Colorado University Athletics
We continue our series of stories on the history of Title IX at the University of Colorado Athletic Department with a look back at the history of our past and current teams.
If you are a current or former female CU student-athlete who would like to share how having the opportunity to compete in sports at the University of Colorado Boulder positively impacted your life athletically, academically or professionally, we invite you to fill out the form below and encourage you to share it with your teammates. If you have additional information to help us with our comprehensive history of women's sports at CU, please share that as well.
Please help us celebrate and honor the past 50 years of women’s athletics at the University of Colorado by investing in our future. Make a gift today to support our women’s student-athletes and programs, to ensure opportunities exist for years to come.
Pre Title IX
It is well known that women’s opportunities in competitive sports were limited in the United States until Title IX became law in 1972. What is lesser known is that back at the turn of the 20th Century, the Buffs had the beginnings of a women’s athletic association that was derailed for a variety of reasons.
Going off reports from early versions of the Coloradoan yearbook, as early as 1902 the CU women sponsored a basketball team and the yearbook featured a team photo, full roster, and schedule and results.
In 1908, the yearbook mentioned that Colorado was the only school in the west that had constructed an athletic field for the exclusive use of women. That same year an Athletic Association for women’s sports at CU began. The early sports included basketball, field hockey and tennis.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long-lived. The same yearbook that boasted of a field for women’s use and the formation of an Athletic Association also had some information that seemed to have been added as an afterthought. It stated “a new rule has gone into effect this year which makes it more difficult than formerly to obtain games without outside teams. This rule requires that the team shall not go away to play and that all games here shall be closed games.”
That rule is what effectively put a halt to the development of women’s intercollegiate sports at CU for almost 60 years. A deeper dive into why that rule was put into place leads to an article in The Sport Journal titled A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.
To summarize, we are assuming this rule was from the University of Colorado, but it unfortunately was not uncommon. According to the article, “Women’s physical educators were aware of the problems and criticisms surrounding men’s intercollegiate athletics. They were determined to keep athletics in an education environment for women.”
Competitive events for college women increased in the early 1900s, as was evidenced by the information presented in the Coloradoan yearbooks. But the nature of varsity competition was in conflict with the philosophy of women’s physical educators. The article goes on to explain that after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, a renewed emphasis on women participating in sports was negated by the Great Depression of the 1930s.
As was portrayed in the film A League of Their Own, World War II led to the formation of the first women’s professional league, the All-American Girls Baseball League. When WWII ended, organizations for women in sports began to increase. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the social consciousness of the US was evolving. In 1957, the long-entrenched position statement for the Division for Girls and Women in Sport was amended to state that intercollegiate programs “may” exist. In 1963, it further evolved to state it was “desirable” that they exist.
In 1966, the predecessor to the AIAW, the Commission on Intercollegiate Sports for Women (CISW) was put into place and began national championships for women’s sports in 1969. The AIAW came into being in 1971 and grew in stature and popularity throughout the 1970s, posing a big enough threat to the NCAA’s position as the dominant and controlling body of college sports that the NCAA basically put the AIAW out of business instead of merging with the association in 1983.
Back in Boulder, once the CISW was established, competitive teams began to appear again on CU’s campus. The CU Athletic Department has tennis records as far back as the 1967 season. In 1974 CU hired Jane Wahl as its Coordinator of Women’s Sports, and a year later Wahl was named the Women’s Athletic Director, a position she held until 1979.
Under Wahl, the varsity teams grew rapidly, as tennis was joined by basketball (reintroduced 64 years after it was last played intercollegiately on campus), cross country & track and field, gymnastics, and swimming for the 1974-75 season. Skiing was then added for the 1976-77 season. After the end of the AIAW and after the Buffs merged the men’s and women’s athletic departments into one, the Buffs added volleyball in 1986, golf in 1994, soccer in 1996, and finally lacrosse in 2014.
Modern Era of Varsity Intercollegiate Women's Sports at Colorado
Tennis - 1967
One of the earliest sports that began intercollegiate competition was women’s tennis. While records prior to 1975 when a good chunk of women’s sports became varsity are incomplete, there are some records dating as far back as 1967. In fact, the Buffs have two undefeated seasons in women’s tennis in those unknown seasons, going 5-0 in 1969-70 and 8-0-1 in 1971-72. The Big Eight began a women’s championship in 1978-79 and while the Buffs have never won a conference title, the Buffs have finished second a total of six times, including three times during the AIAW era from 1980-82.
