History of Cougar Athletics

As I sit here writing this, I am reflecting back on Cougar athletics from the early days.

There are events that I, personally, didn’t see, but going through the college newspapers and doing some interviews of athletes from those past years, I can see what the history of Cougar athletes is all about.

Since 2000, WNCC has become a national power in winning two NJCAA national titles in 2007 and 2010 and I was at both of them as me and my mom dad drove down to watch the first one in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and then we saw the second national title in West Plains, Missouri.

Those two national titles were fun to watch and something I will remember. But, the Cougars have had plenty of other top performances.

Back in 1995, the Cougar men’s basketball team had a chance to make the NJCAA national title game but fell short in the semifinals. They got to play the third place game and won to finish third at the national tournament

The other memory was in 2003 for the women’s basketball team. That year we (me and my mom and dad) didn’t go to nationals because we thought they didn’t have a chance since year’s before they always lost two and came home. That year was a different story as they won their first two games and made the final four. The semifinal match was against Midland College and Midland was supposed to have won. They didn’t and I was listening to the game on the radio as was my dad. When WNCC won, I remember my mom and dad saying let’s to to Salina, Kansas, to watch the Cougars in the championship game.

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We got up early Saturday morning and drove the seven to eight hours to Salina to watch this Cougar team in a championship game. That is right, women’s basketball has the record for having played for the first championship.

Well, things didn’t go well for WNCC as they faced one of the top teams in the nation Gulf Coast Community College out of Florida. To say the least, we made it to Salina to watch them compete, but they lost by like 40 points or so. Still, what this team did, with other teams in the nation not taking them seriously, showed that WNCC athletics was on the national spotlight.

That championship game continued the Cougars national tradition as the volleyball team was always at nationals competing for a top four finish and the women’s basket- ball team became a powerhouse from 2016 through 2022 as they went to nationals every year and finished in the top four in 2022.

While it is pretty common to know what the teams did since 2000 -- the modern era, it is what they did in 1926 when WNCC first opened it’s doors for classes. Just think in 2026, the college will be celebrating it’s 100th anniversary and athletics have been a part of the college since that time.

From doing research, I know of many important people that have played a part of some incredible seasons through the college when they had football, basketball, track and field, cross country, golf, and tennis for men’s sports.

Yes, that is right, the college had a foot-

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