BELLINGHAM, Wash. – For the fourth consecutive year, Western Washington University claimed the Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Sports Championship.

 

Overall, it is the 16th GNAC All-Sports trophy for WWU since the league was founded in 2001-02. The trophy is designed to reward the top overall athletic performance by an institution within the confines of GNAC play in a given academic year. The GNAC All-Sports trophy has been awarded 22 times since the conference's inception, with no trophy given during the COVID-impacted 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years.

 

The Vikings won nine total GNAC trophies (8 regular-season titles) during the 2024-25 academic year, garnering 9.19 points to top the overall school leaderboard. WWU also claimed the men's all-sport title with 8.93 points and the women's all-sport title with 8.87 points. Central Washington finished second in the overall standings with 7.34 points and Simon Fraser was third with 6.74 points.

 

Six total trophies achieved by the Vikings cross country and track & field program did the bulk of the lifting during 2024-25, as WWU continued its dominance across the three sports. Sweeping all six of the women's and men's titles between cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field for the second straight year, the Vikings upped their overall streak to 14 consecutive crowns across the three sports dating back to the spring of 2023. Ben Stensland was voted by his peers as the GNAC Coach of the Year in all six sports after piloting the program to the unprecedented run of success.

 

WWU also won its second straight GNAC title in softball, cruising through the regular season with a conference record of 21-3 to run away with the crown. The Vikings then swept their way through the GNAC Championships to grab their second straight conference tournament title and went on to reach the NCAA Division II World Series for the second year in a row. WWU completed another historic softball campaign with an overall record of 47-13 while being led by eighth-year head coach and GNAC co-Coach of the Year Sheryl Gilmore.

The Vikings' other GNAC title came last fall in women's soccer, when they went unbeaten in conference play at 11-0-3 to accumulate 36 points and win the trophy by nine points over the next closest teams. Led by longtime head coach Travis Connell, who was named GNAC Coach of the Year for the eighth time, The Vikings went 14-4-5 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA West Region Championships.

 

The GNAC All-Sports Championship evaluates an institution's overall excellence in athletics over a given year. Scores are based on regular-season finishes in volleyball, men's & women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball, and conference meet finishes in men's and women's cross country, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field, men's and women's golf and women's rowing.

 

WWU finished with an average of 9.19 points in the overall race, finishing well ahead of second-place Central Washington (7.34 points) and third-place Simon Fraser (6.74 points). WWU's men's teams racked up an average of 8.93 points, with CWU's men finishing second at 7.73 points and Northwest Nazarene taking third at 7.58 points. On the women's side, WWU averaged 8.87 points for first place, while SFU's women averaged 7.20 points for second and Alaska Anchorage averaged 6.49 points for third.

 

In addition to the great success at the conference level, 11 of WWU's 15 intercollegiate varsity programs had representation at the NCAA Division II Championships level, highlighted by softball winning a second consecutive West Region title, men's golf advancing to the regional championship for the 26th consecutive season, women's soccer making their 11th NCAA Tournament in the last 12 seasons and women's rowing placing third at the national regatta.

 

This marks the 22nd year the GNAC All-Sports Trophy has been awarded since conference was formed in 2001-02. WWU has placed in the top two in the conference in all 22 seasons, including winning top honors 16 times. There was no award presented in 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to the global pandemic.

 

 

The GNAC All-Sports Championship is determined using a unique points system, which gives each school an average score based on its finish in each conference sport and the number of GNAC sports sponsored by each institution. The averages are based on regular-season finishes in football, volleyball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball and conference meet finishes in men's and women's cross country, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field, men's and women's golf and women's rowing. From 2002 to 2016, the All-Sports Championship was based on a raw points system, with teams receiving points in two-point increments based on their finish that season. Since 2017, scoring has been based on the Dormeyer System, which determines an average score for each institution based on its finish in each conference sport and the number of GNAC sports sponsored by each institution.

 

Here is a look at the scoring breakdown and conference championships for each school in 2024-25:

 

 

2024-25 GNAC REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS BY SCHOOL

• Western Washington (8): Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Women's Soccer, Men's Indoor Track & Field, Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's Outdoor Track & Field, Women's Outdoor Track & Field, Softball
• Central Washington (2): Volleyball, Men's Basketball
• Simon Fraser (2): Men's Golf, Women's Golf
• Alaska Anchorage (1): Women's Basketball
• Cal Poly Humboldt (1): Women's Rowing
• Northwest Nazarene (1): Baseball
• Western Oregon (1): Men's Soccer