Pomona's teams were formed in 1895, and it was a founding member of the SCIAC in 1914. The college competed with Claremont Men's College (CMC) for a decade beginning in 1946, and joined with Pitzer in 1970.
Pomona College's first intercollegiate sports teams were formed in 1895.[1] The college was one of the three founding members of the SCIAC in 1914, and its football team played in the inaugural game at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1923, losing to the University of Southern California Trojans.[1] From 1946 to 1956, Pomona joined with Claremont Men's College (CMC) to compete as Pomona-Claremont.[1] In 1970, Pomona began competing with Pitzer College (then seven years old) on an interim basis, and the arrangement became permanent two years later.[1]
The Sagehens ranked 15th out of 322 competing Division III schools and 2nd among SCIAC schools in the 2023–2024 Division III NACDA Directors' Cup, which ranks athletics programs and awards points relative to their finish in NCAA championships.[6] The water polo, track and field, women's soccer, and women's tennis teams are regarded as particularly strong.[7]
Early athletics at Pomona
Football team, c. 1899
Pomona organized the first women's basketball team in Southern California in 1903.[1]
Football team playing USC in the inaugural L.A. Coliseum game, 1923
National championships
The Sagehens have won 48 individual NCAA Division III championships: 19 in men's track and field, 12 in women's swimming and diving, 8 in women's tennis, 6 in men's swimming and diving, and 4 in women's track and field.[9] Additionally, they have won four team titles: women's tennis in 1992, back-to-back titles in men's cross country in 2019 and 2021, and an additional title in men's cross country in 2023.[9]
Pomona-Pitzer's primary indoor athletics facility is the Center for Athletics, Recreation, and Wellness (CARW),[a] located near the center of Pomona's campus. It was reconstructed and renovated in 2022,[16] replacing the Liliore Green Rains Center for Sport and Recreation, built in 1989.[17] The gym is complemented by various outdoor facilities, mostly located within the naturalistic eastern portion of Pomona's campus known as the Wash.[18]
Pomona-Pitzer athletics facilities
Gym main entrance
Gym north façade at night
Practice gym
Gym lobby
Merritt Field
Alumni Baseball Field
Haldeman Aquatics Center
Nickname and mascot
The third iteration of the Cecil the Sagehen costume (adopted in 2017[19]) dabbing
A male sagehen with its gular sacs inflated during a courtship ritual
The official mascot of the team is Cecil the Sagehen, a greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus).[20][21] The bird is a large ground-dweller native to the western United States (although not Southern California), and is distinguished by its long, pointed tail and complex lek mating system. It is named after the sagebrush on which it feeds.[22]
Pomona-Pitzer is the only team in the world to use the Sagehen as a mascot,[23] and it is often noted for its goofiness.[24][25] Rather than in the grouse's natural brown and white colors, the mascot is rendered in the team's official colors, blue (for Pomona) and orange (for Pitzer).[26]
The precise origin of the nickname is unknown. Pomona competed under a variety of names in its early years, including "the Blue and White" and "the Huns".[1] The first known appearance of "Sagehens" was in a 1913 issue of The Student Life newspaper, and in 1918 it became the sole nickname.[20] Later Pomona-Claremont began using it, and it is now the nickname for the combined Pomona-Pitzer team. The first known reference to "Cecil" was made in the 1946 Metate (Pomona's yearbook).[20]
Long-distance swimmer and world record-holder for the fastest swim across the English Channel in 1978; later coached the Pomona women's swimming and diving team for more than 25 years
^The acronym "CARW" is seldom used by students, who instead refer to the gym generically. Some have proposed rearranging the letters to form the more pronounceable "CRAW".[14][15]
^Hotaling, Debra (February 7, 1999). "Mascots Unmasked". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
^"The Bird". Sage Grouse Initiative. Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
^Kendall, Mark (April 6, 2020). "Save the Sagehen". Pomona College Magazine. Pomona College. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
^ abReynolds, Kirk (April 1, 1999). "The Rivalry". Pomona College Magazine. Pomona College. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
^"1979". Pomona College Timeline. Pomona College. November 7, 2014. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
![Pomona organized the first women's basketball team in Southern California in 1903.[1]](File:Pomona_College_women%27s_basketball_team_photo,_1903.jpg)
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