The Tommie football team is traveling nearly five hours to De Pere, Wis. to open the season against St. Norbert College, a program with a successful history and a 9-1 record in 2009.

The Tommies faced the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils in St. Paul Wednesday on St. Thomas’ south field. Team captain sophomore Callan Faulkner said the players had high hopes for their first home game.

The St. Thomas community saw its fair share of construction around campus this past summer.

But while Opus Corporation was tearing down buildings and putting up new ones, another type of construction was going on: Coach Glenn Caruso was busy building an improved Tommie football team.

MINNEAPOLIS — On a pitcher-perfect June night in the Twin Cities, Francisco Liriano and Tim Hudson dueled for eight dazzling innings, making every hit look like pure accident and every run scored feel like a minor miracle.

PARIS — Alberto Contador stood atop the podium at the Tour de France on Sunday for the third time in four years, struggling to rein in his emotions as Spain’s national anthem echoed across the wide boulevard of the Champs-Elysees.

Many colleges and universities would be happy to have one or two standout sports teams with high win totals. But at St. Thomas this past year, six teams achieved that level of success.

The St. Thomas baseball team’s season, unlike last year’s season, did not end in a College World Series national championship.

But the Tommies finished with an impressive 35-9 record on its way to winning the MIAC title and tournament before a one-run loss to UW-Whitewater ended the team’s season in the NCAA Midwest Regional tournament.

The St. Thomas men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Berea, Ohio this past weekend for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College. The men sent seven athletes and the women sent eight to the meet, including a number of All-Americans on both teams.

Linfield ended the St. Thomas softball team’s season Sunday.

Linfield’s two home runs powered the team past the Tommies (40-8) for a 3-1 win in the NCAA softball regional title game in Indianola, Iowa. Linfield (38-5) moves onto next week’s College World Series.

Hot hitting continued into Sunday afternoon for the St. Thomas baseball team as the Tommies defeated Augsburg 19-9 and won the MIAC championship.

With the win, the Tommies get the automatic bid to defend its title in the NCAA Division III playoffs, which start Wednesday.

The St. Thomas track teams finished first at the MIAC track championships in Winona Saturday, making it their second consecutive MIAC sweep.

The softball team held off elimination Sunday with a 6-1 win over Illinois-Wesleyan at the regional tournament in Indianola, Iowa.

Senior Marta Radcliffe threw a complete game and had two RBIs to lead the Tommies. Sophomore Kayla Boward went three-for-four at the plate, tacking on a run and an RBI.

The women’s softball team took a throttling from Linfield College to the tune of 9-1 Saturday at the regional tournament in Indianola, Iowa.

The men’s lacrosse team may need extra time in baggage check, because it’s returning from the national tournament in Denver with some championship hardware.

The Tommies successfully defended its national championship Saturday by defeating Utah Valley University 12-9.

“Unbelievable. It hasn’t really sank in yet,” junior Joe McCullagh said.

The bats came alive for the St. Thomas baseball team Saturday night as the Tommies throttled Augsburg 17-1.

The Tommies and Auggies will play 1 p.m. Sunday at Dundas Field for the MIAC Championship.

Senior Tom Wippler had two home runs, a solo and grand slam, along with six runs-batted-in.