CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri won the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Cup for the second-straight year, the league office announced Tuesday.
For the first time in school history, SEMO repeated as the OVC Commissioner's Cup Champions. It is also the fourth time in the past six years, where the Redhawks claimed the prestigious honor that is a symbol of overall athletic excellence in Conference-sponsored championships.
The Redhawks finished with 102.0 points, 5.5 points ahead of Eastern Illinois, Little Rock and Tennessee Tech which followed with 96.5 points. Southern Indiana (81), Lindenwood (80), UT Martin (78), SIU Edwardsville (77.5), Morehead State (70), Western Illinois (61.5) and Tennessee State (40) completed the scoring.
SEMO was bolstered by first-place finishes in men's and women's indoor track & field and women's outdoor track & field along with runner-up finishes in women's cross country and baseball. This year was the first time in program history where the Redhawks swept the OVC men's and women's indoor track & field titles.
The 2025-26 season marked the 17th for the Commissioner's Cup, which was previously known as the All-Sports Trophy. 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 league's sponsored sports and each school was required to count its totals from each sport in its grand total.
The points system now has schools count 13 total sports in the final standings. Among those 13, schools are required to count the point totals of three main sports (men's basketball, women's basketball, and volleyball) as well as the highest finishing men's and women's track & field sport (either cross country, indoor track & field or outdoor track & field). Schools that sponsor football are required to count it as one of its 13 sports.
Points are distributed based on the number of schools that sponsor the sport (e.g. if 10 schools sponsor a sport, the champion will earn 10 points, 9 points for second place, 8 points for third place, etc.).
In addition, winners of OVC Tournaments (soccer, volleyball, basketball, tennis, beach volleyball, softball and baseball as well as the football champion) get one additional bonus point.
