Stories of the Decade: Honorable Mention
Oskaloosa–The 2010s was a great decade for William Penn Athletics, highlighted by a plethora of conference titles, national qualifications, and individual accolades.
To commemorate all that success, the WPU Athletic Communications department, in conjunction with other departments on campus, opened the new decade by thoroughly deliberating the best stories from the 2010s.
We start today with the headlines that narrowly missed the top-10 list, but were still noteworthy enough to warrant honorable-mention status.
WPU adds six new sports
William Penn, like almost all small colleges and universities, needed to make some changes to maneuver through the difficult waters of higher education and therefore made the decision to bolster its listing of sponsored activities by adding several intercollegiate sports over the past few years.
Announced in 2018 and starting in 2019-2020, WPU began sponsoring men’s volleyball and men’s and women’s lacrosse, while women’s wrestling and men’s and women’s shotgun sports were announced in 2019 and will begin competing in the 2020-2021 school year.
WPU Athletics Director Nik Rule said this when the initial three sports were added: “They are quickly-emerging sports in the NAIA with several schools in our conference and our region sponsoring them. It is the perfect time to add them to our department and we have facilities that will immediately be able to accommodate each sport.”
The new additions give William Penn a total of 27 intercollegiate sports offerings.
Men’s soccer qualifies for first-ever national tournament; WPU hosts Opening Round
The Statesmen men’s soccer team enjoyed its best season in program history in 2019, finishing 15-5-1 (9-2 Heart) and being ranked in the top 10 for the first time ever. Most importantly, though, William Penn earned its first-ever qualification for the NAIA National Championship. Due to its high ranking, the navy and gold hosted the Opening Round Tournament, unfortunately bowing out to eventual national runner-up Hastings in a shootout in the Opening Round title game.
Led by First-Team All-American Eduardo Bonatto (first for WPU as well), the Statesmen broke numerous school records, including for wins, goals, and assists.
Bowling teams qualify for every sectional tournament during the decade
The William Penn men’s and women’s bowling programs needed little time to become national contenders on the lanes. The inaugural campaigns were in 2009-2010, and during the 2010s, both squads qualified for the USBC Sectional Tournaments (AKA the national qualifier) each and every season.
WPU not only qualified amongst the top roughly 70-80 squads each year, but performed well at their sectional with the men advancing to nationals four times and the women making the final event on three occasions.
Both programs have produced numerous all-conference and All-America performers during their existence.
WPU Joins Heart of America Athletic Conference
After departing from NCAA Division III and the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at the turn of the century, William Penn spent 14 exciting campaigns in the Midwest Collegiate Conference (Mid-States Football Association for football). Alas, that time also came to an end in the spring of 2015 as the MCC disbanded.
The Statesmen found a new home in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, beginning competition in the fall of 2015. WPU became the Heart’s 12th institution at the time (currently the Heart has 13 and will be 14 in the fall of 2020) and has enjoyed great success since joining, including winning 12 league crowns and qualifying for a large number of NAIA national tournaments.
Men’s basketball wins nine of 10 Toilet Paper games against Grand View
The Annual Toilet Paper game between the William Penn men’s basketball team and Grand View is unquestionably the most anticipated sporting event on campus each year. Fortunately, not only is it exciting, but the Statesmen are also pretty good on those nights.
During the 2010s, WPU went 9-1 on TP Night. Seven of the rivalry contests were tight, being decided by single digits, but the navy and gold did manage a couple blowouts, outscoring the Vikings 822-729 during the decade.
Baseball goes from worst to first to win 2019 Heart Title
In 2018, the Statesmen baseball team won 15 games, including eight in the league to finish with the worst record in the Heart. Just 12 months later, however, the same program, flush with confidence and some new faces, made a worst-to-first turnaround as it won the conference regular-season crown with an 18-6 mark.
WPU, paced by five all-Heart performers, won 33 games in 2019, including its first six of the campaign. The squad did it on both ends, hitting a combined .333 with 22 home runs, while pitching nine complete games with four shutouts. Chase Stratton eclipsed more than 100 strikeouts and Tanner Bedier had a breakout freshman season with a .386 batting average, a team-high six homers, and over 50 strong innings on the mound.
It marked the 14th conference title in school and the 10th time that Head Coach Mike Laird was named Conference Coach of the Year.
