UC Davis Aggies

UC Davis Aggies
University University of California, Davis
Conference Big West Conference
Big Sky Conference
NCAA Division I
Athletic director Kevin Blue [1]
Location Davis, California
Varsity teams 23[2][3]
Football stadium Aggie Stadium
Basketball arena The Pavilion
Baseball stadium Dobbins Baseball Complex
Other arenas Aggie Field
Mascot Mustang
Nickname Gunrock
Fight song Aggie Fight
Colors Yale Blue and Gold[4]
         
Website www.ucdavisaggies.com

The UC Davis Aggies (also referred to as Cal Aggies or Ags) are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis. For football, the Aggies compete in Division I FCS (formerly known as Division I-AA), and are members of the Big Sky Conference, granting UC Davis the distinction of being one of only three UC campuses to field a football team (Cal and UCLA being the other two). The Aggies are also members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in women's gymnastics and women's lacrosse, the America East Conference in field hockey,[5] and the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association in men's rowing.

The Aggies' achievements in Division II motivated a decision (following a year of heavy discussion by campus administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni and the local community) in 2003 for the athletics program to reclassify to Division I.[6][7]

Aggie Stadium is the home of the UC Davis football and lacrosse teams.

Varsity sports

Women's sports

  • Basketball
  • Cross country
  • Field hockey
  • Golf
  • Gymnastics
  • Lacrosse
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Swimming & diving
  • Tennis
  • Track & field
  • Volleyball
  • Water polo

Men's sports

  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Cross country
  • Football
  • Golf
  • Soccer
  • Tennis
  • Track & field
  • Water polo
  • Lacrosse

Former sports

On April 20, 2010, the school announced that effective July 1, four sports would be eliminated due to the national economic downturn.[8] The sports were women’s rowing, men’s swimming and diving, men’s indoor track and field, and wrestling.[3]

UC Davis discontinued four varsity sports in 2010 due to a financial crisis and cuts in state funding: women's rowing, men's swimming & diving, men's indoor track, and wrestling.[9] Prior to 2010, the last time UC Davis had discontinued a sport was men's gymnastics in 1987.[10]

UC Davis used to offer a wrestling program, which competed in the Pac-10 at the Division I level, until UC Davis dropped its wrestling program in 2010. In 2007, UC Davis wrestler Derek Moore gained All-American status, won the NCAA Division I Championship for his weight class, and received the "Most Outstanding Wrestler" award of the NCAA tournament. In so doing, Derek Moore became the first UC Davis student-athlete to become a NCAA champion at the Division I level. That same year, UC Davis finished within the top 25 among Division I collegiate wrestling programs in the country. Accomplished UFC Mixed Martial Artist Urijah Faber wrestled for the Aggie program while attending.

National championships

Association Division Sport Year Opponent/Runner-Up Score
NCAA Division II Men's Basketball[11] 1998 Kentucky Wesleyan 83-77
Women's Rowing[12] 2002 Western Washington 50–45
2003 Western Washington 20–15
Women's Tennis[13] 1990 Cal Poly Pomona 5–3
1993 Cal Poly 5–1

Colors, mascot, and spirit

The official school colors are blue and gold. The blue is due to the UC's early connection to Yale[14] and as a result is often referred to as "Yale Blue",[15] and[16] although UCD's official blue, usually called "Aggie Blue", Pantone 295[17] differs from Yale Blue (approximately Pantone 289[18]).

The official school mascot is the mustang. Students at UC Davis are referred to as Aggies in honor of the school's agricultural heritage. Unlike most colleges, there is a distinction between the name for students and the mascot. There was a movement to change the school's mascot from the mustang to the cow, but despite student support this was turned down after opposition from alumni. Many people will call the mustang mascot of UC Davis an Aggie, but this is not its proper name; the mustang mascot is named Gunrock. The name dates to 1921 when the US Army brought a horse named Gun Rock to UC Davis to supply high-quality stock for cavalry horses. The mustang mascot was selected to honor that cavalry horse.

