Bellarmine Wins First GLVC Commissioner’s Cup in School History
INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in school history, Bellarmine University has captured the Great Lakes Valley Conference Commissioner’s Cup, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday. The Knights earned the award for the 2018-19 campaign by posting the strongest finish in the league’s seven core sports.
Points are allocated for the Commissioner’s Cup based on the athletic department’s finish in the GLVC’s postseason tournaments in men’s soccer, women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball and baseball. Each of the league’s members sponsors these sports at the intercollegiate level.
Under the guidance of athletics director Scott Wiegandt, Bellarmine earned 81 points over the course of the academic year, besting runner-up and defending champion University of Southern Indiana (66) by 15 points. The margin of victory is the second-highest in the award’s history as former member Northern Kentucky scored 87 points to win the 2008-09 GLVC Commissioner’s Cup by 26 points.
Lewis University (62) finished third overall, while Drury University (61) and University of Indianapolis (59) rounded out the top five.
Just six points separated places sixth through ninth. The University of Illinois Springfield (57) and Maryville University (57) tied for sixth, while Truman State University (52) and Rockhurst University (51) were eighth and ninth, respectively. The University of Missouri-St. Louis (45), McKendree University (44), Quincy University (41), William Jewell College (32) and Missouri S&T (28) rounded out the field.
Bellarmine made the GLVC Championship Tournament in six of the seven core sports this year, highlighted by league titles in baseball and men’s basketball, as well as runner-up finishes in men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s basketball. Bellarmine also earned the No. 6 seed in the GLVC Volleyball Championship Tournament and was just two wins shy of making the postseason in softball.
Instituted prior to the 2002-03 season, the Commissioner’s Cup has had six different institutions stake claim to the award. Prior to Bellarmine becoming that sixth school this year, Southern Indiana earned its second Cup last season after winning its first in 2003-04. Rockhurst picked up its first honor in 2016-17. UIndy scored its second Cup in 2015-16 after the first came in 2013-14, which was bookended by other first-time winners Drury (2014-15) and Lewis (2012-13). Following the 2011-12 season, former GLVC member Northern Kentucky took home its fifth-straight and eighth overall Cup over a 10-year span, while SIU Edwardsville, another former member, earned the Commissioner’s Cup in 2007.
The standings for the 2018-19 GLVC Commissioner’s Cup are as follows:
| 1. | Bellarmine | 81 |
| 2. | Southern Indiana | 66 |
| 3. | Lewis | 62 |
| 4. | Drury | 61 |
| 5. | Indianapolis | 59 |
| 6. | Illinois Springfield | 57 |
| Maryville | 57 | |
| 8. | Truman State | 52 |
| 9. | Rockhurst | 51 |
| 10. | Missouri-St. Louis | 45 |
| 11. | McKendree | 44 |
| 12. | Quincy | 41 |
| 13. | William Jewell | 32 |
| 14. | Missouri S&T | 28 |