Willamette Bearcats

Willamette Bearcats
UniversityWillamette University
ConferenceNorthwest Conference
NCAADivision III
Athletic directorRob Passage
LocationSalem, Oregon
Varsity teams20
Football stadiumMcCulloch Stadium
Basketball arenaCone Field House
Softball stadiumWillamette Softball Field
Soccer stadiumSparks Field
Aquatics centerSparks Pool
Lacrosse stadiumSparks Field
Golf courseCreekside Golf Club
Tennis venueWillamette Tennis Courts
Volleyball arenaCone Field House
MascotBlitz
NicknameBearcats
Fight songFight Bearcats Fight
ColorsCardinal and gold
   
Websitewww.wubearcats.com

The Willamette Bearcats are the athletic teams of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, United States. Competing at the non-scholarship National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III level, the school fields twenty teams. Most teams compete in the Northwest Conference with their primary rivals being Linfield College. The main athletic venues of the school are McCulloch Stadium, Cone Field House, and Roy S. "Spec" Keene Stadium. Willamette moved to the NCAA's Division III in 1998 after previously being a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) institution. The 1993, men's basketball team won the school's only team national championship, while the 1997 football team lost in the national championship game.

Willamette University was founded in 1842 in what is now Salem, Oregon. A small liberal arts school, it has an enrollment of 1,997 undergraduates and 564 graduate students for a total student population of 2,561. Intercollegiate teams for the university are football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, women's volleyball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's track & field and women's lacrosse. In April 2018, the university announced the creation of the first women's varsity triathlon program in Oregon and ninth in NCAA Division III. The triathlon program began competition in 2021.