's Tennis – Bruno Savi (2013 – ITA Singles)
• Men's Tennis - Alex Peyrot/Pedro Dumont (2016 - ITA Doubles)
• Women's Tennis - Berta Bonardi (2018 - ITA Singles)
• Women's Tennis - Berta Bonardi (2019 - ITA Singles)

NAIA Individual National Championships: (6)

• Men's Cross Country – John Viitanen (1996 – Marathon)
• Men's Tennis – Eric Hochman (1990 – Singles)
• Men's Tennis – Eric Hochman/Geoffrey Watts (1991 – Doubles)
• Men's Tennis – Sorin Cherebetiu/Andrej Tonejc (1992 – Doubles)
• Women's Tennis – Bronna Allison/Laura Cadena (1988 – Doubles)
• Women's Tennis – Bronna Allison (1989 – Singles)

Conference Championships (115)

Gulf South Conference Championships (109)

• Baseball: 2 (2007, 2021)
• Football: 2 (2021, 2022)
• Men's Basketball: 1 (2018)
• Men's Cross Country: 2 (1994, 1996)
• Men's Golf: 18 (1995-98, 2001-03, 2006-08, 2011, 2013-19, 2021)
• Men's Soccer: 10 (1998, 2001, 2003, 2006-10, 2013, 2021)
• Men's Tennis: 14 (1995, 1997-99, 2002-03, 2005-06, 2012-15, 2017, 2022)
• Softball: 4 (1998, 2004-05, 2019)
• Volleyball: 11 (2008-13, 2017-19, 2021-22)
• Women's Basketball: 1 (2014)
• Women's Cross Country: 3 (1996, 2011-12)
• Women's Golf: 11 (2006-10, 2012-16, 2021)
• Women's Soccer: 11 (1996, 1998-99, 2006, 2008-10, 2012-13, 2016, 2018)
• Women's Tennis: 19 (1995-96, 1998-99, 2000-02, 2006-07, 2009, 2011-19)

New South Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Conference Championships (6)

• Women's Swimming and Diving: 6 (2015-16, 2020-23)

Gulf South Conference Commissioner's Trophies (8)

• Krissy Styrna - Softball (2001–02)
• Kevin Warrick - Men's Golf (2002–03)
• Lindsay Nemanich - Women's Soccer (2006–07)
• Suzana Cavalcante - Women's Tennis (2007–08)
• Courtney Jones - Women's Soccer (2009–10)
• Kevin Ducros - Men's Tennis (2012–13)
• Autumn Duyn - Women's Volleyball (2015–16)
• Chandler Blanchet - Men's Golf (2017–18)

Gulf South Conference Hall of Fame (4)

• Richard Berg, Athletic Director - Class of 2014 (Inaugural Class)
• Radovan Chrz, Men's Tennis - Class of 2017
• Suzana Cavalcante, Women's Tennis - Class of 2018
• Kevin Warrick, Men's Golf - Class of 2019

Notable athletes

• Mickey Gorka (born 1972), Israeli basketball player and coach
• Moochie Norris (1996), former NBA player.
• Austin Reed (American football), NFL quarterback

References

1. University of West Florida Art Sheet (PDF). December 14, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
2. "University of West Florida Argonauts - University of West Florida". goargos.com. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
3. "MLB Amateur Draft Picks who came from "University of West Florida (Pensacola, FL)"". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved October 3, 2013.
4. "UWF Athletics History". UWF Athletics. Retrieved April 22, 2016.

External links

• Official website