The University of Nebraska at Kearney won’t have to build any more trophy cases to house the conference all-sports trophies.
The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, which UNK has joined, doesn’t have one.
The Lopers won 14 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Sports trophies, including 11 straight from 1995 to 2006, and survived numerous tweaks to the scoring system. The MIAA took a simpler route, giving up in 2003 after six years ¾ and six Central Missouri championships that reflect the Mules’ and Jennies’ desire to succeed.
“If you look at us across the board, we have a really well-rounded program,” UCM Athletics Director Jerry Hughes said. “We have 16 sports, and we typically have 13 or 14 of those go to national competition.”
Central Missouri won or shared MIAA championships in seven sports this past year. Nationally, the Mules and Jennies finished 10th in the Directors Cup standings, cashing in on fourth-place finishes in women’s track and field and fifth-place finishes in women’s volleyball and men’s golf.
“Our history in the Director’s Cup is better than anybody else’s in the league,” said Hughes, who has been the driving force behind Central Missouri’s athletic department since 1983. Prior to that, he was the assistant AD for two years.
Under Hughes’ leadership UCM’s men and women won the Division II basketball championships in 1984 and national baseball championships in 1994 and 2003. The Jennies also won the Intercollegiate Bowling Association championship in 2003. They lost to the Nebraska Cornhuskers in this year’s bowling quarterfinals.
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