MALIBU, California – For the fourth time in department history, Pepperdine University has been awarded the Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association All-Sports Trophy due to the Waves' overall success this past school year.
 
Pepperdine previously came in first place in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2011-12.
 
"This award honors the remarkable achievements and dedication of our amazing student-athletes, our incredible coaches and our talented staff," said Dr. Steve Potts, Pepperdine's Director of Athletics. "We are very proud and thankful to receive this award as it recognizes the overall strength and depth of our athletic program. To have so many of our teams compete at NCAA Championships or NCAA Regional events is truly outstanding."
 
Division I-AAA consists of the approximately 100 NCAA Division I schools that do not sponsor football.
 
"On behalf of I-AAA ADA, I would like to congratulate the Pepperdine Waves for their All-Sports championship this year," said Simon Gray, DI-AAA president and current director of athletics at Niagara University. "After finishing second last year, Pepperdine continued its run of athletics excellence and topped a list of highly successful athletic programs in this comprehensive metric."
 
Previously, the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy was awarded solely on the basis of the Learfield Directors' Cup standings. Beginning in 2021-22, only the sports recognized by the DI-AAA ADA were included the scoring. Those sports are: baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and women's volleyball.
 
The Waves earned points in the sports of men's golf (NCAA semifinalists), women's tennis (NCAA quarterfinalists), women's soccer (NCAA round of 16), men's tennis (NCAA second round), women's volleyball (NCAA first round) and women's golf (NCAA Regional appearance).
 
In addition to the four first-place finishes, the Waves have also come in second four times (2007-08, 2016-17, 2018-19, 2020-21) and third three times (2006-07, 2014-15, 2017-18).
 
In the final Learfield Directors' Cup standings (which also included an NCAA Championships appearance by men's volleyball), the Waves came in 62nd place overall. Pepperdine ranked second among WCC schools, finishing only behind BYU (29th place). The Waves scored more points this year than last (375.0 to 374.5), but were 58th last year, the department's best finish since 2005-06.