In the 1967-68 season, it is known the Buffs played Northern Colorado twice and Denver twice, picking up a 3-1 record along the way. CU’s first individuals to compete at the NCAA Championships came in 1982 when Kathleen Cummings competed in singles and Becky Callan and Shannon Reide in doubles. Cummings, who was the top ranked amateur in the world at one point during her time at CU, advanced all the way to the semifinals before falling. She was the first and is still the only All-American from tennis, picking up ITA All-America honors three times in her career.
Individually, two others have competed at the NCAA Championships with Kathleen Heckman doing so in 1985 and then Monica Milewski in 2007.
As a team, the Buffs first participated in the NCAA Tournament in the 1995-96 season and would for the next four seasons. Since that run of four straight, the Buffs have competed as a team two other times, in 2003 and ‘07. The teams in the late 1990s that were successful have players scattered throughout the record book as Sandra Fischer and Aggie Bek were Big 12 Singles Champions and Emily Smith is CU’s all-time wins leader with 101 singles victories in her career. Fischer and Jessica Garrow are also both in the top seven with 80-plus wins in their careers. Monica Milewski became the Buffs overall win leader with 168 from 2005-10, picking 91 singles and 77 doubles wins in her career.
Gymnastics - 1974-75
Women’s gymnastics was short-lived on the CU campus, lasting from 1975-80 as a varsity sport, but don’t take that lack of time for the meaning of a lack of history. Competing in arguably the toughest conference in the country at the time, the Buffs struggled the first few years but then broke through in 1978-79 by compiling a 9-2 record, taking second place at the Big Eight Championships, and winning the Colorado Classic Championships. Only one league team was able to advance to the national championships in this era and generally speaking it was known that if you finished second in the Big Eight, you’d finish among the national leaders, as well.
The Buffs' emergence in the sport was led by Debbie Wilcox, a 1976 Olympian who decided to continue her career at Colorado. In 1978, she won Big Eight titles in every event including the all-around and in 1979 she repeated as the all-around and vault champion. She was joined atop the league standings in 1979 by Kim Opler on the uneven bars It was general knowledge that the Buffs team of 1979, while falling short of competing at the AIAW Championships, was a top 15 team in the nation.
CU had been becoming such a known commodity in gymnastics that the Buffs hosted the 1980 AIAW Regional Championships, where the Buffs placed fourth with Wilcox taking the All-Around title before the sport was disbanded.
Swimming & Diving 1974-75
Another shorter-lived sport at the varsity level in the CU annals was swimming & diving, and like gymnastics, this program left a mark in a short period of time. Proof the program existed before the 1974-75 season does exist, but it’s generally considered to be added when Jane Wahl came to CU as the first women’s athletic director for this season.
Led by Olympian Tina Moir who was getting her master’s degree at CU while coaching the team, diver Bev Beauchamp is the first known All-American for the Buffs, earning All-America honors three times from 1976-78. Another diver, Carol Rabe, and swimmer Kris Reeves also earned All-America honors in 1977. That 1977 team finished third at the Regional Championships.
The Buffs hosted the regional championships in 1978 and Beauchamp took home the one-meter and three-meter titles. She took home both titles at the Big Eight championships along with Sharon Little, who won the 50 yard backstroke title that same season. Those three repeated their titles in 1979.
Basketball - 1974-75
Women’s basketball was first recognized as a varsity sport in 1975 and participated as a member of the Intermountain Conference. Under the direction of Carol Hochsprung, the Buffs won the first time out on January 17, 1975, against Weber State by a score of 57-54 in Balch Fieldhouse. The initial ballclub had just nine players and went 2-11 in year one.
Modern recordkeeping began in the 1978 season and coincided with the first 20-win season at CU under coach Rene Portland. The Buffs saw their first postseason appearance in the AIAW regional. The women’s basketball team moved to the Coors Events Center when it opened for the 1979-80 season. In the 1982-83 season the Buffs, under coach Sox Walseth, joined the Big Eight Conference and Lisa Van Goor became the first male or female basketball player at CU with 1,000 rebounds.
Ceal Barry took over the program for the 1983-84 season, the start of a 22-year tenure leading the women’s basketball program. CU would make their first NCAA Tournament in the 1987-88 season, earning a win vs. Eastern Illinois in the first round. A year later the Buffs would go 14-0 in the Big Eight and put together a 20-game win streak before falling to UNLV in the NCAA Tournament in front of 11,199 fans in Boulder, a building record. In the 1991-92 season CU would begin a string of six straight NCAA Tournament appearances including two trips to the Elite Eight in 1992-93 and 1994-95. In 1996-97 the Buffs joined the Big 12 and won the inaugural tournament championship.
In 2000-01 the Buffs began a four-year NCAA Tournament appearance streak, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2001-02 and the Sweet 16 in 2003. Ceal Barry retired from coaching at the end of the 2004-05 season after 12 NCAA appearances and over 400 wins. She was replaced by Kathy McConnell-Miller who coached the Buffs until the 2009-10 season. Former Buff Linda Lappe took over in 2010-11 and led the Buffs to the 2012-12 NCAA Tournament and was head coach until the end of the 2015-16 season. JR Payne was hired to replace Lappe in 2016 and the Buffs made their first NCAA Tournament appearance under Payne in 2022.
The women’s basketball program has an all time record of 850-596 with 14 NCAA Tournament appearances. Women’s basketball alumnae in the CU Athletics Hall of Fame are Lisa Van Goor, Shelley Sheetz, Tera Bjorklund Malyszko, Bridget Turner, Erin Scholz and Jamillah Lang as well as coach Ceal Barry.
Cross Country - 1976
The first season of women’s cross country was 1976 under coach Dean Brittenham. In the first season, the Buffs took third at the Big 8 Championships, second in the AIAW Regional, and 16th at the first AIAW championship.
That was a sign of good things to come. The women first qualified for the NCAA championships in 1986 under coach Jerry Quiller where the team took sixth. The Buffs first win at the conference level was the next season in 1987 and they would win again in in 1992 and 1994. Mark Wetmore then took over in 1995 and as the Buffs moved to the Big 12, the women won 11 of 15 championships in that conference before entering the Pac-12.
The Buffs won the first Pac-12 championship in 2011 and have followed suit four more times in 2015, ‘16, ‘17 and ‘21.
The Buffs first national champion was in 1978 when Mary Decker won the AIAW Individual Championship. Grgas-Wheeler followed suit in 2000 as her individual win propelled the women’s team to the program’s first national championship, the first men’s or women’s title in track or cross country for the Buffs. Dani Jones followed that lead in 2018 as her individual win helped propel the program to its third title. That 2000 title was the first of three, as the team also won the national championship in 2004 and 2018. The 2004 team was paced by Renee Metivier’s second place finish and the team compiled just 63 points, a program record. The 2018 team that was led by Jones and her individual title and all five scorers were in the top 25.
Cross Country runners in the CU Athletic Hall of Fame include Kara Grgas-Wheeler, Mary Decker Slaney, Sara Gorton Slattery and Jenny Barringer Simpson.
Indoor & Outdoor Track & Field - 1977
The track & field teams began competition in the Big 8 Conference in the 1977 season, placing third indoor and sixth outdoor. The highlight of the women’s program is perhaps the Big Eight Championship title in 1996, the final season of the Big Eight.
The program’s highest finish in the Big 12 was in 1997, when the team took third in the indoor championships and fourth in outdoor. The best finish in the Pac-12 to date was third at the outdoor championships in 2017.
Individually, the Buffs have had 11 individual national championships in indoor and nine in outdoor, including multiple titles from Jenny Barringer, Emma Coburn, Sara Gorton and Kara Grgas-Wheeler.
Six women’s track athletes are in the CU Athletic Hall of Fame: Donna Waller Queen, Yvonne Scott, Kara Grgas-Wheeler, Mary Decker Slaney, Sara Gorton Slattery and Jenny Barringer Simpson.
Skiing - 1977
The women’s ski team began varsity competition in 1977, although almost certainly racing for women’s athletes at CU dates back decades prior. In the 1960s, CU’s coach was Bob Beattie, who also coached the U.S. National Team. In a letter to supporters of the ski team in 1963, he made note of Barbara Ferries, Judy Melling, and Sandra Shellworth, who were all training with the men’s team. Ferries became CU’s first female Olympian in 1964 and Shellworth followed suit in 1968.
