Roadrunner Athletics once again has received national recognition for excellence, being named the best overall non-scholarship athletic program in the country by the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA) / Daktronics. The cup was awarded on Monday, June 27th at the NATYCAA Awards Luncheon in Las Vegas, NV.
Photo Includes Rob Chaney, current NATYCAA President who presented the cup to Roadrunner Athletics.
"This is an extremely high honor for our athletic program and our Rowan College community," commented Roadrunner Director of Athletics Brian Rowan, who accepted the award at the organization's National Convention in Las Vegas. "We would not be able to compete for an award like this without tremendous support from our college Board of Trustees, President Keating and the entire college community. Our athletic department staff deserves a lot of credit for helping to come out of the pandemic as strong as we have. I continue to believe we have the best coaching staff in the country and can't say enough about the work they have all done in the past two years to hold things together and then have the type of year we had this year. Our athletes deserve the highest praise for their efforts representing our program and coming in to compete on a daily basis - their resiliency is the most impressive part of this and speaks volumes about the type of future leaders they can become. I am really thrilled for our program to be able to bring the cup back to NJ and our campus!"
Ten RCSJ programs competed in national championship events in 2021-22 and nine earned points toward the cup. This will be the 6th time for Roadrunner Athletics winning this prestigious award and first time since 2017-18. Roadrunner Athletics won a close race over College of DuPage to win the 2021-22 Cup.
Roadrunner Athletics has captured six NATYCAA Cups over the past 20 years and have garnered Top 5 finishes in the national standings in 17 of the last 19 seasons. The Roadrunners last won the NATYCAA Cup in 2018 with runner-up finishes in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
Presented annually since 2004, the NATYCAA Cup recognizes the combined excellence of two-year college athletics based on success in championship competition across all sports.
The 2020-21 NATYCAA Cup Non-Scholarship Final Standings are as follows:
- RCSJ Gloucester 135.5
- The College of DuPage (IL) 131
- Genesee Community College (NY) 111
- Rock Valley College (IL) 107
- Nassau CC (NY) 100.5
Roadrunner Athletics were also recognized for a 5th place finish among all scholarship and non-scholarship two-year college athletic programs in the country in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings.