Jump to content

Western Collegiate Athletic Association

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jglawe (talk | contribs) at 23:08, 6 July 2012 (Membership). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Western Collegiate Athletic Association (WCAA) was a women's only athletic conference on the West Coast of the United States. Members competed in the AIAW until the 1981-82 academic year and the NCAA from 1981-82 to 1985-86. For its final season the league was known as the Pacific West Conference.

Membership

History

The WCAA was founded in 1976 by UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal State-Fullerton, Long Beach State, and San Diego State. These seven schools were among the premier programs in many women's sports and previously competed were not members of a conference. The schools' men's teams competed in the Pac-8, the WAC, and the PCAA. At the time of the league's inception these seven schools made up the entirety of NCAA Division I football schools in southern California and Arizona. When the NCAA began sponsoring women's championships for the 1981-82 school year WCAA members switched their affiliation to the NCAA. Stanford joined the league for the 1982-83 school year and would remain a member until the league's demise. The league remained at eight teams for three seasons before Long Beach State and Cal State-Fullerton decided to move their women's sports to the PCAA, where their men's sports competed. San Diego State also joined the PCAA at that time for women's sports only (the WAC did not sponsor women's sports at the time). The remaining five schools competed in the renamed PacWest Conference for one more season before moving to the Pacific-10 Conference, which would begin competition in all women's sports for the 1986-87 season. At that time Northern Pacific Conference members Washington. Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, and Cal also moved their women's sports to the Pac-10.

AIAW and DGWS National Champions

Badminton

  • Long Beach State: 1970, 74
  • Arizona State: 1971, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81
  • UCLA: 1977

Basketball

  • Cal State-Fullerton: 1970
  • UCLA: 1978

Bowling

  • Arizona State: 1981

Fencing

  • Cal State-Fullerton: 1974

Field Hockey

  • Long Beach State: 1978

Golf

  • Cal State-Fullerton: 1967 (Individual)
  • Arizona State: 1969 (Individual), 70 (Individual), 75 (Team)
  • San Diego State: 1975 (Individual)

Gymnastics

  • Cal State-Fullerton: 1979

Softball

  • Arizona State: 1972, 73
  • UCLA: 1978

Swimming & Diving

  • Arizona State: 1968, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 77, 78

Synchronized Swimming

  • Arizona: 1980, 81

Tennis

  • Arizona State: 1971, 72, 74
  • USC: 1977, 79, 80
  • UCLA: 1981

Outdoor Track & Field

  • UCLA: 1975, 77

Volleyball

  • UCLA: 1971, 74, 75
  • Long Beach State: 1972, 73
  • USC: 1976, 77, 80

NCAA National Champions

  • USC Basketball: 1983, 84
  • UCLA Outdoor Track & Field: 1982, 83
  • UCLA Softball: 1982, 84, 85
  • Cal State-Fullerton softball: 1986
  • Stanford Swimming & Diving: 1983
  • Stanford tennis: 1982, 84, 86, 87
  • USC tennis: 1983, 85
  • USC volleyball: 1981
  • UCLA volleyball: 1984