The University of Mount Olive captured the 2019-2020 Conference Carolinas Joby Hawn Cup, it was announced by the conference office. The Hawn Cup goes to the conference school with the year’s best overall athletics performance. Mount Olive also won the individual women’s Hawn Cup, winning the overall cup in back-to-back years for the first time in school history.

This year’s cup did not include the spring sports and only fall and winter sports were calculated in the possible points available. Mount Olive sponsors 9 of 11 fall/winter Conference Carolinas sports, and including bonus points, the Trojans finished in the top four in five different sports in the Hawn Cup rankings. The Trojans won Conference Carolinas championships in Men’s Indoor Track & Field, Women’s Indoor Track & Field, Women’s Soccer, and Men’s Cross Country.

“Obviously it was an abbreviated year, but we are still excited to win the Hawn Cup.  Our teams have consistently performed well – and were doing so in the spring too, so it is great to see their hard work recognized with this award as the top athletics program in Conference Carolinas,” said Vice President of Athletics Jeff Eisen.

Conference Carolinas names an overall Hawn Cup winner, as well as individual winners for men and women’s sports, respectively. Hawn Cup points are awarded in each sport based on the order of regular-season finish with bonus points going to the tournament champion (2 bonus points) and runner-up finisher (1 bonus point), based on the number of participating teams in each sport.

Mount Olive compiled 82 points out of a possible 102 for a rating of 80.4, repeating as overall champions for the first time in school history and fourth time overall.

In men’s sports, Mount Olive collected 34.5 out of a possible 43 points for an 80.2 rating taking second by .2 percent surrendering the men’s cup from last season. In women’s sports, the Trojans earned 47.5 out of a possible 59 points for a rating of 80.5 repeating as women’s champions.

The Hawn Cup dates back to 1975-76. In 2010-11, the Hawn Cup was expanded to include overall, men’s sports and women’s sports champions.

Mount Olive captured its first-ever Hawn Cup in 2011-12, sweeping all three awards. UMO repeated in capturing all three Hawn Cup awards in 2018-19.