The Western Washington University Department of Athletics has announced that the annual Viking Night Fundraiser will be held virtually in 2020, with KeyBank again serving as the title sponsor of the event to benefit WWU student-athletes. KeyBank has served as the title sponsor of Viking Night for the last 20 years.
The annual gathering of Viking supporters will be held Thursday, October 8 starting at 7 p.m., with a ZOOM link provided to registered attendees. Registration for the event is free, but guests should be sure to register to receive the link to the event.
Viking Night has been a tradition at WWU for over 30 years and is a key fundraiser supporting the 15 varsity intercollegiate programs through student-athlete scholarships and overall program support.
With the impacts of COVID-19, our need to raise funds to support our student-athletes is greater than ever. Despite the changes that have been handed to us, our unwavering commitment to the student-athlete experience remains unchanged, and a major commitment we have is through scholarship support. While the fall sports season was canceled, we hope our teams will be returning to practice and competition soon.
Virtual Viking Night will feature messages from coaches and student-athletes, as well as various auction items to bid on.
"Viking Night is always one of our most cherished events of the year, where we are able to bring together so many great people with the same common goal of supporting our amazing student-athletes," said WWU Director of Athletics Steve Card. "While we won't be able to meet in person to celebrate another year of athletic and academic success, we look forward to virtually seeing all of our great supporters. Now, more than ever, the support and donations will have a great impact on the future of our programs and the success of our student-athletes. We can't thank everyone enough for their continued support of WWU Athletics."
You can register for 2020 Virtual Viking Night via WWUVikings.com/VikingNight. The event will help our student-athletes continue their success in competition and in the classroom on their way towards the ultimate goal of graduation.
ABOUT WWU ATHLETICS: Western Washington University is a four-year public institution located in Bellingham, Washington, featuring over 300 student-athletes that compete for 15 intercollegiate athletic teams at the NCAA Division II level and primarily in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. WWU Athletics has finished in the top 50 in the NCAA II Learfield Directors' Cup standings in 15 of the past 16 years, and in the top 20 in eight of the last 12 years (no award in 2019-20). WWU's programs have won 11 team national championships, most recently the 2016 women's soccer team and the 2017 women's rowing team. Outside of competition. WWU's student-athletes have compiled an academic success rate near 90%, earning the NCAA's President's Award for Academic Excellence two of the last three years.
During the shortened 2019-20 sports season, WWU had eight of nine possible teams represented in the NCAA Championships. Seven of those teams won Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, including going 5-for-5 during the fall sports season. In addition to the great success in competition, a record 111 student-athletes earned GNAC Academic All-Conference honors and 30 received the prestigious GNAC FAR Awards for maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.85. In competition, 64 student-athletes earned GNAC All-Conference honors and 12 Vikings achieved All-America status.
