Celebrating Record-Breaking Athletic and Academic Achievements
In classrooms, in the community and on game day, Rocket student-athletes are recognized for their commitment to excellence with a conference-leading athletics program that’s molding future leaders on and off the field. In the 2022-23 academic year, the Rockets claimed Mid American Conference championships in women’s and men’s basketball, football, men’s and women’s tennis and women’s cross country.
For the seventh time in the last 12 years, UToledo received the MAC Institutional Academic Achievement Award for earning the highest student-athlete grade point average in the conference. Led by women’s swimming and diving with a team GPA of 3.754, Rocket student-athletes set multiple school records for classroom success in the 2022-23 academic year, including 77 students earning a perfect 4.0 and posting a cumulative student-athlete GPA of 3.437, the highest in school history.
UToledo retained the Mid-American Conference’s Cartwright Award for excellence in academics, athletics and citizenship during the 2022-23 school year, becoming only the second university to win in back-to-back years since the annual honor was established for the 2008-09 school year.
With a vision of elevating the University and community through the power of sports, UToledo unveiled Rise Together, a new five-year strategic plan that outlines a roadmap for student-athlete success, community engagement and facility enhancements that aims to raise the national profile of Rocket Athletics.
In a historic season for Rocket Athletics that included conference titles in football, basketball and tennis — and with a second-place finish in cross country and third-place finish in golf — UToledo received the Reese Trophy as top men’s athletic program in the MAC for the second consecutive year.
The Rocket women’s basketball team won the conference title, the MAC tournament and, as a No. 12 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, upset No. 5 seed Iowa State as part of an historic season that saw them set records for consecutive wins and overall wins in a season.
Men’s basketball senior forward JT Shumate, a middle childhood education major who led the men’s basketball team with 43 blocks and was third in scoring with 16 points per game, was named an Academic All-American for the second straight year, becoming the third Rocket in program history to do so.
Since 2014, UToledo’s football program has participated in Victory Day, which provides special needs children the opportunity for a moment in the gridiron spotlight. About 40 students from Toledo and the surrounding area participated in the 2023 event, meeting players, running drills in the Glass Bowl and getting their names announced over the public address system.
The men’s and women’s tennis teams each claimed outright conference titles in 2023, a season that saw both teams’ coaches receive MAC coach of the year honors. Cassie Alcala and Pawit Sornlaksup received MAC player of the year awards respectively for women’s and men’s tennis, and Sornlaksup also earned an Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award for the Midwest region.
The Rockets women’s cross country team earned its second straight MAC championship and an at-large bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championship Meet in Oklahoma. The team ended the season ranked No. 28 in the nation.
The MAC’s perennial leader in football attendance, UToledo last year became the first school to lead the conference in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball attendance in the same season. Ahead of the 2023 football season, Toledo Athletics rolled out new game day initiatives to enhance the fan experience in the Glass Bowl.
Learn More
- WTOL 11: After Banner Year, UT Athletic Director Says Even Bigger Things are to Come
- Celebrating Success, Historic Seasons of Women’s and Men’s Basketball
- Champions! Rockets Tame Bobcats, 17-7
- Rockets Earn Prestigious AFCA Academic Achievement Award
- 13 ABC: UToledo Student Athletes Welcome Students at Pickett Elementary
- Four UToledo Leaders Receive ‘20 Under 40’ Recognition
- 13 ABC: UToledo Football Players Visit Old West End Academy
- The Blade: Students Celebrate Victory Day with UT Football Players
- Junior Linebacker Nominated for Allstate AFCA Good Works Team
- Rockets Finish No. 68 Out of 363 Division I Schools in Learfield Directors’ Cup Fall Standings
- WTOL 11: UT Women's Basketball to Fundraise for Breast Cancer Awareness at Saturday's 'Rockets for the Cure' Game
- Morgan Otteson Earns Second-Team Academic All-America Honors
- NBC 24: Rockets Coaches Trade Whistles for Power Tools and Give Back for 419 Day