OKLAHOMA CITY – The Sooner Athletic Conference unveiled its 2023-24 recipient of the prestigious Commissioner's Cup on Thursday and for the first time in program history, Mid-America Christian received the distinguished accolade.

In just the second year of the newly designated title, the SAC Commissioner's Cup is presented to the college or university in the conference that performed at the highest level of excellence across its varsity programs. The scoring is based on a point system on how each program finished in its conference regular season standing for each sport with the champion being determined based on the scoring average of all the combined sports offered by the member institution.

Across MACU's nine varsity sports, the Evangels amassed 71.5 of a possible 91 points, totaling a scoring average of .785, edging out John Brown (Ark.) at .777 for the title.

Overall, Mid-America Christian finished the 2023-24 year by winning two Sooner Athletic Conference regular season titles in men's soccer and baseball while finishing in the top four in eight of its nine varsity sports, including: men's basketball (second), volleyball (third), softball (third), women's basketball (fourth), women's soccer (fourth) and men's cross country (fourth).

It was a banner year for MACU's athletic programs as well as the Evangels had a program-record five teams qualify for the NAIA Tournament with men's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball and softball making its way into the national championship events.

The men's soccer program continued to carry itself with an incredible level of excellence under first year head coach Neil Hilton as the Evangels wrapped up their 2023 season with an undefeated mark of 17-0-4 overall and went 8-0-1 against SAC competition, winning the program's third-straight league regular season title and also captured its fourth consecutive SAC Tournament Championship after defeating Science & Arts 3-1 on Nov. 9.

Owning the No. 1 ranking in the NAIA over the final eight weeks of the season, the Evangels earned the top seed in the NAIA Tournament. MACU narrowly missed advancing to the NAIA Tournament final site after the Evangels battled Bellevue to a 3-3 draw in the Second Round at the Dill Soccer Field on Nov. 18, but ultimately fell to the Bruins 7-6 in an extended postgame shootout.

MACU women's soccer saw a drastic improvement from its 2022 season to the fall of 2023 under third-year head coach Anthony Yousey. After going 6-10-2 overall with a 5-2-2 mark in SAC play in 2022, the Evangels put together an incredible 15-4-2 overall record with a 6-1-2 mark against conference foes to finish fourth in the SAC standings in 2023. Mid-America Christian ended up being the only team in the SAC to go toe-to-toe with No. 10 John Brown on Oct. 21 in Siloam Springs, Arkansas as the Evangels battled the Golden Eagles to a 0-0 draw, making them the only team in the league to either win or draw against the SAC Champions.

Making their sixth trip to the NCCAA National Championships since 2014, the Evangels dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to the eventual National Champions Bethel (Ind.) before closing out their historic season with a dominant 5-1 victory over Redeemer (Canada) in its final game of Pool Play.

MACU volleyball put together one of its best seasons in program history. Under fourth-year head coach Holly McKamie, the Evangels put together their best ever finish in SAC play as MACU finished third in the league standings with a 15-5 conference mark while going 25-13 overall.

Hosting their first NCCAA Central Region Championship Tournament since moving up to the Division I level in 2007, the Evangels captured their second NCCAA Central Region Championship with a 3-0 victory over SAC rival Wayland Baptist inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Nov. 15 and also captured its second NCCAA National Runner-Up in the last three years. Picking up three victories at the NCCAA National Tournament to advance all the way to the championship match, the Evangels eventually fell to Grace (Ind.) 3-1 in the title tilt in Point Lookout, Missouri on December 2.

Following a 13-year hiatus, the MACU men's and women's cross country programs saw some success under first year head coach Merritt Suenram. On the men's side, the Evangels captured a fourth-place finish at the SAC Championships ran at Eldon Lyon Park in Bethany, Oklahoma on Nov. 4. In that race, the Evangels had three runners finish in the top 30 while MACU also qualified for its first ever NCCAA National Championship event, finishing seventh out of 12 teams at the Warsaw Community High School Cross Country Course in Warsaw, Indiana on Nov. 10.

On the women's side, Gracie Sanders highlighted the Evangels in her inaugural season with the program. The sophomore transfer from Central Oklahoma not only became MACU's first ever All-SAC performer with a 10^th-place finish at the SAC Championships, but she also became MACU's first ever NCCAA All-American after finishing in sixth at the NCCAA National Championships.

