The University of St. Thomas is known for a lot of things, good and bad, but the talent of our sports teams is undeniable. The long list of titles and awards speak for themselves.
Six of our sports teams have won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles in the 2018-2019 sports seasons so far. These teams include women’s soccer, men’s golf, men and women’s basketball, women’s hockey and women’s swim and dive.
Historically, St. Thomas has been the school everyone in the MIAC wants to beat.
There has been talk for years now that other teams in the conference want the ever-almighty Tommies to move up to Division II or maybe even Division I.
Perhaps this is because St. Thomas teams tend to place within the top three each season.
Men’s swim and dive and women’s cross country had MIAC runner-up placings this year, while football, men’s soccer, volleyball, men’s cross country and men’s hockey all took third place finishes in the 2018-2019 seasons.
With the winning history and experience, many people would love to move the Tommies out of Divison III and the MIAC conference, but I think that would only be plausible for some of our sports, such as the football team and the basketball programs.
As of the 2017-2018 sports season, St.Thomas won its 11th consecutive all-sports championship in both men’s and women’s sports: A perfect example of why MIAC rivals would want the Tommies out of their conference and Division III.
With Tommie consistency across the boards year in and year out, the conference will always have their work cut out for them.
Do I think we could compete at a higher level? Absolutely, but it would be tough.
Moving up a division would require better athletic facilities, which there isn’t space for on campus. Some of the buildings on campus will be under construction starting this spring, so athletic renovations would be put on the back burner.
A higher division would require St.Thomas to give scholarships to athletes, which again, would require more money.
It would also be a greater challenge for St.Thomas to win as many awards or titles. This challenge could help our sports teams improve to reach higher levels, but the number of games won, awards received and championships clinched would diminish.
St.Thomas has one of the most famous college rivalries in the nation with St. John’s. As students, athletes, faculty members and Tommie fans, I think it’s safe to say everyone’s favorite match-up during the year are the Tommie-Johnnie games.
The St. Thomas sporting culture draws a lot of people in to our community and moving up a division would most likely not benefit our athletic department as a whole.
A lot of students come here to further their education, but also attend St.Thomas to continue competing in sports. We see athletes around our campus every day, whether they are on team posters or wearing their big winter parkas around campus.
Prospective athletes want to be part of that. Prospective students want to be part of the fan base we have here.
If you attend any big rivalry game, the students go nuts showing their support and love for St.Thomas.
Alumni and people from around the area flock to our home games for an evening out, just to see our teams compete.
As a community, it is fun to see our teams do so well, so why would we change that?
It may not happen, but hopefully the St. Thomas athletic program continues to triumph at the Division III level.
Carly Noble can be reached at nobl1781@stthomas.edu
The article has one fascinating but troubling assertion: “A lot of students come here to further their education.”
There is a clear implication that some students do NOT come here for this purpose, or, at least, do not see education as their primary purpose.
I believe I have had the misfortune, over the years, to have had some of these students in class. One in particular comes to mind, a student who came to UST from Chicagoland not to learn anything. as she frankly stated, but because she heard it was a party school. She came to see me because she was annoyed that an assignment for my class had required her to enter the library, something she was quite proud of not doing during her three plus semesters on this campus. She was transferring to Florida State which, I presume, suited her particular interests
I wonder what percentage of UST students are NOT here for the primary purpose of learning. I wonder what else might have attracted them to UST: Gothic Mankato stone buildings?, beautiful landscaping?, gourmet student dining?, lavish dorms?, or, a remote possibility, brilliant faculty.
Perhaps another article might investigate this mystery.