by Benjamin Konuch, Student Public Relations Writer
Athletic excellence has been a hallmark of Cedarville University for more than a century, almost since its founding in 1887. Now, in 2024, Cedarville University is celebrating 100 years of its athletic identity as the Yellow Jackets and its commitment to innovation, integrity and high performance in the world of intercollegiate sports.
While sports have always been part of the culture at Cedarville, in 1923, Cedarville’s football team was known as the “Orange and Blue Warriors.” Named after the school’s earlier color scheme, this moniker would be short-lived, as the name changed one year later to the Yellow Jackets. This new identity defined Cedarville University and led to its current mascot — Stinger.
While the Yellow Jackets originally offered only football, basketball and baseball, Cedarville’s Athletics Department now has 16 intercollegiate sports. Each team competes in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division II.
During Dr. Don Callan’s tenure as athletic director from 1961 to 1997, Cedarville’s athletic department grew from two sports to 14. During this period, Cedarville competed as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
Under Dr. Alan Geist’s leadership as athletic director, Cedarville University moved from the NAIA to the NCAA — putting the Yellow Jackets on a more visible platform. This multi-year process was announced in 2009 as Cedarville entered two years of trial candidacy and strengthened the quality of its athletic program. Throughout this process, the Yellow Jackets thrived under new coaching conditions, new faculty members and close monitoring with NCAA personnel. Three years later, the Yellow Jackets became a full-time member of the NCAA Division II, competing in the newly formed G-MAC conference.
Athletic excellence has been a trademark of the Yellow Jackets. In 2024, Cedarville won the NCAA Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence for the 11th consecutive year. Meanwhile, as a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), the Yellow Jackets have won 53 national championships, including the 2024 men's basketball and women's indoor track & field titles.
In addition, this year, Cedarville won its third straight G-MAC women's cross country trophy, was represented in five NCAA Division II Championships, and totaled ten NCAA All-America performances. Senior student Haleigh Eckert set Yellow Jacket records for pole vaulting and earned an invitation to the NCAA Division II Women’s Outdoor and Indoor Track & Field Championships. Jaden Johnson also had an exceptional record during his time at Cedarville, graduating in 2024 with five school records for indoor track and participated in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship as well as finishing as an All-American in the 400 meter category.
In prior years, many Yellow Jackets have made headlines and broken records at Cedarville University. One of the most accomplished Yellow Jackets was Carsyn Koch of the Class of ’18, who was the NCAA Division II Women's Indoor 800-meter champion in 2016 and 2017, NCAA Women's Outdoor 800-meter champion from 2016 and 2017 and was a qualifier for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. Other proud Yellow Jacket accomplishments include but are not limited to: Tommy Ansiel’s 2019 NCAA Division II Men's Outdoor Pole Vault Championship win, Daniel Michalski’s 2017 NCAA Division II Men's Outdoor 3,000-meter Steeplechase Championship win and many others.
While competing at a high level is the expectation, Yellow Jacket athletes are also committed to their faith and serving others.
Callan believed sports was an avenue Cedarville athletes could use to share the gospel by the way they respected their opponents and by participating in missions trips. Long before Athletes in Action and other notable sports mission organizations were formed, the Cedarville Yellow Jackets led the charge by sending dozens of teams. Men’s basketball teams have served in the Philippines, Thailand and other countries, while other teams have modeled the same missions-minded philosophy elsewhere.
The first sports mission trip occurred in 1971, and Callan, along with Cedarville’s president, Dr. James T. Jeremiah, led the Yellow Jackets to Japan, China, Taiwan and the Philippines. The basketball team played close to 50 games in that first trip and provided individual coaching to high school students across the four countries while using their platform to openly share and live out the gospel.
These trips continued throughout Callan’s retirement in 1995, and while the NCAA has different rules about the frequency of college team trips, each Yellow Jacket team now plans to take a sports mission trip every four years. One notable trip during 2016 was in Italy, as former men's basketball head coach Pat Estepp led the Yellow Jackets through basketball coaching, community service and street evangelism. In addition, Yellow Jacket Gabriel Portillo, a native of Italy, was able to help his new team connect with the culture and the people that he proudly calls his own through providing connections for the Yellow Jackets to serve alongside his family’s church outreach.
Although many changes in culture and the institution have occurred since the Yellow Jackets formed, the vision for Cedarville athletics remains focused on ministry, respect of opponents, and intense competition.
“If you watch any of our games today, you’ll see our players always asking the opposing team if they are willing to pray with them after each and every game, win or lose,” said Christopher Cross, vice president for athletics at Cedarville University. “In a nutshell, that’s what Yellow Jacket Athletics is all about: we want to share the love of Christ and integrity of good sportsmanship to everyone we encounter.”
Today, Cedarville Athletics remains dedicated to serving on and off the court. Student athletes regularly take part in sports mission trips, like the one the Lady Jackets basketball team embarked upon to Greece during the summer of 2024. In addition, Cedarville athletes find ways to serve locally, such as an ongoing reading program started by Yellow Jacket student athletes for elementary schools during COVID that was named national runner-up for the NCAA Award of Excellence.
“While sports are often seen as idols in today’s culture, Cedarville wants to see sports reclaimed with the correct perspective,” said Cross. “We recognize that we have a platform given to us by sports that can be used to connect with students, audiences, families and communities and to help us proclaim the gospel.”
As the Yellow Jackets look to the future, Cedarville remains dedicated to raising the athletic excellence standard with all its sports teams. A member of the G-MAC conference of NCAA Division II since its induction in 2012, Cedarville University has faced one of the toughest conferences in the country and has weathered the storm.
Now, the Yellow Jackets believe it is their turn to go on the offensive by elevating all their teams to the standard set by their higher-profile teams such as men’s basketball.
“Athletic success isn’t just the end goal for our Yellow Jackets,” said Cross. “Success is about building a culture that honors Christ, honors differences, honors skills, honors compassion and honors sportsmanship. If we find ourselves rooted in creating that culture for our teams and our school, the athletic success will come.”