The university has had a remarkable history in athletics as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).
Loggers have competed in the Evergreen, Northwest, Northern Pacific, and Great Northwest conferences, and as an unaligned independent. Puget Sound’s teams have won 14 national championships in five sports. They include men’s basketball (NCAA Division II 1976); women’s swimming (NAIA 1989, 1990, 1996, 1998, and 1999); men’s swimming (NAIA 1995, 1996, and 1997); women’s cross-country (NAIA 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995); and women’s volleyball (NAIA 1993). That is more than any other school in the Northwest Conference.
The 1969 men’s baseball team made it to the Final Four of the NCAA Division II College World Series. The women’s softball team finished runner-up in the NAIA Championships in 1991 and 1995. The women’s eight-person crew team with coxswain finished runner-up in NCAA Division III rowing championships in 2003. One year later, the women’s soccer team also finished as the runner-up in the NCAA Division III Championships.
Logger teams have won countless conference championships in all sports, and they have prevailed against Division I opponents across the Northwest. Teams scored wins over the University of Washington (basketball, baseball, and swimming); Washington State (baseball and swimming); the University of Oregon (baseball and swimming); Oregon State (baseball and swimming); Gonzaga University (basketball and baseball); and Seattle University (basketball and baseball).
There have been 21 scholar-athletes drafted by the three major leagues — five in the National Football League, eight in Major League Baseball, and eight in the National Basketball Association. Puget Sound athletes have set world and NCAA records and played in two men’s NCAA College Basketball All-Star games, and more than 300 scholar-athletes have attained All-American status.
