The UC Riverside Highlanders represent the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

(UCR) in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

in 15 men's and women's intercollegiate athletics. The Highlanders compete in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

; they are members of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

. In 2020, the future of UCR's sports program was placed into doubt, as the university's leadership were considering cutting the entire athletics department in response to financial strain caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. However, in May 2021, the university announced that they had decided against eliminating athletics and would instead continue sponsoring all sports at the Division I level.

Sports sponsored

Baseball

The UC Riverside Highlanders baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team of the University of California, Riverside. The team is a member of the Big West Conference, which is part of the NCAA Division I. UC Riverside's first baseball team was fielded in 1958. The team plays its home games at the 2,500-seat

Riverside Sports Complex The Riverside Sports Complex, in Riverside, California, is the home field of the University of California, Riverside baseball team. The stadium seats 2,500 and features a home team locker room built personally by Troy Percival, a UC Riverside alum ...

Basketball

Men's basketball

The UC Riverside Highlanders men's basketball team represents the University of California, Riverside. The school's team currently competes in the Big West Conference, which is part of the NCAA Division I. UC Riverside's first men's basketball team was fielded during the 1958–59 season. The team plays its home games at the 3,168-seat

Student Recreation Center Arena The UC Riverside Student Recreation Center is available to UCR students for physical fitness, sport activities and general recreational use. The Student Recreation Center Arena (SRC Arena) is located in the building. It is home to the UC Riversid ...

Women's basketball

The UC Riverside Highlanders women's basketball team represents the University of California, Riverside. The school's team currently competes in the Big West Conference, which is part of the NCAA Division I. UC Riverside's first women's basketball team was fielded during the 1977–78 season. The team plays its home games at the 3,168-seat

Soccer

Men's soccer

The UC Riverside Highlanders men's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 0–1 through one appearance.

Women's soccer

The UC Riverside Highlanders women's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 0–1 through one appearance.

Former varsity sports

Football

The

UC Riverside Highlanders football UC Riverside Highlanders football represented the University of California, Riverside from the 1955 through the 1975 college football seasons. The Highlanders originally competed as an Independent before they joined the California Collegiate Ath ...

team played from 1955 until the program was disbanded in 1975. The team played at

Highlander Stadium Highlander may refer to: Regional cultures * Gorals (lit. ''Highlanders''), a culture in southern Poland and northern Slovakia * Hill people, who live in hills and mountains * Merina people, an ethnic group from the central plateau of Madagascar ...

Championships

Appearances

The UC Riverside Highlanders competed in the NCAA Tournament across 6 active sports (2 men's and 4 women's) 10 times at the Division I level. * Baseball (2): 2003, 2007 * Women's basketball (3): 2006, 2007, 2010 * Men's soccer (1): 2018 * Women's soccer (1): 2005 * Women's indoor track and field (2): 2009, 2016 * Women's outdoor track and field (1): 2009

Team

UC Riverside has never won a national championship at the NCAA Division I level. UC Riverside won 4 national championships at the NCAA Division II level. * Baseball (2): 1977, 1982 * Women's volleyball (2): 1982, 1986 Below is one national championship that was not bestowed by the NCAA: * Women's volleyball – Division II (1): 1977 (

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

)

Individual

UC Riverside had 1 Highlander win an NCAA individual championship at the Division I level. At the NCAA Division II level, UC Riverside garnered 11 individual championships.

Traditions

Mascot

"Scotty Highlander" is the mascot for UC Riverside. The original mascot was an aggressive little bear wearing a

kilt A kilt ( gd, fèileadh ; Irish: ''féileadh'') is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Hi ...

for the school's logo. In 1998, a referendum to move to NCAA Division I was passed and the students approached the administration requesting a new mascot and the old mascot was replaced. In 2011, the mascot was updated again with students voting online and a new "Scotty Highlander" mascot, featuring a roaring bear wearing a plaid Tam o' Shanter was chosen.

School colors

All schools in the University of California System have a combination of blue and gold as their school colors. UC Riverside follows this tradition.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle={{CollegePrimaryStyle, UC Riverside Highlanders, color=white , list = {{Big West Conference navbox {{Mountain Pacific Sports Federation navbox {{Inland Empire Sports