Top 100 Western State College Athletic Moments

1911 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame 1997 inductee Dr. John C. Johnson, acting as the “one-man athletic department” starts Western State’s first intercollegiate team: men’s basketball.
1923 Western State adopts the mascot “Mountaineers”.
1923 Western State joins the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Mountaineers are the second-oldest active member in the RMAC, which is the fourth-oldest athletic conference in the nation among all divisions.
1924 The “W” Club is organized. It included “all letter men of the College, resident letter men being active members and non-resident letter men honorary members” (reprinted from the 1924 Curecanti yearbook).
1925 “On the first of October died Buell Crawford, team-mate, student and gentleman. Cut down in his youth, he fell as gloriously as any martyr ever did. He died in the service of his Alma Mater; nor do we believe he would have cared to choose a different death. Buell knew he was going to die; and his courage did not falter. His last words to us when he was going to the hospital were, “stay right in there fellows.” That was the spirit in which he died. He took his lot, his unfortunate fate like the true sport and man he was. We will miss him greatly, not merely as a fellow student, but because we loved him!” -1924 Curecanti Yearbook

Crawford Gymnasium, now Crawford Hall, is named in his honor.
1934 Everett Brown, an offensive lineman, becomes Western State’s first All-American in any sport. He was a member of the Associated Press All-America Second Team.
1948 Western State plays its first game in Mountaineer Bowl, and breaks in the new facility with a 20-0 shutout of Colorado School of Mines.
1950 Western State athletic director and Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee Paul Wright chairs the committee that establishes skiing as an NCAA sport.
1950 A bus carrying the football team loses its brakes going down Monarch Pass. Using commands from the driver, the team shifted its weight from one side to the other to make it safely down the mountain. Undethe Mountaineers win their game 35-14 against Adams State.
1951 Paul Wright Gym opens for the first time. The swimming pool and small gym are added to the west side in 1960, the wrestling room to the east side in 1965 and new classrooms and offices added to the south side in 1998.
1951 Lynn Levy wins the first W Mountain Race – what would turn out to be three straight wins by Levy. The race becomes the longest-running race in the state of Colorado.
1954  Western State football wins the RMAC championship after Montana State is forced to forfeit three games. It’s the first undefeated team in program history and the first conference championship for the Mountaineers in any sport.
1956 Head Coach and Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inaugural induction class member Sven Wiik leads the Mountaineers to the NCAA cross country ski championship. Richard Mize wins the Don Johnson Memorial Trophy, given to the most outstanding American skier at the championships.
1956 Bill Rhodes, a member of the inaugural class of the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame, plays his last game for the Mountaineers. He amassed 4,297 rushing yards, which remains a program record. His number (22) is retired.
1957 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee Mack Miller wins the NCAA championship for the men’s cross country event held in Ogden, Utah.
1957 RMAC All-Century team member and Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee Gene Williams records his third straight undefeated season, and third straight conference title, at 115 pounds. Only four undefeated seasons have been record in Mountaineer wrestling history.
1957 Bill Schmalz, who will be entering the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in 2010, makes his first career start for the Mountaineers and makes national headlines with six touchdowns against Adams State. The feat came 33 years to the day after Red Grange scored five touchdowns for Illinois against Michigan, earning Schmalz the nickname “Red Grange of the Rockies”. Schmalz had a seventh touchdown, a 67-yard punt return, called back because of a clipping penalty.
1958 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee Herb Dorricott, Western State’s faculty athletic representative at the time, becomes President of the NCAA after serving on the NCAA Council. He would hold that title until 1961. Dorricott would oversee the first NCAA Television Committee.
1963 The Mountaineers win a second NCAA cross country ski title. Dave Gorsuch finishes as the downhill champion and as runner-up in the slalom and alpine combined.
1963 The Mountaineers win a second NCAA cross country ski title. Dave Gorsuch finishes as the downhill champion and as runner-up in the slalom and alpine combined, while Eddie Demers wins the first of his two national championships in the cross country event. Both Gorsuch and Demers are Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductees.
1963 Head Coach Tracy Borah leads the Mountaineer wrestling team to the NCAA College Division championship – the first national championship for Western State in any sport. Van Doughtey becomes wrestling’s first individual national champion.