In 1977, skiing became part of the AIAW and the Buffs varsity program began. It didn’t take long to be successful, as the women won the CU Invitational that year in their first meet as a varsity team. Dawn Rosenberg won the slalom race at that meet with Jennifer Schrader taking second and Janis Gross fourth in the first meet. Perhaps the best skier on the team was Amy Griffith, who won the individual regional championship in giant slalom and took second in slalom at the Regional championships before taking second in slalom and third in GS at the AIAW Championships.
Due to the efforts largely of CU coach Bill Marolt, by 1979, the men’s and women were competing at the same venues, and the women responded by winning two meets that year, including the RMISA Championship, the women’s first conference and regional title. In 1982 as the NCAA was pushing the AIAW to the side, the Buffs completed a rare men’s and women’s National Championship in the same year. The Buffs winning the AIAW Championship that season is the first (and only due to the NCAA making the sport coed starting in 1983) women’s championship.
Lee Sevison also that season in 1982 became the first individual National Champion for the Buffs, winning the GS race and picking up the alpine combined title at the AIAW Championships, CU’s first individual title on the women’s side.
Since merging with the men’s team and becoming a coed sport in 1983, the Buffs have been dominant, winning eight national championships. The Buffs have racked up 40 individual regional champions and 29 individual national championships and had women’s skiing stayed separated from men’s, the Buffs would’ve won national championships in 1995, ‘97, ‘98, 2002, ‘06, ‘08, 11, ‘13 and ‘17 and would have nine to date.
Maria Grevsgaard won 24 races in her career, most of any skier in CU history and Lucie Zikova won 16 races on the alpine side, most of any alpine skier in CU history. CU women have earned 231 All-America honors from 86 skiers in its history.
Volleyball - 1986
The Colorado Volleyball program began competition in the fall of 1986 under head coach Brad Saindon, who was hired on April 26 of that same year. After a season of having just walk-ons, the Buffs needed just one season to begin making a mark in the sport, finishing fifth in 1987, and by year four the Buffs were a league contender.
CU would take third in the league in its third season and all matches were now played at the Coors Events Center. Saindon was named the Big Eight Coach of the Year and then in 1989, the Buffs picked up their first NCAA Tournament berth after a second-place finish in the BIg Eight. The Buffs were led in the early years by the likes of Tina Murray, Karrie Downey, Nicole Vranesh, Leah Williams, Janine Zumerchik, Rachel Wacholder and many other fantastic players.
This began a streak of 12 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 1989 to 2001. In the midst of that streak, the program is turned over to long-time assistant coach Pi’i Aiu, who is named the Big 12 and District V Coach of the Year in his first season with the Buffs placing second in the Big 12. Aiu’s early teams were led by the likes of Kelly Campbell, the program’s first All-American, Sarah Lodge and Aiu’s tenure was also marked by Ashley Nu’u, Monique Gerlach, Meghan Barkman, Elizabeth Gower, Allie Griffin and others.
CU returned after one season to make four more NCAA Championship appearances from 2003-06 and in 2008 Liz Kritza took over the program. Kritza’s teams returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2013-14. Kritza’s reign was marked by the stellar play of Taylor Simpson, the program’s first first-team All-American in 2014, Alexis Austin and Nicole Edelman, among others.
Jesse Mahoney took over the program in 2016 and the Buffs returned to the NCAA Tournament and made a run to the Sweet 16 in 2017 and returned to the tournament in 2018. Alexa Smith, Naghede Abu, Brynna DeLuzio, Jenna Ewert and Meegan Hart are among the all-region players thus far under Mahoney.
Golf - 1994-95
The women’s golf program began play in the fall of 1994 under the direction of head coach Justi Miller who was hired on February 25, 1994. The inaugural CU women’s golf team had nine players on it and began competition on September 12, 1994, at the BYU Invitational in Provo, Utah.
After three years, Anne Kelly took over the program in the fall of 1997 and remains the coach to this day. The 2001 Buffs posted the program’s first tournament win as a team, taking home the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, a tournament the Buffs hosted for many years. The Buffs had the program’s first sub-300 performance as a team, shooting a collective 297 to bring home the title. Erin Kerr was the leader of Kelly’s early teams.
In the 2006 season, CU took third in the Big 12, the best finish in the conference tournament to date. In 2009, Colorado would qualify for its first NCAA appearance led by freshman Emily Talley, who would become the program’s first All-American. The Buffs would qualify again for the NCAA Regional in 2010-11 in their last year in the Big 12, winning two tournaments that season.
