The Nebraska–Kearney Lopers are the athletic teams that represent the

University of Nebraska at Kearney The University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) is a campus of the public University of Nebraska system and located in Kearney, Nebraska. It was founded in 1905 as the Nebraska State Normal School at Kearney. History In March 1903 the Nebraska Sta ...

, located in Kearney,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division II level of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA), primarily competing in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) for most of its sports since the 2012–13 academic year; while its women's swimming and diving team competes in the

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its ...

(NSIC). The Lopers previously competed in the D-II

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

(RMAC) from 1994–95 to 2011–12 (which they were a member on a previous stint as a provisional member during the 1989–90 school year); and in the Central States Intercollegiate Conference (CSIC) of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its st ...

(NAIA) from 1976–77 to 1988–89.

Conference affiliations

* 1916–17 to 1927–28: Nebraska Collegiate Conference * 1928–29 to 1942–43:

Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association (NIAA) was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1928 to 1942. The league comprised public state colleges in the state of Nebraska.Central States Intercollegiate Conference * 1989–90 to 1993–94: Independent * 1994–95 to 2011–12:

* 2012–13 to present: Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association

Varsity teams

UNK competes in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include basketball, cross country, football, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and wrestling; basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.

Softball

The Lopers softball team appeared in the first three

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

in 1969, 1970 and 1971.

Women's swim and dive

The Women's swim and dive team is an affiliate member of the

(RMAC).

Mascot

The mascot at

is Louie, who has been at the college since the beginning. He is always at every UNK Athletic event cheering on the Lopers with the cheerleaders.

Facilities

* Foster Field at Ron & Carol Cope Stadium – Home of the Loper football and soccer teams * Cushing Pool – Home of the Loper Swim & Dive team * Dryden Park – Home of the UNK Softball team * Harmon Park – Home of the UNK Tennis team * Health and Sports Center – Home of the UNK Basketball, Wrestling, and Volleyball teams * Kearney Memorial Field – Home of the UNK Baseball team (Once home to a

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

minor league team, Nebraska State League)

Notable alumni

Kamaru Usman Kamarudeen Usman (born May 11, 1987) is a Nigerian and American professional mixed martial artist, former freestyle wrestler and retired folkstyle wrestler. He currently competes in the welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Champions ...

, former

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

Welterweight Champion Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

and 2010 NCAA Division II Wrestling champion * Stephen Goodin, NFL player * Randy Rasmussen, former New York Jets player * Joba Chamberlain,

pitcher * Tervel Dlagnev, Olympic Wrestler * Mason Brodine, tight end for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

* Arthur Hobbs, defensive back for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nebraska-Kearney Lopers