The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (also known as CSUB Roadrunners, and now in the process of being rebranded as the Bakersfield Roadrunners) are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing

California State University, Bakersfield California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Ba ...

, located in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...

. The Roadrunners compete at the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I level as a member of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

Nickname

Bakersfield's official team nickname is the "Roadrunners". In November 1970, thirty-three nicknames were put to a student vote. The final vote was between Roadrunners and El Cid with "Roadrunners" winning.

History

The university is currently an

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

school, after previously competing at the Division II level and in the

California Collegiate Athletic Association The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level. All of its current m ...

(CCAA). The Roadrunners began the transition process in 2006 and became a full Division I member in July 2010. Following a period as one of a tiny number of Division I independents, CSU Bakersfield joined the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

in July 2013 for most sports. On November 27, 2017, CSUB announced that it would leave the WAC and join the

on July 1, 2020. The university began rebranding its athletic program as "Bakersfield" in the 2023–24 school year.

Sports sponsored

Most varsity teams representing California State University, Bakersfield compete in the

. The wrestling team is in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

, the swimming and diving teams are in the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the Western United States, although it has added members as far east as Massachusetts. The conference participates at the NCAA Divisio ...

, and the women's indoor track and field team competes as an independent. The swimming & diving teams will move to the Big West when it begins sponsoring the sport for both sexes in 2024–25.

Baseball

On May 17, 2007, CSUB announced that

Bill Kernen William Craig Kernen (born August 1, 1948) is an American baseball coach and playwright. He was the head coach at Cal State Northridge from 1989 to 1995 and at Cal State Bakersfield from 2009 to 2015. Other coaching positions as an assistant ...

would be the school's first baseball coach, with the school's first official season beginning in Spring of 2009. The Roadrunners played their first baseball game on February 20, 2009 against

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

in an 8-7 loss, and recorded the first win in program history on February 21 with a 4-2 win against the Billikens. On September 20, 2011, the Roadrunners were invited to join the

as an affiliate member in baseball. On October 5, 2012 the Western Athletic Conference extended an invitation to the Roadrunners to join on July 1, 2013 as full members. The Roadrunners won the 2015 WAC Baseball Tournament Championship in Mesa, Arizona and earned their first bid to the NCAA Regionals. The Roadrunners were placed in the Los Angeles Regional hosted by UCLA. CSUB lost twice to the host Bruins but managed to win the program's first postseason game when they defeated 2014 College World Series participant Ole Miss 2-1. Bill Kernen retired following the 2015 season. Assistant coach Bob Macaluso was promoted to head coach in August 2015.

Basketball

Men's basketball

The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's basketball team represents California State University, Bakersfield. The team plays its home games at the Icardo Center.

Women's basketball

The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's basketball team represents California State University, Bakersfield. The team plays its home games at the Icardo Center.

Men's soccer

Cal State Bakersfield (in blue) v Air Force match in 2019 The Roadrunner men's soccer program won the 1997 Division II National Championship and has provided several MLS and international professionals to various rosters. Men's soccer was the first team to appear in a Division I postseason match when they earned an at-large spot in the 2011 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. The most notable soccer alumnus is Los Angeles Galaxy star and US Men's National Team striker Gyasi Zardes. Zardes competed for the Roadrunners from 2010-2012. He signed a MLS homegrown contract with the Galaxy in 2012. The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 0–1 through one appearance.

Softball

While still members of Division II, the Roadrunners won three NCAA tournaments:

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. The CSUB softball team has reached the NCAA tournament once during the program's Division I tenure, in 2016. That year, the Roadrunners won the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) postseason tournament and earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. The Roadrunners are coached by Crissy Buck-Ziegler, who will enter the eighth year of her tenure with the 2019 season. The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners softball team has an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 9-3.

Women's volleyball

The CSUB Roadrunners enjoyed a successful NCAA Division II history including a 1989 National Championship. Following the Division I reclassification and the hiring of Giovana Melo as head coach, the Roadrunners won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship in 2014 with a 3-0 victory over Seattle U in a tournament hosted in Bakersfield. The Roadrunners drew top-ranked Stanford and fell in the first round 25-21, 25-21 and 25-18. CSUB has appeared in three-straight WAC Tournament championship matches dating back to the 2013 season. The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners women's volleyball team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 0–2 through two appearances.

Wrestling

CSUB Wrestling has competed in the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

conference since the beginning of the 1987–88 season. CSUB wrestling is the institution's original Division I sport and has placed as high as 3rd (1996) and 8th (1997 & 1999) in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. The Roadrunner Wrestling team has produced 9 individual NCAA DI Champions beginning in 1980. Stephen Neal (156, 1996-99) is the all-time winningest wrestler at CSU Bakersfield, with a record of 156-10 (the most wins of any CSUB wrestler), the most pins with 71 total, only 1 of 5 Roadrunner Wrestlers to be a 4-time All-American, as well as being a 2-time Division-I Champion in 1998 & 1999. CSUB alum Mike Mendoza served as the head coach until 2016. Current head coach Manny Rivera began his first year in the 2016–17 season. He is a former All-American at the University of Minnesota and was a member of their National Championship team. The wrestling team practices on campus in the John B. Antonino Sports Center (specifically for wrestling) and competes at the Icardo Center also on campus. For the past two years they have also held an annual match on the Main Soccer Field dubbing it the "Feud on the Field". Former Roadrunner wrestler and former

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

Champion

Tito Ortiz Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz () is an American politican and retired mixed martial artist and Submission grappling, submission grappler. Ortiz is best known for his career with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC ...

set multiple UFC Light Heavyweight records. The Cal State Bakersfield men's wrestling team appeared in the NCAA Division I Tournament thirty times, with their highest finish being 3rd place in the 1995–96 school year. Prior to Division I, the Roadrunners wrestling team won eight Division II titles, including five consecutive from 1979 to 1983.

Championships

Appearances

The CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners competed in the NCAA Tournament across 7 active sports (5 men's and 2 women's) 38 times at the Division I level. * Baseball (1): 2015 * Men's basketball (1): 2016 * Men's soccer (1): 2011 * Softball (1): 2016 * Men's swimming and diving (1): 2014 * Women's volleyball (2): 2014, 2017 * Wrestling (31): 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Team

CSU Bakersfield has never won a national championship at the NCAA Division I level. CSUB won 30 national championships and received the

Sears Directors 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 (NACDA) to the colleges an ...

in 1998 at the NCAA Division II level. *Men's basketball: 1993, 1994, 1997 *Men's swimming and diving: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 *Wrestling: 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987 *Men's soccer:

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

*Softball: 1988, 1989, 1990 *Women's volleyball: 1989 *Women's tennis: 1977 (

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

)

Individual

CSU Bakersfield had 9 Roadrunners win NCAA individual championships at the Division I level. At the NCAA Division II level, CSU Bakersfield garnered 209 individual championships, where the Roadrunners are No. 4 in total NCAA Division II championships after the 2017–18 school year.

Conference championships

Western Athletic Conference Championships

* Volleyball, 2014 * Baseball, 2015 * Men's Basketball, 2016 * Softball, 2016

References

External links

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