WVU Athletics Concludes Another Successful Year
John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Rifle’s NCAA-record 20th national championship and Ceili McCabe’s national title in the indoor 3,000 meters highlight another outstanding year for Mountaineer athletics.
College rifle’s winningest program, led by coach Jon Hammond, rallied on the second day of competition to defeat Kentucky by one point to end its eight-year title drought. Hammond has also led WVU to national championships in 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Team members Gavin Barnick, Ashlyn Blake, Camryn Camp, Griffin Lake, Natalie Perrin and Lauri Syrja earned All-America honors.
On the strength of its rifle title, Wren Baker’s athletics department finished 42nd in the final Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings released last week, which marks the fifth-best finish in school history and its highest since placing 40th in 2010-11.
This year also represents the ninth time the Mountaineers have finished in the top 50 since the Directors’ Cup was established in 1994. There were 303 schools listed in the 2025 standings.
Rifle was one of seven West Virginia University teams to qualify for NCAA championships during the 2024-25 academic year.
Women’s cross country was a mere 17 team points shy of capturing its first-ever national title at the 2024 NCAA Championships in Madison, Wisconsin. McCabe (sixth), freshman Joy Naukot (17th) and senior Sarah Tait (34th) earned All-America honors in the process.
Two weeks prior, McCabe established a Penn State Blue and White course record with a winning time of 19:11.2 to help coach Sean Cleary’s Mountaineers claim their third regional title and their first since 2008.
The success continued on the track as the Mountaineers earned top-25 finishes in the indoor and outdoor meets. Naukot (third in 10,000-meter run) and Tait (fourth in the 3,000-meter steeple chase) helped WVU to a 24th-placing at the recently completed outdoor nationals in Eugene, Oregon, following the team’s 23rd-place finish at indoor nationals in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on the strength of McCabe’s title - just the fourth in school history and first at 3,000 meters, which also marked her 10th All-America honor during her illustrious career.
Overall, WVU placed ninth in the final Program of the Year Awards released by the United States Track and Field Coaches Association.
First-year West Virginia University baseball coach Steve Sabins continued the success retiring coach Randy Mazey enjoyed in 2024 when he led the Mountaineers to a share of the Big 12 regular season championship and the program’s first-ever NCAA Super Regional appearance.
This season, the 2025 ABCA East Regional Coach of the Year guided WVU to a school-record 44 victories, the program’s first outright conference regular season title and a return to the Super Regionals where it fell to eventual national champion LSU.
West Virginia cracked the national rankings in early March and got to as high as No. 13 in the USA Today coaches’ poll before ending the season ranked 17th – marking the first time in 61 years that WVU baseball has completed back-to-back seasons in the national rankings.
Speaking of polls, men’s soccer achieved a program milestone when it reached No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll on Sept. 3, 2024. WVU remained in the top spot the following week, returned on Oct. 15, and finished the season ranked 16th.
Coach Dan Stratford led the Mountaineers to Sun Belt Conference regular and postseason titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round before falling at Virginia. Marcus Caldeira and Sergio Ors Navarro capped off great seasons by earning All-America accolades.
Women’s soccer, too, qualified for the NCAA Tournament after placing third in the Big 12 with an 8-2-1 conference mark. The Mountaineers finished 12-5-3 overall and made their 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000 under veteran coach Nikki Izzo-Brown’s leadership.
Women’s basketball spent the entire season in the national rankings and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season under coach Mark Kellogg, who owns a stellar 50-16 record at WVU. Led by honorable mention All-American guard JJ Quinerly, West Virginia once again won 25 games and saw its season end on the home floor of a higher-seeded opponent in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Men’s basketball, with 19 regular season victories and a .500 record in Big 12 Conference play, was snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee despite having strong postseason credentials. Based on its victories over Gonzaga, Kansas and Iowa State, bracketologists had rated West Virginia’s tournament resume much better than some of the teams that made the field of 68, and its exclusion sparked great controversy.
The snubbing overshadowed a great season put forth by All-Big 12 guard Javon Small, who averaged 18.6 points, 5.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game for the Mountaineers.
Wrestling, led by veteran coach Tim Flynn, had five competitors qualify for NCAAs, including 165-pound All-American Peyton Hall, whose third-place finish helped the Mountaineers end the championships 18th overall. Hall, who tied the program’s all-time wins record while earning his third All-America honor, and 125-pounder Jett Strickenberger, also claimed Big 12 individual titles.
West Virginia’s 10-7 overall dual match record was good enough to place 23rd in the final Wrestle Stat rankings and marked the first time since 1990-91 that it has achieved consecutive double-digit-win seasons.
Women’s gymnastics, led by senior Anna Leigh, made its 44th NCAA Regional appearance in school history by competing in the Pennsylvania Regional. It was veteran coach Jason Butts’ 11th regional appearance at the helm.
Leigh and freshmen Sophia Rice and Karleigh DiCello individually qualified for regionals as well.
Mountaineer football made its fourth bowl appearance in the last five seasons and 41st overall in 2024. Offensive tackle Wyatt Milum became the school’s 14th consensus All-American and was taken in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
WVU produced its sixth winning campaign in Big 12 play since joining the conference in 2012.
In golf, Kaleb Wilson became the second NCAA individual qualifier in program history and coach Sean Covich’s Mountaineers earned a top-five finish at this year’s National Invitational.
Owen Recker was the first male diver since 2022 to qualify for the NCAA Championships, highlighting coach Brent MacDonald’s first season at the helm of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs.
Additionally, Danny Berlitz and Justin Heimes earned All-Big 12 First Team honors for their performances at the 2025 Big 12 Championships held in Federal Way, Washington.
Women’s tennis, under veteran coach Miha Lisac, produced a pair of conference victories as did volleyball coach Jen Greeny, in her first season rebuilding the Mountaineer program.
Greeny enjoyed great success at Washington State where she led the Cougars to three straight 20-win seasons, including a 26-8 record in 2024, which was one of six times her teams finished ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll. Greeny’s recruiting efforts for 2025 include signing outstanding four-star prospect Sarah Pfiffner from Frisco, Texas.
And women’s rowing, overseen by veteran coach Jimmy King, saw 10 of its athletes named to the 2025 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete Team and has consistently ranked among the most active programs for community service in the country on Helper Helper.
The rowers have won WVU’s Community Service Award for athletics during the past three years.