1964 Tracy Borah starts the Rocky Mountain Wrestling Camp at Spring Creek Canyon. Today, the camp is held on the Western State campus and is the longest-running wrestling camp in the United States.
1964 The Mountaineers repeat as national champions behind national individual champions and Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame members Bob Hollingshead and Al Rozman.
1964 Western State football plays in its first postseason game – the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Mo. The Mountaineers go for a two-point conversion but end up on the short end of a 14-13 loss to North Dakota State.
1965 Al Rozman repeats as a national champion with most pins in least amount of time in the NCAA and Dale Stryker goes undefeated to earn his first national championship to lead the Mountaineers to a third-place finish at the national tournament.  Rozman enters the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
1965 James Novak, first bowl quarterback for WSC, and Al Rozman, first back-to-back wrestling National Champion, are co-recipients of the inaugural Paul W. Wright Award, given to the outstanding senior student-athlete.
1966 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame member Louis Werner becomes the second skier in NCAA history, and only the fourth in the entire history, to win back-to-back skimeister championships. It also marks three straight wins for the Mountaineers in that event, after Jennings Cress won the title in 1964. The event is discontinued after the 1973 championships.
1966 The Mountaineers leave the national wrestling championships with an individual champion for the fourth straight year as Tom Beeson wins the heavyweight title. Beeson enters the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
1966 Western State finishes second at the NCAA skiing championships held in Crested Butte.
1967 The Mountaineers tied with Northern Colorado to claim its first wrestling championship. It would be 24 years before Western State would claim the first outright title in 1991.
1967 Glen Younger, a 2003 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame member, wins the 130-pound title at the national wrestling championships as Western State goes five straight seasons with an individual national champion.
1968 Nelson Shibasaki win the NCAA national title in the 200-yard backstroke with a championships record of 2:01.00 that stands until 1972. He led the Mountaineers to a ninth-place finish, their highest in NCAA competition.
1970 Men’s basketball student-athlete Michael Adams becomes Western State’s first CoSIDA Academic All-American.
1973 Western State wins the inaugural RMAC men’s swimming championship, starting a streak of five straight conference championships for the Mountaineers.
1973 The Mountaineer football team goes 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the RMAC to win the first of seven straight conference championships under Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame member Bill Noxon. The next best streak in conference history was by Utah, when the Utes won six straight from 1928-33.
1975 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee Wolfgang Taylor sets the NCAA all-division career kick-scoring mark as the clock expires in his final collegiate game with 237 points.
1976 Harvey Dalton wins his fourth straight conference championship in wrestling at 142 pounds. He’s the only four-time conference champion in Mountaineer wrestling history.
1976 Bill Noxon takes the Mountaineers to the playoffs for the first time in program history. Western State falls in the NAIA semifinals against eventual champion Texas A&M-Kingsville.
1978 Western State football defeats Central Arkansas in the NAIA quarterfinals to reach the semifinals for the second time in three years.
1979 In only the second season, the Western State women’s basketball team wins the RMAC championship and advances to the second round of the NAIA Area Playoffs under Phil Swille.
1979 No. 1 singles player Marla Ragle leads the Mountaineers to the first of three straight RMAC women’s tennis championships. Ragle, Susan Hurt and Sally Aldridge each advance to the regional tournament.
1981 Western State finishes as the national runner-up at the NAIA national women’s swimming championships in Thelma Muff’s first season as head coach. Muff would later be named the RMAC Women's Swimming Coach of the Century.
1981 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee Jack Garrison wins the first individual national championship for the Mountaineer wrestling team in 14 years to lead Western State to a fourth-place finish at the NAIA national championships.
1984 Western State women’s swimming wins its third RMAC championship in a four-year span. Joan Mancini-Todd breaks the conference 50-yard freestyle record and Lisa Vandevier-Mapes wins five events. Both are Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductees.
1985 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame Head Coach Jim “Doc” Hahn takes the Mountaineer women’s basketball team to the NAIA playoffs, starting a run of five straight playoff appearances.
