Capilano U Wins PACWEST Founders Cup
Thanks to five teams winning medals this past season, the Capilano University Blues have won the PACWEST Founder's Cup for 2016-17—an award given annually to the most-improved athletic program in the conference.
The Founder's Cup is awarded based on an institution's overall improvement across all varsity sports teams. Each team is awarded aggregate points based on where they finished in the regular season and the postseason, and all totals are tallied up and divided by the number of teams at the school.
As officially described by the PACWEST: "Aggregate points are determined by the number of teams in a selected sport. For example [if] there are seven teams playing in women's basketball, the institution that finishes in first place during the regular season receives seven points. The second place team receives six points and so on. The institution that finishes with the PACWEST gold medal receives six additional points, followed by four points for the silver medalists and two for the bronze."
Capilano's six teams recorded 44 PACWEST aggregate points in 2016-17, giving them 7.33 Founder's points—up from 6.00 last season. The +1.33 point improvement was over a point better than the second-place school.
"The Capilano University Blues Athletics program is in a rebuilding phase to get back to their winning tradition. Over the past 4 years the Blues program has taken great strides in rebuilding itself and its winning culture," said CapU Manger of Athletics, Milt Williams.
The victory stems from a strong showing across the board, as Capilano Blues teams won five PACWEST medals in 2016-17—the most in a season since 2007—and two teams were regular season champions.
Men's soccer finished the regular season undefeated and in first place, and won PACWEST gold for the second straight season; they then won the bronze medal at the CCAA National Championships. Last season they finished third in the regular season before winning Provincial gold and CCAA silver.
Women's soccer made the largest improvement, going from sixth place last season to fourth place in the regular season and winning the bronze medal at Provincials.
Men's basketball also took a step forward from last season, when they finished fourth in the regular season and narrowly missed PACWEST bronze after an overtime loss in the consolation final. This year they finished third in the regular season with a 10-8 record, and claimed a silver medal at Provincials.
The women's basketball team also claimed a silver medal at provincials, and during the regular season they posted the conference's top record at 16-2. They won silver last season as well, but the regular season championship was a step up from finishing third in the standings.
The men's volleyball used a young roster to make strides this season, finishing 10-14—up from 5-19 last year. They finished in the sixth in the PACWEST, two points shy of a tie for fourth, and fell in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual champions, Camosun College.
As for women's volleyball, they finished off a strong regular season at 17-7 which placed them in third, and at Provincials they won the bronze medal for the third straight season.
"With the full support of our University leaders, faculty, staff and students, we are determined to be the number one institution in the PACWEST," said Williams. "This year's success has shown that we are on the right track, and we look to achieve this goal while we become even more competitive in the immediate future."
This marks the second time that Capilano has won the Founder's Cup, having won it back in 2000-01 when it was called the Unicolle Cup.
Submitted by: Blues Athletics