MSU wins 1st Big Sky Women’s All-Sports trophy

FARMINGTON, UT — The Big Sky Conference announced Tuesday that the Montana State University women captured the conference’s All-Sports trophy. It’s the first time in program history since the award was introduced following the 1988-89 season.

“Congratulations to Bobcat student-athletes and coaches of our women’s program on winning their first Big Sky All-Sports trophy,” MSU director of athletics Leon Costello said in a press release. “This award is special as it speaks to the broad-based success of all our programs, considering we didn’t finish lower than fourth in any final standings. I am very proud of their continued efforts and results in their respective sports.”

The women’s All-Sports trophy is determined by a formula that counts each school’s regular season finish or postseason result for all conference-sponsored sports. Basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball and tennis earn points based on the regular season, while points for track and field, cross-country and golf are based on postseason results. Indoor and outdoor track and field points are averaged to create one score.

Montana State finished with the top score of 7.6, while Northern Arizona was just behind with a score 7.3. The Lumberjacks are the runner-up after winning the trophy the previous three years.

Although the Bobcats did not win a conference regular season or postseason title and didn’t compete in soccer and softball, top four finishes in the rest of the women’s sports contributed to the award. The MSU women were second for cross-country and both indoor and outdoor track and field, third in volleyball and fourth in basketball, tennis and golf.