Lancer Athletics

LANCER STUNT TEAM ENDS HISTORIC SEASON WITH SECOND STRAIGHT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

With a win over Vanguard, the Lancer STUNT team closed out their regular season with a perfect 16-0 mark and extended their winning streak to 31-straight wins since the program’s inception in 2020. California Baptist University’s STUNT team made history as the Lancers captured their second straight championship at the DI/DII STUNT National Championship with a 20-5 victory over Oklahoma Baptist.

The Lancers end their historic 2022 campaign with a perfect 19-0 record and will enter the 2023 season with a program-best 34 straight wins. The 19 wins for the Lancers is a new program record for most victories in a single season after setting the record in the 2021 season with 15.

California Baptist entered the DI/ DII National Championship as the No. 1 seed for the second straight season and earned a bye in the first round. The Lancers’ route to the championship game came by victory over Maryville in a 21-1 win and a 19-2 victory over Oklahoma Baptist in the semifinal game.

It marked the sixth time the Lancers have faced the Bison in the all-time series, the win extended the streak to 6-0 over OBU for the Lancers.

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CBU MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY WINS BACK-TO-BACK WAC CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH PERFECT SCORE ARMSTRONG NAMED WAC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

California Baptist University cross country ended its 2021-22 season with a historic performance at the Western Athletic Conference Championships.

The Lancer men won their secondstraight WAC team title with a perfect 15-point score and were led by Florian Le Pallec. CBU’s women secured a runner-up finish. CBU hosted the WAC Meet for the first time at the UC Riverside Agricultural Operations Course.

Thirteen Lancers (eight men, five women) earned All-WAC honors with top-20 finishes. Eight of them (five men, three women) were allconference first teamers by virtue of their top-10 marks.

CBU’s men enjoyed a 27-point cushion in its win, as Utah Valley took second (42) and Grand Canyon came in third (110). The Wolverines won the women’s crown with 34 points to just hold off the Lancers (41), while Abilene Christian rounded out the top three teams (62). California Baptist University’s Taran Armstrong was named the WAC Freshman of the Year for 2021-22.

It marks the first WAC Freshman of the Year award for the men’s basketball program and is the third top honor the Lancers have garnered since joining the WAC.

Armstrong is a 6-foot-5 point guard from Burnie, Australia. He averaged 10.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game this season.

ROWLAND NAMED TO PRESTIGIOUS CSCAA 100 GREATEST COACHES LIST

California Baptist University head swim and dive coach Rick Rowland was recently included on the list of the 100 Greatest College Swimming and Diving Coaches of the past 100 years by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America.

The 100 honorees from the CSCAA are tied together by a record of exceptional success vis-à-vis their peers. Collectively, these coaches account for 346 NCAA and NAIA team titles.

Rowland is the one and only head coach in program history after he started the Lancer swim and water polo programs in 1999-2000. Both Rowland’s men’s and women’s swim and dive teams have combined for nine NAIA National Championships and seven conference titles (all in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference).

Rowland has secured a number of Coach of the Year honors in his career, most recently being named the CSCAA National Invitational Championship Men’s Coach of the Meet in 2018-19. He earned four more on the national level in the NAIA (2001, 2006, 2008, 2011) and five in the RMAC (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).

Lancer Cheer and Dance teams claim three National Championships between them at NCA/NDA College Nationals. Both advanced cheer and dance teams won with zero deduction performances, while intermediate cheer also won their first-ever championship.

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