CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri's vision of winning the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Cup became a reality when the Redhawks claimed the league's ultimate symbol of overall athletic excellence in Conference-sponsored championships for the first time in school history.
 
In 2018, SEMO developed a comprehensive strategic plan designed to guide the athletics department into the future which included the following objective as it relates to competition.
 
"Win the OVC Commissioner's Cup within the next five years and compete annually thereafter."
 
Mission accomplished. 
 
SEMO accumulated a total of 119 points, 7.5 points ahead of second-place Belmont (111.5). While competing in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic, the Redhawks celebrated a dominating spring season bolstered by first-place finishes in women's tennis, women's track & field, softball and baseball, and a second-place finish in men's track & field. The Redhawks also posted third-place finishes in women's basketball, soccer and volleyball. 
 
"This is truly a team effort. Winning the Commissioner's Cup takes everyone. From the University administration, to the coaches and staff, to the student-athletes, to our supporters. We couldn't have achieved this level of success without all of these groups buying into our vision," said SEMO Director of Athletics Brady Barke.  
 
The Redhawks storybook season came a year after they were on track to win the OVC Commissioner's Cup. In 2019-20, SEMO was in first place following the winter championships before the remainder of the year was canceled and the honor was not awarded due to COVID.
 
"Not having the opportunity to finish what we started in 2019-20, makes this year's achievement extra special," added Barke. "We felt we were poised to win the Commissioner's Cup a year ago, so it was great to be able to carry that momentum into the 2020-21 academic year and achieve our goal."
 
Prior to 2020-21, SEMO finished no higher than third in the OVC Commissioner's Cup standings. Jacksonville State (110.5), Murray State (109.5), Austin Peay (95.0), Morehead State (92.5), UT Martin (88.5), Eastern Kentucky (86.5), Tennessee Tech (80.0), Eastern Illinois (79.5), SIU Edwardsville (75.0) and Tennessee State (33.0) completed this year's scoring.
 
Since the start of the 2019 calendar year, the Redhawks have won 11 conference championships, most in the OVC. Five of those titles came during this spring alone. SEMO completed its unprecedented 2020-21 campaign with a 93-42-1 (.688) record in conference regular-season play for its highest OVC regular-season winning percentage in school history. The Redhawks were the only OVC school that qualified for every conference championship event this season. Additionally, SEMO became the first school in OVC history to win a regular-season championship in baseball, softball and women's tennis in the same year.
 
The award (which started in 1962-63 for men's sports and 1980-81 for women's sports) was previously divided into a Men's All-Sport Champion and a Women's All-Sport Champion. Points were awarded for each of the 18 sponsored sports and each school was required to count its totals from each sport in its grand total.  Southeast Missouri won seven Women's All-Sport Trophies including six-straight from 1994-95 through 1999-00.

Under the latest scoring system, schools are required to count point totals for four main sports (football, volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball) along with their next eight highest point totals from the remaining sports, regardless of gender. Belmont, Morehead State and SIUE, which do not compete in OVC football, count baseball as one of its four required sports.

The points system for scoring is as follows. For all sports (except rifle, men's tennis and men's indoor and men's outdoor track - which have fewer participating teams), the first-place team earns 12 points, the second-place team earns 11 points, etc. For rifle, men's tennis and men's indoor and men's outdoor track and field, the first-place team earns 12 points and subsequent point increments are calculated by dividing the total number of OVC member institutions by the number of institutions sponsoring the sport. The scoring system also includes a bonus point for the winner of OVC Tournaments (soccer, volleyball, basketball, tennis, beach volleyball, softball and baseball).