The Athletic Program

Pomona-Pitzer athletes have a long tradition of excellence, both on the field and in the classroom. The athletic program remains true to the Division III philosophy that college athletes must be students first.

The program dates back more than a century, with a rich history that includes the oldest football rivalry in Southern California. Pomona helped introduce women's basketball competition to Southern California colleges in 1909. Pomona played in the inaugural football game at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1923. Neighboring Pitzer College joined forces with Pomona to form Pomona-Pitzer athletics in 1970.

Today our scholar-athletes play on 19 varsity athletic teams in Division III of the NCAA. Sports range from swimming to soccer to softball, and our teams compete powerfully in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Pomona-Pitzer athletes regularly compete for and win SCIAC championships, and both individual athletes and teams have represented the colleges in NCAA national championship competition.

Our athletes train and compete in top-notch facilities. Liliore Green Rains Center for Sport and Recreation houses two gymnasiums with five regulation basketball courts; racquetball, squash, and handball courts; a weight-training facility with Cybex equipment, elliptical, stair, and bicycle machines, treadmill and free weights. You'll also find a large exercise area for aerobics, yoga, fencing and martial arts.

Adjacent to the Rains Center are 14 all-weather tennis courts; two soccer fields; an all-weather track and field facility, football field, and baseball field. The aquatics center houses a 50-meter Olympic-size pool with one- and three-meter diving boards, and its own locker and training rooms. These facilities are open to all Pomona students, regardless of their participation in organized athletics, at no additional charge.

Club teams draw from all of the Claremont Colleges to offer sports ranging from lacrosse to rugby to Ultimate Frisbee. The Intramurals program offers fun and fitness with games such as flag football and inner tube water polo.

The Physical Education Department faculty and staff provide classes in everything from yoga to racquetball to kickboxing. Students also opt for individual workouts, lifting weights or doing cardio in our state-of-the-art facilities.

Varying legends describe the origins of the nickname of Pomona’s athletic teams, some of them too ludicrous to reprint. All we know for certain is that by 1917 the College was represented by the Sagehen, a small, flightless bird that runs in circles when faced with imminent danger. Possibly, the regular success of our athletic teams since that time results in part from overcompensation. Around that time, the official mascot of the College was named “Cecil Sagehen.” Cecil now shows up at major events and football games, backed by the Fighting Sagehen Band.