Another team that saw an incredibly marked improvement from the 2022-23 season to the 2023-24 campaign, the MACU men's basketball program put together a massive turnaround under ninth-year head coach Josh Gamblin. After going 11-17 with an 8-14 record in SAC play during the previous season, the Evangels put together a remarkable 2023-24 as MACU finished second in the conference standings at 17-5 with a 24-9 record overall.

The Evangels put together an incredible run in the SAC Tournament, picking up a pair of victories by a score of 79-56 over Texas Wesleyan and 78-62 over John Brown before falling to eventual NAIA National Runner-Up Langston (Okla.) 55-44 in the SAC Championship game on Mar. 5. Qualifying for its seventh NAIA Tournament appearance in the last 10 years, MACU picked up a thrilling 68-67 victory over Hastings (Neb.) before falling 76-58 to No. 4 Oklahoma Wesleyan in the NAIA Tournament Second Round on Mar. 16 in Wichita, Kansas.

In her eighth season at the helm, MACU women's basketball head coach Hannah Moeller guided the Evangels to another sensational season as MACU finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 22-9 overall record and finished fourth in the SAC standings with a 15-7 conference mark.

After suffering through a mid-season slump that saw the Evangels lose five of six games, MACU put together an incredible run over the second half of the season, winning 11 straight games before eventually falling to eventual undefeated John Brown in the regular season finale. After winning a 72-66 thriller against Science & Arts in the SAC Quarterfinal before falling to the Golden Eagles in a tight battle in the SAC Semifinal, the Evangels qualified for their fourth-straight NAIA National Championship Tournament appearance before seeing their season come to an end by a score of 81-67 against Briar Cliff (Iowa) in the NAIA First Round on Mar. 15 in Wichita, Kansas.

Entering his fourth season as the skipper of the MACU baseball program, head coach Brett Stanton led the Evangels to an unforgettable 2024 season. After narrowly missing out on winning the program's first ever SAC Championship in 2023, Mid-America Christian took care of business in a big way in 2024 as the Evangels put together an incredible year, finishing with a program-record 41 wins with a 41-13 overall mark and cruised to the league's regular season title with a 20-4 in conference play. MACU was one of only two programs in the SAC in the last 12 years to win all of its three-game league series.

On-top of winning the program's first SAC regular season title, the Evangels also captured their first ever SAC Tournament title. After picking up a 7-2 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State and a 5-2 victory over Science & Arts, MACU had to bounce back to an 8-3 defeat to the Drovers in an elimination game against USAO. Not only did MACU cruise to a 15-8 win in the elimination game, the Evangels also dispatched Oklahoma City in the Championship game at Bill Smith Ballpark on May 7, as MACU came away with the 12-6 victory.

Qualifying for the program's first ever NAIA Tournament appearance in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the Evangels bounced back from a 4-2 loss against Milligan (Tenn.) to defeat Oklahoma Wesleyan 5-4 in an elimination game on May 14. However, the Evangels saw their historic season come to a heartbreaking end in the rematch against Milligan on May 15 as MACU fell 8-7 to the Buffaloes on a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Also earning its first ever NAIA Tournament bid, MACU softball put together one of its best seasons ever under first year head coach Jim Gasso. Rounding out the season with a 37-17 overall record, Mid-America Christian amassed its most wins ever against SAC competition as the Evangels went 27-9 in league play.

After picking up a pair of midseason wins against eventual SAC Tournament Champion No. 4 Science & Arts as well as finishing as a SAC Tournament Semifinalist, the Evangels earned the No. 4 seed in the Fayette, Missouri bracket of the NAIA Tournament. After falling 2-0 to Dickinson State in its first ever NAIA tourney game, the Evangels captured their first ever NAIA Tournament win in an elimination game against No. 15 College of Idaho with a 4-0 victory on May 14. MACU had a chance to make it to the third day of the tournament, but the Evangels fell by a score of 3-2 on a late rally in the rematch against Dickinson State on May 14.

The Evangels captured the SAC Commissioner's Cup after finishing third in the inaugural year of the cup in 2022-23. Oklahoma City captured the league's cup with a .789 scoring average while Texas Wesleyan came in second at .758 while MACU scored its third place finish at .712.