Athletics
Athletics
UC Irvine’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics enriches students’ education and personal growth by providing opportunities to participate in competitive NCAA Division I athletics. Intercollegiate Athletics is committed to the welfare of student-athletes and staff and promotes excellence in athletic and academic performance, sportsmanship, diversity and gender equity. Intercollegiate Athletics also supports the University of California’s mission of public service and generates a unifying spirit among students, faculty, staff and alumni that transcends communities, cultures and generations.
UCI’s first intercollegiate athletics program in 1965-66 offered men’s basketball, crew, golf, sailing, swimming, tennis and water polo. Other sports were added through the next decade as the university competed as a member of NCAA Division II. In 1977, UCI moved up to NCAA Division I status and joined the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, now the Big West Conference. Men’s volleyball, men’s and women’s water polo, and women’s indoor track and field compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. UCI sponsors 23 intercollegiate athletic teams: 11 men’s teams, 11 women’s teams and one coed sailing program.
UCI has won 25 national team championships in nine different sports since 1969 and has had 63 individual national champions. More than 400 UCI student-athletes have earned All-America distinction, and Anteater teams have captured 58 conference championships. Since 1984, 2,894 UCI student-athletes have earned conference scholar-athlete awards.