In 2011-12 the Buffs joined the Pac-12 Conference, taking sixth in the first year before hosting the NCAA West Regional and taking fourth, qualifying for the NCAA Championships as a team for the first time ever. That team won three tournaments in total that season and took 2nd in another. Talley was joined by Jess Wallace and Jenny and Kristin Coleman, all four of whom would go on to professional golf.
From 2010-11 to 2017-18, the Buffs would advance to the NCAA Regional seven times in eight seasons (and nine out of 12 counting the 2008-09 season). That final season of that run in 2017-18, the Buffs advanced to the NCAA Championships for the second time. That run was highlighted by the likes of Esther Lee, Brittany Fan, and Robyn Choi, all of whom earned All-America honors along the way. Since their last appearance in 2018, Kristy Hodgkins and Malak Bouraeda both advanced to NCAA Regionals as individuals.
The women’s golf program has had a number of Buffs play professionally on the LPGA and Symetra/Chevron Tours including Jenny Coleman, Emily Talley, Esther Lee, Brittany Fan and more.
Soccer - 1996
On August 14, 1993, Athletic Director Bill Marolt announced that CU would add a women’s soccer program. Austin Daniels was named the Buffs' first head coach on Feb. 16, 1996, ahead of the first official season which would kickoff later that fall. The original CU roster featured 21 student-athletes from Colorado, California, Hawai’i, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South Dakota, Michigan and Washington.
CU’s first game was a 1-1 tie at Cal State Bakersfield on August 31, with the first goal scored by freshman Shawn Kenyon, who was also the first scholarship player for the Buffaloes. CU won its inaugural home contest soon after, with a 2-1 win over LSU at Pleasant View Soccer Complex on September 8, 1996. That first season the Buffs would finish 6-10-1 overall and 3-6-0 in the Big 12, good for 8th place.
The original CU women’s soccer team had its locker room in Carlson Gym, and was bussed to and from Pleasant View Soccer Complex in north Boulder for practices and games from 1996 until 2004.
Upon the arrival of coach Bill Hempen, the Buffs started training at Prentup Field on CU’s east campus in the spring of 2002 while it was still a baseball field. In the spring of 2003, the soccer team was granted exclusive use of Prentup and played its first game there in the fall of 2004 before moving there exclusively for games in 2005. Hempen's Buffs made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2003 after winning the Big 12 regular season championship, and made six consecutive appearances, including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2006.
Coach Danny Sanchez was hired in 2011 and has led the Buffs to six NCAA Tournament appearances in his tenure. Colorado's all time record is 261-210-51 with Sanchez earning 112 of those wins and leading the Buffs to the Sweet 16 in 2013.
The soccer program is now in its 26th year with almost 300 letterwinners in that span. During the existence of the CU soccer program, there have been four American women's professional soccer leagues and the Buffs have had several players participate, most recently in the NWSL. Most recently Taylor Kornieck was drafted #3 in the 2020 NWSL Draft and currently plays for the San Diego Wave while Jorian Baucom features for the North Carolina Courage. Joss Orajel competes for the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol on their senior women's national team. There are two soccer alums in the CU Athletic Hall of Fame: Fran Munnelly Griffin and Nikki Marshall Malone.
Lacrosse - 2014
On February 1, 2012, then Athletic Director Mike Bohn announced that CU was adding a women’s lacrosse program. Ann Elliott Whidden was hired as CU’s first head coach on March 26, 2012.
The Buffs began play during the spring of 2014 and won their first game on February 13, 2014 over Stetson by a score of 12-4. Cali Castagnola netted the Buffs first goal, while Paige Soenksen recorded the first Buffs save. CU finished 11-8 in its first season, 6-3 in the MPSF, good for third place.
In the 2017 season the Buffs would earn their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. CU finished 16-4 that season and were second in the MPSF.
In 2018, CU won the inaugural Pac-12 regular-season championship with a record of 9-1 and hosted the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament where the Buffs fell in the championship game to Stanford. The 2019 and ‘20 teams both also finished second in the Pac-12 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
The Buffs have been a force at home, recording a 44-13 mark in Boulder, which includes a 41-11 at Kittredge Field. CU recorded 19 straight home wins from 2016-18, which is tied for the fifth in NCAA history and included an 8-0 record in 2017.
