LONG BEACH, Calif. -- With the end of the 2024-25 year for the Pacific West Conference, the annual Bob Hogue Commissioner's Cup standings were released today and Vanguard ended in ninth out of the 14 schools in the conference.  The name of the award was changed in 2023-24 to honor Hogue, the retiring commissioner who led the league for 16 years.  A scoring system awards points to schools based on their finishes in conference-sponsored sports, and there is a sliding scale based on the number of schools competing in each sport.
 
The Lions earned 92.5 points during the season for an average of 7.11.  Women's basketball garnered the most points for the Blue and Gold (12.5) for the squad's finish in second place.  Men's soccer was next with 11 points for finishing in fourth and baseball nabbed 10 points for finishing in fifth.
 
Point Loma edged out APU for the trophy on scoring average even though the Cougars had 1.5 more total points.  The Lions were only a half point behind the Sharks of Hawaii Pacific for eighth place and were 0.04 average points behind HPU.  The Blue and Gold cleared 10th-placed Academy of Art by 11.5 total points and beat out both Jessup (93) and Menlo (54) in the fight between the newcomers to the league.
 
"For our inaugural year in the PacWest, we talked about "Making the Big Time" where we were at," said Athletic Director Jeff Bussell.  "The journey was not about the destination. It was about the reflection of our hearts and who we were becoming through the process of competing at the NCAA DII level.  To finish in ninth place in the Bob Hogue Cup is a testament to our student-athletes, coaches, and athletic staff living out our theme to compete day in and day out to the best of our ability. I am proud of how our programs accepted the challenge of competing at the next level. They represented Vanguard University, our community, and the Lord in excellence on and off the playing surface. We learned a lot in our first year and we have laid the foundation for the years to come. We are looking forward to all the God has planned for us moving forward."