In last 10 years: $100 million in new facilities or renovations to athletics facilities, 85 percent of student-athletes
who have completed their eligibility have graduated, 76 Sun Belt Conference championships (34 more than the next closest
school)!
WKU’s athletic teams have won 76 Sun Belt Conference championships (regular season or tournament) since 2000, 34 more than the next closest school.
CROSS COUNTRY- WKU’s women have now won 16-consecutive league titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor dating back to 2006 – the longest such streak in the nation.
- Michelle Scott was named conference coach of the year, and women’s cross country captured their fifth consecutive Sun Belt title and 16th overall league title.
- WKU has now won 16 of the 26 overall Sun Belt women’s cross country titles (61.5%).
- Shadrack Kipchirchir and Deus Rwaheru were named all-conference and All-Southeast Region on the men’s side, and Kipchirchir earned All-American honors after finishing 27th in the nation and posting the highest finish by a freshman.
- Marion Kandie, Vasity Chemweno and Michelle Finn earned all-conference honors for the women, Kandie and Chemweno were named All-Southeast Region and Kandie was also an NCAA qualifier and finished 70th in the nation.
- Earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history. The bid marked the fifth tournament appearance for the Lady Toppers since 2002.
- Jordyn Skinner (first-team), Tiffany Elmore (first-team), Lindsay Williams (second-team) and Melanie Stutsman (second-team) earned all-conference honors.
- Stutsman was also named Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-South Region, South Region Freshman of the Year, and Honorable Mention All-American.
- Tiffany Elmore was named Honorable Mention All-South Region.
- WKU reached the semi-finals of the conference tournament for the seventh time in the program’s 10-year history.
- Mallory Outerbridge was named first-team all-conference, and Libby Stout and Kaylyn Pratt earned second-team honors.
- Bobby Rainey was named Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Year and Honorable Mention All-America by Sports Illustrated.
- Rainey (first-team), Thomas Majors (second-team), Mychal Patterson (honorable mention) and Orlando Misaalefua (honorable mention) earned all-conference honors.
- Willie McNeal has been named to the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-America team as a kickoff returner.
- Eric Mathies was recognized as one of the top 10 recruiters in the nation from non-BCS Automatic Qualifying schools by Rivals.com.
- Claire Donahue was named WKU’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year
- Donahue finished 2nd in the nation in the 100 yard butterfly and 14th in the nation in the 200 yard butterfly at the 2011 NCAA Championships. Her 100 yard butterfly finish was the highest by a female or male swimmer in the history of WKU’s swimming and diving program.
- WKU finished 27th in the nation, ahead of state rivals Kentucky (28th) and Louisville (40th).
- Men and women finished second in Sun Belt Conference. Head coach Bruce Marchionda was named the Men's Swimming Coach of the Year and senior Claire Donahue earned Women's Swimmer of the Year honors for the second consecutive season.
- Marchionda was recognized by the American Swimming Coaches Association as a Coach of Excellence for 2010, awarded to coaches who guide a swimmer(s) to a top-8 finish at a USA Swimming national-level meet or a USA collegiate championship.
- Steffphon Pettigrew and Sergio Kerusch were named first-team all-conference and Pettigrew was named conference player of the year by collegeinsider.com. Kerusch was named to the Sun Belt’s all-tournament team.
- Seniors Arnika Brown (first team) and Amy McNear (third team) were both all-Sun Belt Conference selections. For Brown, it marked the third straight year she was a first-team honoree.
- The Lady Toppers reached the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the 19th time in program history.
- Women’s team captured Sun Belt title while men placed second overall.
- Sharika Smith was named second-team all-America in the long jump and honorable mention in the triple jump for her efforts at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past weekend. Smith's accolades are the 75th and 76th such honors in WKU's storied track and field history. More impressively, she becomes only the sixth female to earn all-America status, and joins Jonathan Brown (2004) as the only WKU athletes to earn multiple all-America honors in the same meet.
- David Mokone was named men's Freshman of the Year by league coaches, and Monteka Flowers was named women's Field Performer of the Year.
- Senior catcher Matt Rice was named the Capital One Academic All-American of the Year by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
- Rice and junior outfielder Kes Carter were first-team All-SBC selections, while sophomore left-hander Tanner Perkins and junior outfielder Jared Andreoli earned second-team all-SBC honors. Freshman right-hander Justin Hageman was named SBC Freshman of the Year. Rice was also named to the Sun Belt all-tournament team.
- Rice was named WKU’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year and is also the winner of the Sun Belt Conference’s Male Postgraduate Scholarship Award winner – Rice is also WKU’s all-time leader in base hits and RBIs and was one of 13 semi-finalists for the prestigious Johnny Bench Award given to the nation’s top catcher.
- Sophomore catcher Karavin Dew was named first-team all-conference.
- Shannon Smith was awarded the prestigious Ogden Foundation Scholar Award, after graduating with a 4.0 GPA in the College of Business. The Ogden Foundation Scholar is WKU's top academic honor presented to one graduating baccalaureate degree senior who has demonstrated exceptional academic achievement and outstanding university and civic engagement. Smith is employed by Ernst & Young, LLP in Nashville, Tenn.
- Men and women each captured Sun Belt titles. WKU’s women have now won 17-consecutive league titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor dating back to 2006 – the longest such streak in the nation.
- Ignacio "Nacho" Guerra placed seventh in the men's javelin at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. He became the first javelin thrower in Hilltopper history to score at the NCAA meet.
- Two other Hilltopper athletes made strong showings in the NCAA Meet as Laura Igaune played seventh in the hammer throw, and Shadrack Kipchirchir finished 16th in the 10,000 meter.
- Guerra and Igaune were each named first-team All-America by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, while Kipchirchir was selected to the All-America second team.