INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in school history, Rockhurst University has captured the Great Lakes Valley Conference Commissioner’s Cup, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday. The Hawks’ athletic department earned the award for the 2016-17 season by posting the strongest finish in the league’s seven core sports.

Points are allocated for the Commissioner’s Cup based on the athletic department’s finish in the GLVC’s postseason tournaments in men’s soccer, women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball and baseball. Each of the league’s members sponsors these sports at the intercollegiate level.

Rockhurst, under the direction of athletics director Gary Burns, earned 82 points over the course of the academic year, besting runner-up University of Southern Indiana (79), Bellarmine University (78) and Truman State University (78), which tied for third. The University of Missouri-St. Louis (69) was fifth, Drury University (66) and Quincy University (66) tied for sixth, and Lewis University (64) rounded out the top half of the Conference.

Although this season marks the first Commissioner’s Cup victory for Rockhurst, the Hawks were in contention for the award last year as their 80 points were just six points shy of winner University of Indianapolis. Excluding the runner-up finish from a year ago, Rockhurst has averaged a finish of 8.9 over the last 10 years they have competed for the award, with only two other finishes in the top-half of the Conference coming in 2005-06 (4th) and 2008-09 (5th).

In GLVC play this year, Rockhurst made the GLVC Championship Tournament in six of the seven core sports, highlighted by a league title as well as a regular-season championship in men’s soccer (12-2-1), and a runner-up finish in women’s soccer after splitting the regular-season crown with Truman State at 12-1-2. The Hawks advanced to the semifinals of the GLVC Volleyball Championship Tournament after garnering the top seed and the GLVC West Division crown with a 16-2 league record. Rockhurst picked up the No. 2 seed in the GLVC Softball Championship Tournament after sharing the regular-season title with Southern Indiana with a 19-7 mark in league play. The Hawks were also runner-up in the West in women’s basketball, having earned the No. 5 seed to the GLVC Championship Tournament following an 11-7 effort in GLVC action. Rockhurst picked up the No. 9 tournament seed on the men’s side with an 8-10 mark.    

The Commissioner’s Cup, instituted prior to the 2002-03 season, has had five different institutions stake claim to the award. Prior to Rockhurst earning its first honor, UIndy picked up its second Cup last year after the first came in 2013-14, which was bookended by other first-time winners Drury (2014-15) and Lewis (2012-13). Following the 2011-12 season, former GLVC member Northern Kentucky took home its fifth-straight and eighth overall Cup over a 10-year span. Southern Indiana was the 2004 recipient, while former league member SIU Edwardsville earned the Commissioner’s Cup in 2007.

The standings for the 2016-17 GLVC Commissioner’s Cup are as follows: