Photo Courtesy of AUM Athletics
By: Cameron Harris, AUMnibus social media coordinator & writer
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — AUM Athletics has many exciting players and teams looking to compete in AUM’s fifth year as an NCAA Division II program. AUM is part of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) where they compete against many teams, not only in Alabama, but across the southeastern gulf coast.
Soccer, volleyball and cross country are the first sports on the fall calendar that students will be able to attend, with the men’s and women’s teams having games on Sept. 5 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The men’s and women’s cross country teams start their seasons the following day.
Women’s cross country is coming off its most successful year, getting fourth place at the GSC championships. Volleyball also had their most triumphant year reaching the semifinals of the GSC tournament for the first time in the school’s history. Men’s soccer also had an outstanding year, making it to the GSC semifinals for its third year in a row.
In an interview with Tim Lutz, the assistant Athletic Director for External Relations, he expressed lots of excitement about the fall sports programs. Lutz highlighted the ways the athletic department will be promoting AUM athletics to the student body in hopes to get people in the seats for the various events.
Lutz spoke about the upcoming Warhawk spotlights that will be happening on Sept. 5 for men’s soccer and Sept. 11 for the women’s team, which he described as “pushing student athletes to support each other.” Lutz’s hope is to have other student athletes in the stands to support the soccer teams. He also talked about faculty and staff appreciation days where the men’s and women’s soccer teams will pick a member of the staff that has had a positive impact on their college experience to be recognized at their respective games, and the volleyball team will be doing the same on Sept.26
Lutz mentioned many other promotional events like Senior Day, a student organization night during the volleyball season and a celebration for the 25th anniversary of the women’s soccer program.
Lutz not only expressed his excitement for the fall, but also the winter and spring where the men’s and women’s basketball teams will hit the court hoping to build on successful 2023 campaigns. There was also exciting news announced last Friday of a women’s golf team coming to AUM.
“It makes a lot of sense for us here in the River Region; there is a lot of golf courses and it’s a popular sport in the area. One thing I love about the addition of women’s golf is we can recruit young ladies who may not have the opportunity to golf year-round. They can come to Montgomery, a growing golf community, and play 12 months out of the year.”
When asked why only a women’s team and not a men’s, he said, “From a Title IX perspective our campus is majority female, so from a Title IX perspective offering another sport to females gets us a lot closer to being in line with those federal standards.”
The GSC has partnered with FloSports to bring games from all sports to, not only fans of AUM athletics, but the entire GSC. Be warned the action is blocked by paywall, but students and faculty who sign up with their education emails get a discount paying $9.99 a month for a membership which grants access to all GSC games across a variety of sports.
