Williams College - Athletics

Athletics

The school's athletic teams are called the Ephs (rhymes with "chiefs"), a shortening of the first name of founder Ephraim Williams. The mascot is a Purple Cow. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Williams also competes in skiing and squash at the Division I level. Williams is ranked first among Division III schools for athletic spending per student.

Williams has a traditional rivalry with Amherst College and Wesleyan University. The "Little Three", a subset of NESCAC, comprises the three schools. Williams and Amherst participate in notably intense competition, dating back more than a century. Although Williams College typically sports purple and gold as their school colors, purple is in fact the only school color. The gold was added in order to differentiate its colors from that of rival school Amherst's purple and white uniforms. On May 3, 2009, Williams and Amherst alumni played a game of vintage baseball at Wahconah Park according to 1859-rules to commemorate the 150th-anniversary of the first college baseball game, which was played on July 2, 1859, between the two schools. Amherst-alumnus Dan Duquette was instrumental in organizing the event.

Until 1994, Williams was not permitted, by NESCAC rules, to compete in team NCAA competition. The Williams women's swimming and diving team won the school's first national title in 1981, and claimed the title in 1982 as well. Williams played in the 2003, 2004, and 2010 men's basketball Division III national championship games, winning the title in March 2003. Men's basketball also played in the 1997, 1998 and 2011 Final Fours. Williams was the first New England basketball team to win a Division III championship, and since they have been eligible to compete in the NCAA tournament, no team in the country has played in more Final Fours.

Williams teams to win national titles since Williams began participating in NCAA tournaments in 1994 include women's crew (seven titles, including six straight from 2006–2011), men's tennis (three), women's tennis (seven, including five straight from 2008–2012), men's cross country (two), women's cross country (two), men's basketball, women's indoor track and field, and men's soccer. Other perennial contenders in NCAA tournaments include women's lacrosse, women's volleyball, women's soccer, women's field hockey, men's and women's golf, men's and women's swimming and diving and men's track and field.

Williams also has had success winning the NACDA Director's Cup, presented to the institution within each NCAA division that has the greatest overall success in NCAA sanctioned-championships. Williams has won the NACDA Director's Cup 15 of the 16 years since its inception, including the last 13 in a row.

In 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 the college achieved No. 1 rankings in both academics and athletics within its peer groups (liberal arts colleges as ranked by U.S. News and World Report and NCAA Division III institutions as ranked by the Director's Cup calculations, respectively). Dual No. 1 rankings in any single year was an unprecedented achievement among the 1,053 NCAA member institutions.