UC Davis students gather at sporting events to rally as the Aggie Pack, the largest student-run school spirit organization in the United States. The Aggie Pack cheers on the sports team to the music of the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! and its alumni band.

Rivalries

The highlight of the recent 4-year transition to Division I occurred on September 17, 2005, when the Aggies defeated the heavily favored Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium by a score of 20–17 on a TD pass with 8 seconds left in the game. The Aggies also pulled off an upset against Stanford in basketball just months later, beating the Cardinal 64–58 with a late rally at home on December 4, 2005. The win in these two major sports and the addition of the Aggies beating the Cardinal in soccer earlier in 2005 as well as a win in wrestling and two wins in baseball pulled the Aggies' win loss record with Stanford to 5–1 for men's sports the 05-06 year.

The Aggie football team plays Sacramento State in the annual Causeway Classic for a trophy made from Yolo Causeway cement (formerly the Causeway Carriage). The Classic is part of a larger competition, the Causeway Cup, that tracks head-to-head meetings between the schools in virtually all varsity sports.[19] The football team also plays Cal Poly in the annual Battle for the Golden Horseshoe.

Division II success: 1990–2003

The Aggies finished first in NCAA Division II six times in 2003 and won the NACDA Director's Cup 4 years in a row from 1999 to 2003. In 1998, the UC Davis men's basketball team won the NCAA Division II national championship despite being one of the few non-scholarship institutions in Division II at that time. They have also won NCAA Division II championships in Softball (2003), Men's Tennis (1992), and Women's Tennis (1990, 1993).

Notable non-varsity sports

Rugby

Colby "Babe" Slater, won gold medals with the U.S. rugby national team at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, and was captain of the 1924 team. His gold medals are on display at the entrance to the Activities and Recreation Center.[20]

The UC Davis Aggies won the men’s 2015 DI-AA college rugby championship by defeating Central Florida in the final 18–15 at Kennesaw State University’s Fifth Third Bank Stadium.[21] The UC Davis men's rugby team was ranked 14th in D1 Rugby in 2015. The UC Davis women's rugby was ranked 4th in the nation in 2007.

References

  1. ↑ "Kevin Blue Named UC Davis Director of Athletics". Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Archived July 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. 1 2 Archived May 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "Colors - Marketing Toolbox". Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  5. ↑ "Cal, UC Davis, Pacific, Stanford Added As #AEFH Associate Members" (Press release). America East Conference. October 16, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  6. ↑ "UC Davis Takes to NCAA Division I Playing Field". UC Davis News & Information. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  7. ↑ "UC Davis Timeline: The Road to Division I". UC Davis News & Information. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  8. ↑ "UC Davis to drop four teams due to financial crisis". Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  9. ↑ Historical Sports at UC Davis, http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/ot/discontinued-sports.html
  10. ↑ UC Davis to drop four teams due to financial crisis, April 16, 2010, http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9432
  11. ↑ "DII Men's College Basketball History". NCAA.org. 26 March 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  12. ↑ "Division II Rowing Championship Results" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Division II Women's Tennis Championship Results" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  14. ↑ "UC Davis Spotlight". Retrieved July 14, 2007.
  15. ↑ "UC Davis Football - Aggie Football General Information". Athletics.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  16. ↑ "California Davis Aggies - NCAA Basketball - CBSSports.com". Sportsline.com. 1996-08-19. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  17. ↑ "Publication Standards". University Communications. Archived from the original on July 9, 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  18. ↑ "Yale's Visual Identity: Yale Blue". Yale University. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  19. ↑ "A Classic Rivalry". Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Olympic Rugby Book Author's Comments", Mark Ryan, June 22, 2015.
  21. ↑ "The UC Davis Aggies are the Men's DIAA college champions.". May 9, 2015.
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