by Henry Miller | Staff Writer
Whitworth has secured the coveted McIlroy-Lewis all-sports trophy for the 11th year in a row. Whitworth edged Pacific Lutheran University by 14 points to claim the trophy once again. The trophy has been a symbol of Whitworth’s athletic dominance over the past 11 years.
“That’s the cool thing about this award,” athletic director Tim Demant said. “We can’t rely on just one sport to win. Every sport has the opportunity to contribute the same amount of points, so every sport at Whitworth contributed to this award this year.”
Points are tallied based on where a sport finishes in their conference ranking.
Whitworth’s win is significant considering the lack of two sports other universities in the Northwest Conference offer. Whitworth does not offer a women’s rowing program and until recently did not offer a women’s lacrosse program. Pacific Lutheran University was able to gather 18 points from women’s rowing this year, which put them in serious contention with Whitworth.
The overall dominance over such a long period of time has only been done once before by PLU, which held the trophy from 1986 to 1993 and then from 1995 to 2000.
“The award really speaks to the overall excellence of our athletic program,” Demant said. “Whitworth also leads the conference in scholar athletes. This just shows the culture of success at Whitworth and the community that attracts high caliber athletes.”
Whitworth celebrated Northwest Conference championships in women’s cross country, men’s swimming and men’s basketball. Pirate football finished in second place with a record of 5-2. Women’s golf finished second place in the NWC with 24 total points from tournaments. Women’s soccer finished third place in the NWC with a record of 11-3-2. Women’s volleyball had a second place finish with an overall record of 12-4.
Whitworth has built a strong assortment of student athletes. “We have presidential and faculty support for all our athletics and that has helped us build a winning culture here,” Demant said. “Every coach has won this award. Football doesn’t account for more points than swimming or tennis. It takes a strong effort across the board to win this award.”
With the school year and spring athletic season coming to a close, another strong year of athletics has been capped off by recognizing Whitworth’s dominance over the year.