The California Collegiate Athletic Association is celebrating excellence throughout the month of September. But for Cal State Dominguez Hills, excellence in both the conference and the NCAA started 40 years ago.

One year after celebrating 50 years of intercollegiate athletics at CSUDH, the Toros are now toasting to their 40^th anniversary of being proud members of both the CCAA and NCAA Division II.
 
A lot has been accomplished since Dominguez Hills officially joined both associations on January 7, 1980. In four decades, the Toros have raised four NCAA national championship banners, claimed nine NCAA regional crowns and earned 33 CCAA trophies. And, let's not forget the 133 All-America accolades over the years.
 
As we celebrate the 40 years of excellence, we look back at some of the key moments that Cal State Dominguez Hills contributed to the CCAA's distinction as the nation's most successful Division II conference.
 
Laying the Bricks of Success
It didn't take long for the first CCAA championship to come to Carson. The 1980 men's basketball team, led by head coach Dave Yanai, clinched the University's first conference title and make its inaugural appearance in an NCAA regional.

 
One year later, the men's soccer team, in only its third season of existence, clinched not only the CCAA title but went on to win the University's first NCAA regional trophy. The baseball team joined the success by making its first NCAA regional appearance in 1986, followed by winning the crown a year later to earn a berth to the Division II World Series.
 
In 1984, current head women's soccer coach Marine Cano was tasked with laying the foundation of the program, even though the CCAA did not sponsor the sport. Eight seasons later, the CCAA finally added women's soccer in 1991, and wouldn't you know it, the Toros not only became the conference's first champion, but that success carried on to the University's first NCAA national championship, defeating Sonoma State 2-1 in Carson. Following a soccer tradition, the Toro women's soccer program hangs a star above the 'DH' logo to celebrate its crowning achievement. 
 
A Dynasty Begins
While the women's soccer program completed the quest for an NCAA national championship, Dominguez Hills had been unable to repeat that success until 2000 when the men's soccer team, then led by former standout Joe Flanagan, clinched not only the first CCAA regular-season championship in 12 years but went on to win the program's first NCAA championship.
 
That championship was the beginning of a dynasty in both the NCAA and CCAA during the 2000s. Men's soccer succeeded in adding a second star above the logo in 2008 during an incredible run of 10 straight NCAA tournament appearances. They also won five Far West Region titles and had eight first-place finishes in the CCAA, including six straight. No team has reached that mark since.

 
Flanagan also took over the women's soccer program in 2002 and brought them to six NCAA tournament appearances, having come up just short of winning the program's second star in 2009.
 
Soccer wasn't the only sport Dominguez Hills was constantly hunting for championships in the 2000s. When Jim Maier took over the softball program for the first time back in 2001, he wasted no time revamping the program, getting the Toros back into the NCAA regional for the first time since 1989 in just his third season at the helm. That would also begin a run of qualifying for the NCAA regional in five of six seasons. During his first stint that lasted 13 years, Maier steered the Toros to seven NCAA tournament appearances, having made the Super Regional in back-to-back years in 2012-13, and being one game away from reaching the Division II Women's College World Series.
 
The Individual Success
Dominguez Hills has seen many student-athletes achieve great success during their time in a cardinal & gold uniform, but none greater than four women who worked together to win the University's fourth NCAA national championship. At the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, 2019 CCAA Hall of Famer Chanel Parker, Breionna Jackson, Dora Baldwin and Nancy Blake won the 4x400 relay event in thrilling fashion. It not only came down to the final stretch of the race, but the quartet ran a school-record time of 3:39.87 to win the event.

Here's how Parker, Jackson, Baldwin and Blake ran their way to a national championship:

 
As head coach Warren Edmonson said after seeing the four women on top of the podium: "It can't get any better than this."
 
That was a big statement at the time considering Dominguez Hills produced the fastest woman alive. Before Carmelita Jeter started winning Olympic, IAAF and USATF medals, she was a highly-decorated athlete at Dominguez Hills. She finished NCAA runner-up three times in the 100 meter, was a six-time first-team All-American and won seven total CCAA Championships. She still holds five CSUDH records and, with her six All-America awards, make it an easy choice for the CCAA to include her as an inaugural member of the conference's Hall of Fame in 2016.
 

 
The five runners are part of 94 individuals who have been selected All-Americans. While Jeter and Parker each earned six first-team All-America honors, men's soccer's Kevin Gallaugher (pictured above), a 2016 CCAA Hall of Fame inductee, also earned six, four of which were first-team selections.
 
Jeter isn't the only Toro to have extended an athletic career beyond college. The men's soccer program has seen Kei Kamara, Kevin Hartman and Tony Alfaro compete in Major League Soccer and achieve success in his own way.
 
Kamara, who is in his 14^th season in the league and currently playing for the Colorado Rapids, is one of two CCAA players in the top five in the league's all-time goals list. Kamara has scored 129 goals for fifth all-time and is chasing his Chico State rival and current San Jose Earthquake Chris Wondolowski, who holds the record with 163 goals and counting.
 
Hartman spent 16 seasons in front of the goal posts for three different teams, including a decade with the LA Galaxy. In addition to winning two MLS Cups and one MLS Goalkeeper of the Year with the Galaxy, he finished his career as the league's all-time leader in saves.
 
Alfaro was drafted by the Seattle in 2016 and was a contributor to the Sounders' run to an MLS Cup his rookie year.
 
The baseball team saw an incredible streak of 12 years with a Toro being selected in the MLB Amateur Draft, a rare achievement for a Division II school. Of the 12, one has made it to the big leagues in Kevin Pillar, who roamed center field from 2008-11.  Pillar's time as a Toro was highlighted by a 54-game hitting streak, a record that still holds in all NCAA levels. The three-time All-CCAA outfielder is in his seventh season in the big leagues, currently playing for the Colorado Rockies, which is in the hunt for a playoff berth.
 
Several Toro hoopers have gone on to sign to play professionally overseas. Recently, Wonder Smith has signed to played for Willkommen in Germany, joining former Toro Vincent Golson, who recently played for Koeln.
 
As the CCAA celebrates excellence throughout the month of September, you can say that the Toros have 40 years' worth of celebrating.

Happy anniversary Toros!
 

CSUDH's Success in the CCAA/NCAA
Men's Soccer	NCAA Champions (2000, 2008) NCAA Regional Champions (1982, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2009) CCAA Champions (1982, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015) 35 All-Americans
.
Women's Soccer	NCAA Champions (1991) NCAA Regional Champions (1991, 1997, 2009) CCAA Champions (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004) 10 All-Americans
.
Track & Field	NCAA Champions (2011) 37 All-Americans 1 Olympic Gold Medalist
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Women's Basketball	CCAA Champions (1994-95, 1995-96, 2008-09, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16) 7 All-Americans
.
Men's Basketball	CCAA Champions (1980-81, 1986-87, 2008-09, 2010-11) 2 All-Americans
.
Baseball	NCAA Regional Champions (1987) CCAA Champions (1986, 1987, 1994) 26 All-Americans
.
Softball	CCAA Champions (1983, 2005, 2012) 8 All-Americans
.
Golf	5 All-Americans
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Volleyball	23 All-CCAA selections
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Women's Cross Country*	2 All-Americans
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Men's Track & Field*	2 All-Americans
	* Sport no longer sponsored at CSUDH