The Chico State Wildcats (also CSU Chico Wildcats and Cal State Chico Wildcats) are the athletic teams that represent

California State University, Chico California State University, Chico, or commonly, Chico State, is a public university in Chico, California. Founded in 1887, it is the second oldest campus in the California State University system. As of the fall 2020 semester, the university h ...

, located in Chico,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

intercollegiate sports. The Wildcats compete as an associate member of the

California Collegiate Athletic Association The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. All of its current members are public universities, and upon U ...

for all 13 varsity sports. Since 1998, Chico State’s athletic teams have won 99 NCAA Championship berths, 40 CCAA titles, 24 West Region titles and 15 National titles. The school finished third in the 2004–2005

NACDA Director's Cup The NACDA Directors' Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup or simply as the Directors' Cup, is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and univers ...

Varsity sports

Baseball

The Chico State baseball team plays at the 4,100–seat

Nettleton Stadium Nettleton Stadium is a baseball stadium in Chico, California on the campus of California State University, Chico. It is the home field for the CSU Chico Baseball team, the Wildcats. It also served as the former home of the now-defunct Chico ...

, known as Ray Bohler Field until its 1997 renovation. The Wildcats won the

national title in 1997 and 1999, and was runner-up in 2002 and 2006; all four appearances in the finals were under head coach

Lindsay Meggs Lindsay Ross Meggs (born September 2, 1962) is an American retired baseball coach. He played college baseball for the UCLA Bruins baseball, UCLA Bruins from 1981 to 1984. He then served as the head coach of the Oxnard College, Oxnard (1990), Long ...

. The head coach since 2007 is Dave Taylor. Big Blue Bird is the 2019 All Star.

Softball

The Wildcats softball team won the first AIAW Division III national championship in 1980, led by pitcher

Kathy Arendsen Kathy Arendsen (born October 10, 1958) is an American softball head coach and former professional player. Arendsen pitched for Holland Christian High School, where she won the state championship, before embarking on a successful collegiate and ...

Men's soccer

The men's soccer reached the Division II College Cup final in 2003, losing 2–1 to

Lynn University Lynn University is a private university in Boca Raton, Florida. Founded in 1962, the university awards associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees. It is named for the Lynn family (Christine E. and Eugene M. Lynn). It has a total ...

Championships

Appearances

The Chico State Wildcats competed in the NCAA Tournament across 13 active sports (6 men's and 7 women's) 220 times at the Division II level. * Baseball (20): 1978, 1987, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 * Men's basketball (14): 1958, 1974, 1981, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 * Women's basketball (13): 1987, 1988, 1996, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 * Men's cross country (24): 1969, 1972, 1973, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 * Women's cross country (21): 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 * Men's golf (17): 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 * Women's golf (1): 2009 * Men's soccer (13): 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1992, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2018 * Women's soccer (8): 1992, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2018 * Softball (12): 1982, 1983, 1984, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 * Men's outdoor track and field (45): 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 * Women's outdoor track and field (27): 1982, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993• 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 * Women's volleyball (5): 1992, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2016

Team

The Wildcats of Chico State earned 6 NCAA championships at the Division II level. * Men's (6) **

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

(2): 1997, 1999 **

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

(1): 1966 ** Swimming and diving (3): 1973, 1974, 1976 Results Chico State won 1 national championship at the Division III level. * Men's swimming and diving: 1975 Below is one national championship that were not bestowed by the NCAA: * Softball – Division III (1): 1980 (

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 ...

) Below are five national club team championships: * Women's rugby: 2001, 2018 (

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of ru ...

) * Co-ed wakeboarding: 2010, 2012 ( USA Wakeboarding) // 2012 ( College Wake)

Individual

Chico State had 59 Wildcats win NCAA individual championships at the Division II level. At the NCAA Division III level, Chico State garnered 6 individual championships.

Former varsity sports

Football

Chico State ended its football program in 1997, citing rising insurance costs, in addition to an increased bias in favor of other athletic programs.

Swimming & diving

CSU Chico won the NCAA Division II national championships in men's swimming and diving in 1973, 1974 and 1976. The program was eliminated several years after the 1976 season.

Other sports

Rugby

Chico State's team plays

college rugby College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States of America. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the ...

in Division I-AA in the California Conference, playing alongside Fresno State, Stanford, San Jose State, UNR, and Sacramento State. In 2001, the women's rugby team won a Division I national championship. In 2019, the men's rugby team won the Pacific West Conference and went on to the Division I-AA national championship game.

References

External links

* {{California Collegiate Athletic Association navbox