1985 Dennis Leck wins Western State’s first national track and field individual championship by winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
1986 Mike Zerr wins the NAIA national wrestling championship at 190 pounds. He enters the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in 2007
1986 Eduardo Navas wins the two longest events between the indoor and outdoor national championships (the 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs), becoming the Mountaineers’ first indoor national champion. He would go on to win the 1987 and 1988 indoor 3,000-meter titles and the 1988 outdoor 5,000-meter run. He is a member of the second induction class of the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
1986 Western State wins the first men's cross country national championship by tying with arch-rival and defending NAIA national champion Adams State.
1987 David Wright, Rick Raduzinger, Kevin Rombeck and Kurt Cavarra make up four of the seven members of the All-RMAC Men’s Golf Team.
1987 Western State finishes third in the NAIA Men’s All-Sport Cup.
1988 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame member Juan Diaz wins his first of three national championships in the 5,000-meter run at the indoor NAIA championships. He would go on to win the 1989 indoor and outdoor titles.
1988 Lorie Moreno wins Western State’s first women’s individual national championship in any sport by winning the 10,000-meter run at the NAIA outdoor track and field championships.
1989 Regina Rhodes wins the first of three national championships with the outdoor long jump championship. She would win back-to-back outdoor triple jump championships in 1990 and 1991.
1990 Head Coach Ollie Woods wins his eighth RMAC men’s golf championship and third straight. He is named the RMAC Men’s Golf Coach of the Century in 2009 and was a 1998 inductee into the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame.
1990 Western State closes out a half-decade of championships in women’s outdoor track and field.
1990 Western State wins the first women’s national championship in any sport by claiming the NAIA cross country title.
1991 The Mountaineer football team goes undefeated in the RMAC and advances to the NAIA national semifinals. Head Coach Duke Iverson, who will enter the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame this fall, is named the national coach of the year. Iverson goes on to win five more conference championships, pushing the all-time total to 19. The next closest schools are Mesa State and Colorado with nine championships each.
1992 Tim Morrissey wins the 177-pound national championship during the Mountaineers final year of NAIA competition. Western State finished eighth at the tournament that season.
1992 The athletic department, along with the rest of the RMAC schools, move to the NCAA Division II level.
1993 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee Steve Fendry earns his third All-America honor, and his first at the Division II level, as he ends his career in the Division II men’s basketball regional playoffs. He helped lead the team to the RMAC championship under Head Coach Jay Helman, who would go on to become Western State’s president in 2001.
1993 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame and RMAC Hall of Fame member Regina Rhodes wins the RMAC 100-meter, long jump and triple jump outdoor championships. It wraps up a career of 21 individual track and field championships for Rhodes, a conference record.
1993 Elva Dryer, a 2001 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee, wins the first of four straight 3,000-meter outdoor national championships. She would also win the 1,500-meter outdoor title in 1996.
1993 Elva Dryer wins the first individual cross country championship for the Mountaineers. She successfully defends her title in 1994.
1995 Tuma Urio wins the 10,000-meter run championship at the NCAA outdoor championships.
1995 The first class of the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame is inducted: Tracy Borah, Bill Noxon, Bill Rhodes, Willard “Pete” Pederson, Sven Wiik and Paul Wright.
1995 After nine years, the Western State men’s cross country team return to the top of the podium by claiming the NCAA Division II title.
1995 Tuma Urio makes it three straight individual women’s cross country championships for the Mountaineers.
1996 Western State women’s indoor track and field team place third at the national championships, the highest finish in program history. And it was done with only three athletes, all who are in the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame: Elva Dryer, Ermalinda Shehu and Nicole Jefferson. Shehu won the first women’s indoor track and field individual championship in program history with a victory in the triple jump.
1997 Amy Crawford wins the NCAA championship in the 15-kilometer freestyle cross country at Vermont. It was the first time the event had been contested at the NCAA championships since 1994.
1997 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee Ermalinda Shehu completes the two-year sweep in the triple jump. She won the indoor and outdoor titles in both 1996 and 1997.
