Athletics

Coastal Carolina
University competes in the NCAA Division I level (NCAA Division I-FCS for football) and is a charter member of the Big South Conference. Coastal student-athletes play hard, compete nationally and succeed in the classroom.

In recent years, baseball, softball, women’s track and field, men’s golf and men’s soccer have produced several All-American
performers, including the top scorer in men’s soccer and one of the top female collegiate hammer throwers in the nation. The Chanticleers have made 65 NCAA Championship appearances including a trip to the NCAA 2008 Super Regional in baseball in June, and have won 76 conference championships since 1989.

In 2007-2008, four Chanticleer athletic squads (women’s indoor track and field, women’s outdoor track and field, men’s golf and baseball) earned conference championships. Five programs were represented in NCAA Championships (women’s cross country, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s outdoor track and field and baseball), with baseball hosting and winning the NCAA Conway Regional at Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field. In its history, Coastal Carolina has captured the Sasser Cup, which is awarded annually to the Big South institution with the most successful athletic program, a record nine times.

Highlights from the 2007-2008 campaign:

• The baseball team won a NCAA Regional for the first time in school history with wins over Columbia, Alabama and East Carolina. The team earned its third 50-win season in the past four years.
• Women’s cross country athlete Diana Jepchirchir earned All-American honors when she finished 29th at the NCAA Cross Country Championship.
• Women’s golfer Aruka Felgueroso made the NCAA Central Regional as an individual for the second straight year. At the Regional, Felgueroso tied for 10th, the second-best individual finish ever by a Big South Conference women’s golfer.
• Men’s golf won its fifth straight Big South Conference championship and competed in the NCAA East Regionals.
• Men’s track and field’s Jacques Watson qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the high jump, becoming the first jumper in Big South Conference history to clear seven feet.
• Football wide receiver Jerome Simpson was the Big South and the University’s second-ever NFL draft pick, as he was taken in the second round by the Cincinnati Bengals. In addition, fullback Mike Tolbert signed a free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers, giving Coastal Carolina University four players in the NFL to start the season.
• Women’s track and field’s Felicitas Mensing won the Big South’s Christenberry Award for the top graduating female student-athlete, completing her degree with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She, along with men’s track and field’s Blair Paul, received the league’s Bob McCloskey Insurance Big South Conference Graduate Fellowship.