BYU Athletics Dominate Conference Championships in 2000-2001
PROVO, Utah -- With all of the 2000-2001 Mountain West Conference championships wrapped-up, BYU athletics is looking back on its most successful league performance ever. The Cougars took their share of conference titles winning 16 of the 19 sports they compete in, the most titles BYU has ever won in a year.
In 2000-2001, BYU won MWC titles in men's basketball, men's golf, women's soccer, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, men's cross country, women's cross country, women's volleyball, softball, baseball, men's indoor track, women's indoor track, men's outdoor track, women's outdoor track, men's tennis and women's tennis.
Outside of the MWC, BYU's volleyball teams won the MPSF regular season title and went on to win the NCAA National Championship, its second in three years.
Winning the conference title was business as usual for many BYU sports, while other sports made debut appearances in the winners's circle and some returned to glory.
Coach Steve Cleveland and MWC Player of the Year Mekeli Wesley led the men's basketball team to the NCAA tournament and its first conference title since 1993.
Coach Jim Osborne was honored as MWC Coach of the Year as the men's tennis team surprised the conference winning its first title since 1988.
BYU baseball made a triumphant return with MWC Coach of the Year Vance Law winning its first title since the 1994 season and played two games at the NCAA Regionals.
Mary Kay Amicone, MWC Coach of the Year, and the softball team won its first conference title ever after joining the conference last season.
The women's tennis team had its own MWC Coach of the Year, Craig Manning, who helped lead the top-seeded team to its sixth title in 10 years.
The men's cross country team collected its fourth straight conference title and there were no surprises when the women's cross country team won its 13th straight championship, finishing second in the NCAA.
For the 19th straight time, the women's outdoor track team won the conference title and the men's outdoor track team won the title for the 15th time in 18 years.
The women's volleyball team advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and finished 13th nationally after winning the MWC chamionship for the fifth straight year.
In only its sixth season as an NCAA Division-I sanctioned sport, the women's soccer team won its second straight conference championship, advancing to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the second straight year. The team finished 10th in the nation.
The men's swimming and diving team won their conference title behind All-Americans Arunas Savickas and Aaron Russell along with MWC Diver of the Year Justin Wilcock.
Stan Crump, MWC Coach of the Year, helped the women's swimming and diving team clinch their fifth title in ten years.
With All-MWC first team golfer Billy Harvey, the fourth seeded men's golf team beat top-seeded teams to win the MWC championship.
The 26th-ranked women's gymnastics team, not affilliated with a conference, finished second in its region and advanced to NCAA Regional competition.
The football team finished third in the conference in LaVell Edward's final season as head coach of the Cougars.
The women's golf team came on strong at the end of the season with Carrie Summerhayes, MWC Player of the Year, to finish fourth in the conference.
The second place women's basketball team entered the conference tournament a fourth seed and went on to the second round of the NIT.
In the two year history of the MWC, the Cougars have won 27 of 38 conference championships.
