page_title: University of California, Riverside
section_title: Athletics
hierarchical_section_title: University of California, Riverside / Student life / Athletics
context_page_description: The University of California, Riverside is a public research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on 1,900 acres in a suburban district of Riverside with a branch campus of 20 acres in Palm Desert. In 1907, the predecessor to UCR was founded as the UC Citrus Experiment Station, Riverside which pioneered research in biological pest control and the use of growth regulators responsible for extending the citrus growing season in California from four to nine months. Some of the world's most important research collections on citrus diversity and entomology, as well as science fiction and photography, are located at Riverside.
  UCR's undergraduate College of Letters and Science opened in 1954. The Regents of the University of California declared UCR a general campus of the system in 1959, and graduate students were admitted in 1961. To accommodate an enrollment of 21,000 students by 2015, more than $730 million has been invested in new construction projects since 1999.
context_section_description: UCR's varsity teams compete in the Big West Conference of NCAA Division I. Programs include men's and women's soccer, cross country, basketball, track and field, baseball, softball, tennis, golf and women's volleyball. After students voted to assess themselves $35 a quarter to fund the athletic programs in 1998, men's and women's soccer and golf were added, and the athletic department switched from NCAA Division II in 2000. While at Division II level, UCR produced 5 national championship teams in men's baseball and women's volleyball. As of 2006, UCR had produced 17 individual national champions, 175 All-Americans and many conference and regional champions. The men's golf team represented UCR in the 2004 and 2005 NCAA West Regionals after winning back-to-back Conference Championships in those respective years while having three athletes ranked in the top 100 in the country. In 2006, 2007, and 2010 the UCR women's basketball team represented the conference in the Division I tournament but lost all three times in the first round. In December 2008, the UCR women's basketball team upset the #16-seeded Vanderbilt Commodores.
  In 2005 the women's soccer team competed in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In 2007, UCR's baseball team won their first Big West championship and reached the Division I postseason for the second time since 2003, and the cross country team sent its first two athletes to the national championships.Football was played until 1975, and the team won two CCAA championships before the sport was discontinued because of low attendance and in anticipation of the impact of Title IX regulations.
  The volleyball and basketball teams play home games in the Student Recreation Center Arena (SRC), which seats 3,168. The baseball team competes at the Riverside Sports Complex, just off campus at the corner of Blaine and Rustin streets. UCR graduate Troy Percival personally built UCR's baseball clubhouse to major league quality standards. Softball is played at the Amy S. Harrison Field, named after a UCR graduate who donated $300,000 towards its upgrade in 2004. Adjacent to the softball field are the soccer and track fields. The soccer field was resurfaced with artificial turf in 2007. In 2011, the old track and field facility, which had bleachers that dated back to the 1950s and a track surface that was over 15 years old, was completely torn out and replaced with a brand new facility.
  Non-varsity student sports clubs that compete with other area universities include the Rugby Football Club, established in 2006, which plays in the Southern California Rugby Football Union. The karate program is provided through the UC Riverside Recreation Center's Leisure Line classes. The classes are provided by top of the line USA Shotokan karate team coaches from the American JKA Karate Association, an association that has been in the city for over 40 years. It is one of the largest collegiate programs in the United States, that take competitors to local, national and international competitions. A Men's and Women's Club Soccer team also competes in the West Coast Soccer Association.
  In 1954, UCR's founding class adopted the name "Highlanders", reflecting the campus' high altitude. After the student body passed a referendum to move to Division I competition in 1998, the bear mascot, formerly called "Scotty", was professionally redesigned to look more ferocious. The new mascot featured a half-blue face in homage to William Wallace, the subject of the movie Braveheart. In line with the Scottish motif, UCR assembles a bagpipe band made up of students and staff who play at graduation and other campus events. The blue and gold tartan worn by the pipe band and the mascot is a registered trademark of the University of California. For the women's basketball team's first appearance at the NCAA Tournament in 2006, UCR sent 22 members of the pipe band to play at halftime.
caption: UCR Athletics primary logo launched in 2020