Grinnell wins both MWC All-Sports Trophies
GRINNELL, Iowa – A milestone year of athletics at Grinnell College has resulted in heights never before reached by the Pioneers.
For the first time in school history, both Grinnell College’s women’s and men’s athletics teams have claimed Midwest Conference All-Sports Trophies in the same year. Grinnell’s men won the Ralph Shively Cup for the ninth time, but the first instance since 2014-15, while the women boosted their total to seven including three years in a row.
The last school to win both the women’s and men’s trophies in the same year was St. Norbert College in 2018-19.
All-sports points are awarded on a 9-8-7, etc. basis in all sports except for football, which is done on a 10-9-8, etc. basis, and tennis 7-6-5, etc. The University of Chicago and St. Norbert are skipped in football, baseball and women’s and men’s swimming and diving.
Places are determined by regular-season standings for men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, football and baseball. Championship meets are used to determine points for the other sports.
Grinnell’s women easily won the all-sports standings, piling up 66.5 points compared to runner-up Ripon College’s total of 49.5. On the men’s side, Grinnell edged Illinois College 58-55.5 for top honors.
Grinnell won six of the 18 MWC titles, taking first in cross country, tennis and swimming and diving on both the women’s and men’s sides.
The Pioneers received second-place points in women’s soccer, softball and men’s basketball and third-place points in men’s outdoor track and field, women’s indoor track and field and women’s outdoor track and field.
Fourth-place points came in men’s soccer, men’s indoor track and field and volleyball. Women’s basketball tied for fourth place.
The all-sports trophies are named for Ralph Shively, former Chair of the Mathematics Department at Lake Forest College. He was actively involved in the MWC as a Faculty Athletic Representative beginning in 1974 before becoming the Conference commissioner in 1982. He held that post until 2004.
