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Sponsoring conference championships in 33 men's and women's sports, and averaging more than 35 varsity teams at each school, the Ivy League provides intercollegiate athletic opportunities for more men and women than any other conference in the country. All eight Ivy schools are among the "top 20" of NCAA Division I schools in number of sports offered for both men and women.

The most diverse intercollegiate competition in the country for both men and women is also among the best. In recent years, the Ivy League has been synonymous with national excellence in men's and women's soccer, lacrosse, rowing, fencing and squash, and individual Ivy athletes have regularly excelled as well in football, track and field, wrestling and swimming. Ivy teams have enjoyed significant success in the opening rounds of the NCAA Division I basketball championships.

This successful competition in Division I national athletics is achieved by approaching athletics as a key part of the student's regular undergraduate experience: with rigorous academic standards, the nation's highest four-year graduation rates (the same as those for non-athletes), and without athletics scholarships. Ivy athletic programs receive multi-million-dollar institutional support as part of each institution’s overall academic programs, independent of win-loss or competitive records and together with extensive programs of intramural and recreational athletics.

Since 2000 alone, the Ivy League has...

• Produced 30 individual and 13 team NCAA national champions. The League has also had national champions in a number of non-NCAA sports like squash and men’s rowing. All eight Ivy League schools have had at least one NCAA champion -- team or individual -- in the last two years.

• Posted the top conference Academic Progress Rate in 20 of 27 Ivy League championship sports that are considered broad-based (at least 10 conferences registering a conference APR mark) as released by the NCAA in May 2007.

• Had more than 100 All-Americans each year.

• Averaged more than a dozen Academic All-Americans (including an all-time high of 18 in 2006-07).

• Had 162 competitors at the four Olympic Games (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006). Those 162 have collected 53 medals, including 18 gold.

• Sent hundreds of athletes into the professional ranks, including dozens of NFL players including Sean Morey and Isaiah Kacyvenski, who met at midfield as team captains at Super Bowl XL.

• Hosted the first ESPN College GameDay football show to draw more than 1.5 million households.

• Became the first conference to ‘sweep’ the four major NCAA Awards in the same year (2006). Columbia’s Robert Kraft claiming the Roosevelt Award; Princeton’s John Doar the Inspirational Award; Yale’s Susan Wellington the Silver Anniversary; and Brown’s Nick Hartigan the Top VIII.

• Became the second conference with three of the six NCAA Silver Anniversary Award winners in the same year (2007) — Dartmouth's Gail Koziara Boudreaux, Brown's Steve Jordan and Yale's Patricia Melton.