1998 Nicole Jefferson wins the first of back-to-back national championships in the outdoor 3,000-meter run. She also added the 1999 indoor mile championship for the Mountaineers first women’s indoor title in a track event. Jefferson enters the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
1999 After finishing as the national runner-up twice before, Mountaineer Sports and RMAC Hall of Fame member Shane Carwin captures the elusive national heavyweight wrestling championship for the Mountaineers. He also finishes his career with a program record 60 pins.
1999 Michael Aish wins the first of four indoor national championships in the 5,000-meter run. He also wins the first of six outdoor national championships between the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs.
1999 The Mountaineer men start an incredible run for Division II cross country titles with the 1999 title. The Mountaineers took the top three individual spots behind champion Michael Aish.
2000 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2010 inductee Jennifer Michel wins the 3,000-meter run at the Division II outdoor championships, making it three-in-a-row for the Mountaineers in the event. She would go on to win the 2001 national indoor mile championship and win the first women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase championship.
2000 Western State wins it’s only RMAC volleyball championship in program history. Kristy Jacovetta is named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season.
2000 Western State sweeps the cross country national titles as the men repeat and the women win their first national title at the Division II level.
2001 Dave Vondy wins the national wrestling championship at 165 pounds.
2001 After qualifying for the national volleyball tournament the previous two seasons, the Mountaineers reach the Elite Eight and the national quarterfinals.
2001 The women’s cross country defends its national title and the men win their third straight in Slippery Rock, Pa. Michael Aish wins his second national championship and Hannah Lawrence wins her first title.
2002 Rebekah Mackie wins the third women’s 10,000-meter run national championship in program history.
2002 The RMAC Sports Information Director of the Year Award is named after long-time Western State SID and Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame inductee J.W. Campbell. Campbell spent 25 years as the Western State SID and additional years in a variety of positions across campus.
2002 Western State finishes fifth in the NACDA Director’s Cup for the third consecutive season.
2002 The Mountaineers sweep the national cross country championships for the third straight year in Ashland, Ohio, and the men collect their fourth straight national title.
2003 The Western State men’s indoor track and field team repeats as national runner-up in Boston, helped by Will Banks’ national championship in the mile run.
2003 Scott Nagelkerte wins the first of his two indoor 5,000-meter run national championships.
2003 Josh Eberly makes it three in a row for Western State by winning the outdoor 10,000-meter run national championship (after Michael Aish’s back-to-back wins). Phil McPherson also wins the 3,000-meter steeplechase title and Scott Nagelkerte wins the 5,000-meter run.
2004 A year after finishing winless during the dual season, the Western State wrestling team finishes fourth at the national championships with a number of the same wrestlers. Jared Haberman and Adrian Jiron win national titles, the first time the Mountaineers finish with two individual champions since 1965. Miles Van Hee earns national coach of the year honors.
2004 Kelly Christensen wins the national steeplechase title a year after Phil McPherson wins it for the Mountaineers.
2004 After a one-year hiatus, the Mountaineer men’s cross country team returns to the top of the podium with the national championship.
2005 Alisha Williams wins the outdoor 3,000-meter run at the national championships, finishing a career that saw her win six national championships between the indoor and outdoor seasons.
2005 Oliver Bodor wins the indoor 5,000-meter championship.
2005 Western State wins the men’s cross country national championship for the sixth time in a seven-year span – and the seventh overall. The seven Division II men’s titles remain a national record.
2006 Esther Komen wins the women’s national cross country individual championship, becoming the fourth different Mountaineer female to win a national cross country title.
2007 Sarah Schaedler wins the giant slalom at the NCAA championships.
2007 Head Cross Country Coach Jennifer Michel becomes the first female in NCAA history to win national coach of the year honors in a men’s sport, after the Mountaineers finish second at the national championships.
2008 Western State appears in a live national telecast for the first time in school history when the Mountaineer football team plays Mesa State.
2010 Donovan McMahill becomes the 14th different Mountaineer to win a national individual wrestling championship – winning the 197-pound weight class.
2010 Western State students approve a referendum for the construction of a recreation center and fieldhouse. Plans call for a six-lane, 200-meter competition track for the Mountaineer track and field teams and the Gunnison community. The facility is scheduled to be finished by 2014.