When she started as athletics director of NAIT's Department of Athletics and Recreation three years ago, Linda Henderson set the ambitious goal of bringing home a national championship banner every year. It didn't happen this year, but Henderson wasn't fazed. The way she sees it, the Ooks 2010-11 season was one of unprecedented success.

Eleven of NAIT's 12 athletic teams, men and women, competed at this season's provincial championships, Henderson points out.

Of those, four went on to compete nationally. One of those was the women's soccer team – which, this November, earned the distinction of being NAIT's first female squad ever to earn a medal at that level. "That's huge," says Henderson. In another first, every member of the badminton team returned from the nationals with a medal.

Overall, she says, "I expected NAIT to be at those events, but I didn’t expect to be so successful at those events."

A coach at heart, Henderson doesn't shy away from pointing out places the Ooks could improve.

According to her, the men's basketball team came up unexpectedly short at the nationals, though she recognizes its fifth-place finish as an improvement over last year's seventh. Men's volleyball, she adds, should have pushed past the provincials, but instead had to settle for fourth place.

And, one day, she'd like to see the women's basketball team – the only squad not to represent NAIT at provincial championships – begin its climb to the nationals.

"Next year my goal is to see all of our teams at the provincial champs, men and women," says Henderson, "and then for us ... to be representing at the nationals. I think we’ve started the trend. The programs are pretty successful. You just want to make sure that you continue [building on] those successes."

Here is a look at the success stories of the 2010-11 Ooks athletics season.

Badminton

This February, by defeating the Red Deer Kings 6-1 in a semifinal and the Concordia Thunder 5-2 in the team finals at Mount Royal University, the Ooks captured their third consecutive Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) championship.

Following that, the team advanced to the 2011 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) Badminton National Championships at Mt. Allison University in Sackville, N.B.

All eight team members who attended returned with a medal, including gold, silver and bronze.

The achievements represent several team records: a third consecutive ACAC team championship, four of the five ACAC individual championships, eight NAIT athletes who qualified for the CCAA Nationals, and medals in all five nationals individual events.

Basketball

Despite the men's Ooks' stunning 25-point victory over the Lethbridge Kodiaks in the ACAC final this March, head coach Don Phillips remained focused on the task ahead, saying, "Our job is not finished."

The win represented the Ooks' second consecutive ACAC championship.

Later that month, the Ooks finished fifth at the CCAA Men's Basketball National Championship hosted by Durham College in Oshawa, Ont.

Curling

The Ooks curling teams competed in March at the ACAC Curling Championships hosted at Lakeland College.

All three teams (men's, women's and mixed) won silver medals.

After finishing the round-robin in first place, the women's team lost to Grande Prairie Regional College 6-5.

The men's team also finished the round-robin in first but fell to the Red Deer College Kings 8-3 in the final.

The mixed team finished the round-robin in second place, losing the final 6-5 to Augustana.

Soccer

Following gold and silver wins for the Ooks men's and women's soccer teams in the ACAC championships in October, the teams went on to a historic achievement of both advancing to the CCAA finals.

"It's the first time in history we've gone for double gold in national championships in any sport," Henderson said at the time.

"That's pretty special. It's an amazing feat for these kids to do what they've done. They're playing with so much class and determination."

Both teams left the tournament, held in November in Spruce Grove, with silver medals, wrapping up a great season.