Wolves Athletics will add eight new athletics teams for the 2013-2014
academic year, university officials announced today.
The new teams will include men’s track and field, women’s track and field,
men’s bowling, women’s bowling, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s golf and
women’s golf.
“Stritch has long embraced the leadership and character development that come
with athletic participation,” said Dr. James Loftus, Stritch president. “These
additions will not only afford new opportunities for our students to seek out
those enriching activities, but will also enhance the student life experience
for our entire campus community.”
An in-depth demographic analysis of college students in Wisconsin and
nationwide took place, which revealed high interest in these new programs. For
example, according to the National Research Center for College and University
Admissions, the appeal of bowling as a participatory activity will increase by
9.4 percent for students in Wisconsin and 5.6 percent for students nationally in
the next five years. Increases are also anticipated in golf, tennis, and track
and field.
The Stritch Wolves are affiliated with the National Association for
Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and are part of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic
Conference (CCAC). The new teams will compete in the same conference, with
the exception of bowling, which is an emerging sport in the NAIA. Student
bowlers will attend tournaments in and out of state.
“This marks a new day for athletics at Stritch,” said Patrick Clemens,
Stritch athletic director. “We are excited about bringing new student athletes
to campus and sharing the traditions of Stritch with them, as well as adding new
opportunities for our students and creating new levels of excitement for our
student body.”
Arrangements for home facilities are being finalized and will be announced
later, Clemens said.
Athletics has long played an important role at Stritch. In 1971, basketball
became the first intercollegiate sport for men. Over the years, additional
programs were added, including women’s basketball, men’s baseball, women’s
softball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s
and women’s volleyball.
Since 2008, Stritch Athletics has had 59 all-conference athletes, 13 NAIA
All-Americans, 40 Stritch Scholar Athletes, 51 CCAC Scholar Athletes, 25 NAIA
Scholar Athletes, nine NAIA National Tournament appearances, 19 conference
tournament appearances, nine regular season conference championships, five
conference tournament championships, seven conference coaches of the year, and
five conference players of the year.