North Idaho College has won one national team championship since Al Williams took over as athletic director in the fall of 2004.

That was in 2011, when the NIC women's basketball team won its first national title.

This year, at a booster meeting last week, he set the bar pretty high, saying he thought the Cardinals could win multiple national titles this school year.

But in which sports?

Women's basketball, which has most of its players back from last year's Scenic West Athletic Conference champions?

Wrestling, which has won 13 national titles, though the last one was back in 2003 - just before Williams arrived?

Volleyball, where the Cardinals are currently undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA?

If nothing else, "I'm betting that we'll have three top-four national finishers," he said.

Some other notes from NIC's booster-rama ...

* Second-year volleyball coach Kandice Gregorak said her players came back to school in better shape this fall - one of the reasons for the Cardinals' undefeated start.

Because one of last year's setters unexpectedly did not return this year, Gregorak moved freshman Allison Meehan to setter. She said the Post Falls High product is "by far the most improved player I've ever seen over 3 or 4 weeks. She is just a stud."

One pleasing win for NIC so far this year came over the College of Central Florida, which beat the Cardinals in the first round at nationals last year.

Gregorak said Southern Idaho and Salt Lake Community College, the other perennial powers in the SWAC, have more hitting power than the Cardinals, but "hopefully we can get them like we did last year - with better defense."

NIC won the SWAC regular-season title last year.

* NIC's women's soccer team (5-3) has had its ups and downs this season - the downs being two losses to a team (Northwest College of Powell, Wyo.) which had never beaten the Cardinals prior to this season.

This year’s district tournament now consists only of NIC (provided it is at .500 by the cutoff date) and Region 9 teams (Region 6, Kansas, now plays in a different district tourney). Still, only the winner from districts advances to nationals, which is in Florida this year.

“I think it’s going to be a tough road ahead for us,” Hogan said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 28 years of coaching, it’s not who’s playing best at the beginning — it’s who’s playing best at the end.”

• After several years in Florida — where, according to NIC golf coach Derrick Thompson, “all it does in Daytona Beach in May is rain” — the NJCAA women’s tournament moves to Mesa, Ariz., next spring. The men’s nationals, which were in Newton, Kan., last year, move to Lubbock, Texas, next spring.

Both teams are playing in a handful of fall tournaments this year, including one Sept. 23-24 at Avondale Golf Club in Hayden Lake.

Thompson said he has most of his players back from last year, when the men finished 14th, the women 11th at nationals.

One of the men’s returnees is Taylor Reed, who qualified for the U.S. Amateur this summer.

• NIC’s softball team is in the middle of playing fall-ball (offseason) games, highlighted by a doubleheader vs. the University of Washington set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at Memorial Field.

“We would love to pack the stands for that one,” Cardinal coach Don Don Williams said. “That’s such a great opportunity to play against a Pac-12 team.”

• NIC’s men’s soccer team has won its last two after a 1-4-1 start. As with the women, the Cardinals have to be at .500 or better to qualify for districts.

“We have guys having to acclimate themselves to the physicality of the college game,” coach Ken Thompson said. “Front to back, we’re not terribly experienced, but we’re getting better every game.”

(As an aside, how about some kudos to the NIC soccer programs. They could create a schedule which would all but guarantee at least a .500 record and a trip to districts. But the Cardinals go out and challenge many of the stronger teams in the West as well.)

• NIC’s wrestling team has added a former national champion to its coaching staff in Jamelle Jones, who won two NJCAA titles — including one in 2011 while at NIC.

“He will make those upper weights a lot better,” NIC coach Pat Whitcomb said.

In no other sport is the bar set as high as it is with the wrestling program. NIC has had several runner-up finishes since its last national title, but the current 10-year drought between national titles is the longest in school history.

Whitcomb has a strong team throughout the lineup, with the key being how the upper weights are filled with newcomers.

“The question I get asked the most is, ‘Can you guys win it?’” Whitcomb said.

“We can.”

• NIC’s women’s basketball team has the makeup of the Cardinal team that won the national title two years ago — seven returning players, including four who started at one point or another last season. And the other three also played quite a bit.

“And the freshmen that came in make us bigger, faster, stronger,” Cardinal coach Chris Carlson said. “I like where this team is heading. As long as I don’t screw it up, I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

More encouraging news — this season it’s NIC’s turn to host the Region 18 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

• NIC men’s basketball coach Jared Phay said five of his players already have offers from NCAA Division I schools, and when it’s all said and done, the Cardinals could have 8-10 players sign with D-I schools.

One of those players is guard Chris Sarbaugh, the former Gonzaga Prep standout who redshirted at Gonzaga last year. He plans to play one year at NIC, then move on to a four-year school with three years of eligibility remaining.

“He’s not flashy — there’s nothing spectacular about him,” Phay said. “But he works and works and works, and that rubs off on the rest of the team.”

The NIC men made it to the Region 18 title game last year, giving Southern Idaho all it could handle before falling. The Cardinals haven’t made it to nationals since 1997.

But Phay said this about this year’s squad — “I’m excited as I’ve ever been about a team.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.