Dear Friends of UNCG Athletics,
 
I hope you and your family are enjoying a wonderful start to the summer. As we close the chapter on the 2025-26 academic year, I want to take a moment to reflect on another memorable year for Spartan Athletics.  

Thank you for the continued support you provide to our student-athletes and department. Your passion and commitment play an important role in our success and we are grateful to have you as part of our Spartan family.

Take a look back at some of our incredible accomplishments and milestones our teams and student-athletes achieved throughout 2025-26!

Spartan Academic Success & Community Engagement:
This year, our student-athletes balanced their time while excelling both in the classroom and in the community. Our teams totaled over 1,500 community service hours. Some organizations that our athletic teams have volunteered with include Gateway Education Center, Walk ALS Greensboro, PGA Jr League, Greensboro Day School and others.

Our student-athletes also delivered in the classroom, by marking the 2025 fall semester with a 3.47 grade-point average and the 2026 spring with a 3.46 for an overall 3.46 GPA this academic year. This year, our men's tennis and golf programs had the highest GPA, a 3.63, out of our male programs, while the women's tennis team tallied a 3.84 GPA, the highest out of our female teams. Thirty eight Spartans were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® Team, including six from women's soccer, six from men's soccer, two from volleyball, three from women's basketball, five from softball, two from baseball, five from men's golf, four from women's golf, three from men's tennis and two from women's tennis.

In late May, the department was awarded the Barrett-Bonner Award for the first time, which is given to the SoCon institution with the highest percentage of student-athletes on the league's academic honor roll. The Spartans, who had 81% of our student-athletes on the 2025-26 SoCon Honor Roll was recognized at the SoCon annual meetings.

During UNCG's Homecoming Weekend in October, we inducted one former Spartan, a current coach and a team into our UNCG Athletic Hall of Fame. This was an exciting weekend welcoming back many former Spartans. Click here to read more on the UNCG Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

We recently announced the next class of the UNCG Athletic Hall of Fame, which will be inducted on October 3, 2026.

Competitive Excellence:
The fall season saw great success, as our men's soccer team earned its 20^th NCAA Tournament bid in program history reaching the Sweet 16 round, marking just the third time in Division I history receiving an at-large bid. In mid-December, Enzo Dovlo was selected in the first round, 12^th pick of the 2026 Major League Soccer SuperDraft by Atlanta United FC and Issah Haruna was also chosen in the first round and 20^th pick by Orlando City SC.

Women's soccer's Taylor Mentzer and Rina Ogimoto were named to the All-SoCon Second Team and volleyball's Allie Sweet earned All-SoCon First Team honors and Connore' Siler-Nixon picked up All-Freshman Team recognition.

Men's cross country finished in third place at the SoCon Championship, matching its result from last season, which is the best mark since 2011. Freshman Luke Hühn finished 12^th overall and earned SoCon All-Freshman Team honors, Second Team recognition and was voted, by the coaches, as SoCon Freshman of the Year. The squad went on to compete in the 2025 NCAA Southeast Regional, finishing in 22^nd place. On the women's side, freshman Camryn Oates placed 30^th at the SoCon Championship and clocked in a sub-19 minute five-kilometer finish to pace the Blue & Gold.

On Nov. 8, we celebrated a landmark moment during halftime of the men's basketball game with the official renaming of Fleming Gymnasium to Bodford Arena. This historic moment for the department was made possible through a transformational $2 million gift from the Bodford family. This generous support represents the largest unrestricted gift in the history of UNCG Athletics, as well as the first associated with naming a competitive athletic facility.

The indoor track teams completed a successful season breaking a total of nine records, earning five SoCon All-Freshman honors and seeing the men's distance medley relay team earn bronze at the SoCon Championships.

Men's tennis wrapped up the year with two All-SoCon recognitions, as Tymofiy Khrystyuk was voted to the All-SoCon Singles First Team and Hector Nissen received All-Freshman Team honors. Women's tennis freshman Sophia Cedeno earned All-SoCon Singles Second Team and All-Freshman Team honors.

Men's golf's junior Kelvin Hernandez won the 2026 SoCon Championship earning his second appearance in the NCAA Regionals in his collegiate career, as well as being voted to the All-SoCon Team. The women's golf team finished third overall at the SoCon Championships and it was the best finish since 2013 for the program, while freshman Chanelle Mwangi earned All-SoCon and All-Freshman honors.

During the outdoor track season, the team broke eight school records, senior Luke Ward won the 5000-meter championship and five earned SoCon All-Freshman recognition.

The baseball team saw three claim postseason awards, including Jacob Budzik being named to the Second Team and Ayden West and Tanner Berry earning All-Freshman Team honors.

UNCG softball surpassed the 40-win mark for the second time in Head Coach Janelle Breneman's time at the helm and fourth time in program history. The Spartans won its seventh SoCon Regular Season Title and fourth SoCon Tournament Title securing their fifth ticket to the NCAA Tournament. UNCG went on to defeat Clemson in the first round, claiming the Spartans' first NCAA Tournament win in program history with a 1-0 score for their 18th shutout of the season, which ranked fifth among NCAA Division I teams. UNCG dominated the SoCon postseason awards with 10 Spartans tallying 13 awards, which included three major awards in Coach of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year.


Coaching Updates:
Jerod Haase was named the 12^th head coach in UNCG men's basketball history on March 18, 2026.

The interim tag was removed as Trent Dunahoo was named the next head coach of UNCG volleyball on March 3.

2026 UNCG Athletic Schedules:
Click here for the athletic composite calendar
Stay tuned as more athletic schedules are set to be released later this summer.

Basketball Tickets:
Men's & women's basketball season ticket renewals are now open. All games are scheduled to be played in Bodford Arena in the upcoming year.

If you have any further questions on renewing or purchasing tickets, please contact Ashlynn Templin Director of Ticket Sales – Taymar Sales U. at antemplin@uncg.edu or 336-334-3250. 

Norway Base Camp:
Team Norway selected UNCG and Greensboro in March as its base camp for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, creating an exciting opportunity for our campus and community. We were honored to be chosen and enjoyed a packed UNCG Soccer Stadium during their Community Training Session during the first week of June. It was a memorable experience for our University and the Greensboro community, and we wish Team Norway continued success as they face France on Friday afternoon.



To all of our Spartan friends, family, and alumni near and far, I hope to see you at an upcoming game during the fall semester.
 
Let's go G!
Brian Mackin
Director of Athletics