The Western Washington Vikings represent

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington, United States. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, s ...

in intercollegiate sports in the

Great Northwest Athletic Conference The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It has historically operated in the northwestern United States, but a ...

of the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the 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 environment ...

with the exception of the women's rowing team which is a member of the

Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference The Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference (NCRC) consists of seven NCAA Division II and III member schools in USRowing's Northwest region. Its mission is to provide for the advancement of small college and university rowing within the Pacific Nort ...

. WWU has been an official member of NCAA Division II since September 1998. Their

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

is Victor E. Viking. Western Washington sponsors six sports for men and nine sports for women with approximately 350 student athletes.

Mascot

The story of Victor E. Viking, the mascot, is that he visited Bellingham in 1923 and decided to become a supporter of the team. He has since become the mascot representation of the Vikings. In 2015, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reported on controversy at Western over the mascot. Some claim that an imposing white man does not sufficiently represent the school, while some argue against removing the mascot that had been representing Western for nearly 100 years. The controversy was renewed in 2022, but Victor continues as the mascot of the institution .

Student athletes

The 2010 NCAA graduation rate study showed that 69 percent of Western student-athletes receive their degrees in six years or less based on the Federal Graduation Rate formula, a rate the same as that of the full student body. This is 13 percentage points higher than the average for NCAA Division II schools nationally and 15 points higher than the average for the nine U.S. schools in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Using the NCAA Academic Success Rate, which includes all freshman student-athletes from the fall of 2003 and also accounts for student-athletes who transfer into or out of the institution, Western posted an 85 percent success rate, compared to the NCAA II national number of 73 percent. The average ASR of the nine U.S. GNAC schools was 77 percent.

Sports sponsored

Varsity teams

Basketball

WWU won the 2011–12 NCAA Division II men's basketball national championship, just the second collegiate crown in that sport in state of Washington history and the first since 1976. WWU reached the national semifinals in men's basketball in 2001 and women's basketball in 2000. WWU ranks among the top 15 in women's basketball victories among all four-year schools with that program making 12 NCAA tournament appearances in 13 years.

Former varsity teams

Baseball, field hockey,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, men's rowing, men's swimming, men's tennis, women's tennis, wrestling

Clubs teams

*Baseball *Men's Crew *Climbing *Cycling *Equestrian *Fencing *Figure Skating *Ice Hockey *Judo *Men's Lacrosse *Women's Lacrosse *Men's Rugby *Women's Rugby *Sailing *Swimming *Tennis *Men's Ultimate *Women's Ultimate *Men's Volleyball *Women's Volleyball *Men's Water Polo *Women's Water Polo *Water Skiing *Wakeboarding *Wrestling

National championships

Western Washington University is credited with 13 official team National Championship. 1 at the NAIA level and 12 NCAA Championships. Additionally, Western's club sports have won the following championships: The WWU Women's Baseball club was founded in the Fall of 2023 and won the club sports championship their inaugural year. As women's baseball is relatively new for club sports, there have only been six teams welcomed to the Women's College Club Baseball final. Those teams range from Division I to

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

Other accomplishments

In 2010–11, WWU placed seventh among 310 NCAA Division II schools in the Sports Director's Cup national all-sports standings, the second-highest finish in school history. The Vikings were sixth in 2009–10 and 10th in 2008–09. WWU has had eight straight Top 50 finishes and been among the Top 100 in each of its first 13 seasons as an NCAA II member. In 2010–11, Western won its third straight and seventh overall Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Sports championship, taking league titles in volleyball, men's golf and women's golf, and the regular-season crown in women's basketball. The Vikings, who won the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference championship, placed second in men's and women's cross country, men's and women's outdoor track, men's indoor track and softball. Other accomplishments include: * Seven straight Division II national titles in women's rowing from 2005 to 2011, the first NCAA school in any division to achieve that distinction. * Two

National Collegiate Rowing Championship The now defunct, short-lived National Collegiate Rowing Championship, often simply called the "Cincinnati Regatta," was a championship for men's and women's collegiate rowing, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, between 1982 and 1996. It pitted the winners o ...

victories in 1984 and 1996, prior to the addition of women's rowing to the NCAA. * Second nationally in volleyball in 2007, and the fourth-longest league winning streak in NCAA II of 57 from 2002–04. * 38-game victory string in women's soccer from 1982–84.

References

External links

* {{Great Northwest Athletic Conference navbox Viking Age in popular culture