1972 Weber was 7-3 in the league and defeated Idaho State 5-0 and 6-3 to win the Big Sky championship. Advancing again to District VII play, the Wildcats were eliminated by Arizona State 8-1 and 5-0. Weber possessed a ski team at the club sport level frequently throughout its junior college era. From the early 1950s the team was coached by Earl Miller and generally engaged in meets with other Utah and regional schools. After elevation to varsity level status in 1962-1963, the team continued to participate in such meets and established its own Weber State Invitational. The skiers also participated in the Big Sky Conference meet. The Wildcats were consistently strong there in the downhill and slalom events but with few entries in the jumping and cross-country competition, they were never able to win the team title. Nevertheless, some of its individual participants made strong showings in the NCAA National Meet. Two Wildcats secured All-American status in skiing. Rob Bell placed third in the slalom and Ray Miller took second in the downhill. In 1974 Webers team placed seventh in the alpine and ninth overall in the NCAA meet. Four Wildcats placed in the downhill event, Dan Lawrence 11th, Brian Gottfredson 14th, Steve Webber 33rd, and Kirk Langford 48th. Langford also placed 11th in the slalom and Larry Burton 36th. As was true of many other minor sports, Webers swimming program had existed at the club sport level prior to 1962-1963. After becoming a varsity sport, the swimming program competed within the College Division of the NCAA throughout its brief span of existence. Its coaches were Vernon Barney 1962-1963; LeRoy Over-street 1963-1964 and 1964-1965; and Lynn Corbridge 1965-1966 to 1973-1974. Webers swim teams usually finished in third or fourth place in Big Sky competition against schools with longer traditions to their varsity programs and with greater depth in numbers and talent. Normally, Webers season consisted of home-and-home dual meets against Big Sky schools, the other major Utah schools, and a trip through Colorado to compete against the major swimming powers of that state. In addition to its conference event winners, two Wildcat swimmers qualified for the NCAA College Division meet, diver Ron Smith on two occasions and freestyler Bob Currie in 1974. After the girls basketball team was abolished in 1905, athletic opportunities for women at Weber for many years were virtually non-existent. Some women, however, did compete on the colleges fencing and swimming teams in the late 1930s. Virginia Wade was among the most successful, consistently winning the diving competition for the 1941-1942 team. In addition to the extensive womens intramural program that first developed in the 1930s, an extramural or womens intercollegiate program was established during the 1950s. Weber women athletes participated regularly in the Wasatch Athletic and Recreation Federation of College Women that included as member schools Weber, Ricks, College of Southern Utah, College of Eastern Utah, Snow, Dixie, Idaho State, Utah State, Utah, and BYU. Seven field days were held annually at member schools for competition in archery, basketball, bowling, racquetball, volleyball, soft-ball, tennis, golf, swimming, synchronized swimming, gymnastics, and track and field. Competition in the various sports were held on a Friday evening and Saturday with an awards banquet to conclude activities. Member institutions were divided into an A division for four-year schools and a B division for junior college teams and second units from the four-year colleges. Webers program was administered by its Department of Physical Education and coached from 1955 to 1970 by Carol Westmoreland and from 1970 to 1972 by Carol Hughes. Webers present womens varsity athletic program began in the early 1970s in response to the so-called Title IX federal legislation which mandated the establishment of comparable collegiate athletic programs for both men and women. The college responded by establishing a womens softball program in 1972-1973 and in 1974-1975 added volleyball, basketball, and gymnastics. The Weber womens program also joined the Intermountain Athletic Conference, the IAC, a ten-team league encompassing much of the Mountain West, including, for example, Weber State, Utah, Utah State, BYU, Arizona State, and Colorado. In 1982-1983 Weber State became a charter member of the Mountain West Athletic Conference (MWAC) along with Portland State University, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana and Montana State. Portland State withdrew in 1986-1987 and Northern Arizona and Nevada-Reno joined the league in 1987-88 prior to its merger with the Big Sky in 1988-1989- The IAC was a member of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and the MWAC joined the NCAA when that body replaced the AIAW as the governing body for womens athletics in 1982-1983. Conference requirements have influenced the nature of the womens program as greatly as they have that of the men. Principally as a result of league decisions, Weber dropped its gymnastics program in 1978 and softball after its 1982-1983 season. In the meantime, however, it added tennis, golf, cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track in 1978-1979. Weber dropped its highly successful golf program in 1986-1987 for budgetary reasons and because it was never recognized as an official league sport. Presently, Weber therefore competes in the six championships sponsored by the conference in volleyball, basketball, tennis, cross-country, indoor track, and outdoor track. Webers softball teams were particularly successful during their first years of existence. Playing without conference affiliation during the first two years of competition, the softball teams of 1973 and 1974 won state championships by defeating teams from Utahs other major schools and finished second to BYU in 1975. Qualifying thereby for the National College Softball World Series on all three occasions, the Lady Wildcats placed 12th in 1973, 10th in 1974, and 11th in 1975. Weber found it difficult, however, to compete successfully with the much larger schools of the IAC, as a result the Lady Wildcats generally finished fourth or fifth in the league during most of the late 1970s. Weber fielded an independent team in 1982-1983 after joining the MWAC but dropped the sport at the end of that season. Coaches for the team included Joy Wood 1974-1975 and 1975-1976; Jane Miner 1976-1977 and 1977-1978; and Chris Thornock, earlier an outstanding player for the team, from 1978-1979 to 1982-1983. Thornock was also