NEW ORLEANS, LA – Following historic seasons on the track and in the classroom, the University of the Cumberlands swept the USTFCCCA NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Scholar Team of the Year awards. The Patriots earned both the men's and women's honors in the same outdoor season for the first time in program history.
The UC women were named the 2026 NAIA Women's Outdoor Track & Field National Scholar Team of the Year after maintaining a cumulative 3.61 GPA and finishing as the national runner-up at the NAIA Outdoor Championships. The honor adds to the program's academic success after the women were named the NAIA Indoor National Scholar Team of the Year in 2025.
Cumberlands' men earned the 2026 NAIA Men's Outdoor Track & Field National Scholar Team of the Year award behind a cumulative 3.32 GPA and an NAIA Outdoor National Championship. The men previously swept the USTFCCCA indoor and outdoor Scholar Team of the Year awards in 2024.
The two team awards were accompanied by 31 individual USTFCCCA NAIA Track & Field All-Academic Athlete selections, with 11 women and 20 men earning recognition.
Lilian Bittencourt,
Alina Boshchuk,
Caroline Cronen,
Alex Cundiff,
Hannah Durrant,
Heather Durrant,
Elisa Helferich,
Patrober Jepchirchir,
Megan Kitchens,
Lea Kunstmann, and
Lucy Sullivan represented the women's program on the All-Academic Athlete list.
On the men's side,
Jordan Afolayan,
Lucien Beardsley,
Victor Carpeggiani,
Caden Cull,
Tavon Davis,
Ryan Ehrler,
Noah Kincade, Noah Loser,
Luca Madeo,
Hugo Massa,
Seth Massie,
Ishak Mekideche,
Dillan Melchiore,
Tomas Mencel,
Roy Miller,
Niklas Scherb,
Hauke Trost, Edwin Van Wyk,
Lebron Williams, and
Max Young were among the Patriots recognized.
The national honors cap a historic year for Cumberlands, which paired its success in competition with outstanding work in the classroom. The men stood atop the podium at the NAIA Outdoor Championships, while the women recorded a national runner-up finish.
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