GORHAM, Maine  -  Keene State College averaged 6.168 points to finish ahead of runner up Eastern Connecticut State University (5.944 points) and capture its fourth consecutive Little East Conference Commissioner's Cup.

Keene State, which captured three team titles during the course of the 2003-'04 competitive year, has now won the Commissioner's Cup in each of the three years it has been presented. The Owls were triumphant in the sports of men's and women's cross country and men's basketball. Eastern Connecticut won the women's soccer title in the fall, before making a late charge during the spring, when it won the men's track and field, baseball and men's lacrosse titles.

Southern Maine, which led the conference with five team titles, finished third with an average of 5.627 points. The Huskies were triumphant in the sports of field hockey, men's and women's indoor track and field, women's basketball, and women's outdoor track and field. Western Connecticut State University followed in fourth with 4.566 points, while Plymouth State University and Rhode Island College tied for fifth with 4.238 points. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth was seventh (3.695) and the University of Massachusetts Boston was eighth (1.581).

Commissioner's Cup measures an institution's overall performance in the 19 sports sponsored by the conference. For sports in which the Little East conducts in-season play (baseball, basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball), point totals are determined by the order of finish in the final regular-season standings, with bonus points awarded to the champion of the ensuing post-season conference tournament. For sports that do not conduct in-season play (cross country, indoor track, outdoor track, and swimming), points are awarded based on the order of finish at the conference championship.

The Little East Conference completed its 18th year of athletic competition during the 2003-'04  academic year. Initially formed in 1986 as a six-team men's and women's basketball conference, the Little East has since grown to its present eight-school membership, sponsoring championship play in 19 intercollegiate athletics: baseball; men's and women's basketball; men's and women's cross country; field hockey; men's and women's lacrosse; men's and women's soccer; softball; women's swimming; men's and women's tennis; men's and women's indoor track; men's and women's outdoor track and women's volleyball.