Denver Athletics

Home of Champions

Denver Athletics are proud winners of 35 NCAA national championships across 18 varsity sports, along with 128 individual national championships. The department also boasts 568 All-Americans, more than 1,600 All-Conference award winners and 62 Academic All-Americans.

As impressive as the success is for DU on the field, its continued success in the classroom is also remarkable. The Division of Athletics finished with a 96% graduation success rate. Additionally, nine of the 17 eligible athletic programs earned a perfect score from the NCAA for its annual Academic Progress Rate (APR) report. The APR is an annual scorecard of academic achievement for all Division I sports teams.

 

"We are the indisputable, best program in college hockey. You could have argued it (before DU won its 10th), but you can’t argue it anymore. Before we won, we were recruiting kids who wanted to come do something special, and now we're recruiting kids who want to come here because we did something special.”

David Carle, Head Coach, Men's Ice Hockey

Our Success

womens gymnastics
men's lacrosse

Ranked 14th for most NCAA Division I championships, our Pioneers carry a rich history of success. Our ski team has the most titles of any in the U.S., and our men’s ice hockey team's 10 national titles now lead to the country after the 2024 title run. Retired Hall-of-Famer Bill Tierney and our men’s lacrosse team won its first championship in 2015, becoming the first school to win a national title outside the Eastern time zone.

Our women’s gymnastics program won its NCAA Gymnastics Regional title in-front of a packed crowd in Magness Arena in 2023. The regional championship was the program’s second in its history (2019).

Since 2000, Denver has sent five different programs to the Final 4, hockey (7), men’s lacrosse (6), women’s lacrosse (1), gymnastics (1) and men’s soccer (1).

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Pioneer Athletics

Division Accomplishments

crowded DU hockey arena

Capital One Cup

Highest-ranked men’s athletics program without a football team in 2016-17, finishing in fifth place

Denver has finished as the top I-AAA athletic department in the DI Directors’ Cup in 15 of the last 16 years. 
Denver Gymnastics finished fourth in the NCAA National Championships in 2019, the program’s best finish at nationals. Two years later, Denver won its first Big 12 Championship.
568 All-Americans and 76 Olympians
80+ men's hockey players went on to play in the NHL
In 2020-21, Denver had a school-record 10 athletic programs earn perfect APR scores.

Our Legacy of Excellence

Our Pioneers compete on the playing fields of the NCAA, in the professional leagues and on behalf of their countries in the Olympics. Discover the Pioneer heritage of success, from individual achievements to school accomplishments.

DU Club lacrosse team

Club Sports

Club Sports teams bring together groups of students with similar interests to organize and participate in a specific sport. We are a dynamic organization on campus committed to helping students develop their leadership and organizational skills, while helping students build lifelong friendships.

 Run entirely by students, our 30+ club teams all compete in local, regional and/or national competitions. Whether you have been playing a sport for years or want to try something new, we encourage you to join a team and stay active throughout your time at DU!

Find Your Club Sport

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Denver Athletics & Ritchie Center Operations

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