2019-20 UNC Pembroke Athletics Annual Report

Conference, Region Titles Highlight Record February
Twenty-nine days. That is all the month of February offered in 2020, but it turned out to be one of the biggest months in school history for UNC Pembroke Athletics. An associate member of the Mountain East Conference for the first time, the Braves took the league by storm on the way to picking up conference titles in wrestling, swimming and women’s indoor track & field. The men’s basketball team clinched its third Peach Belt Conference crown in four years in February’s final hours, while the wrestling team put an emphatic cap on the calendar year’s shortest month with just the second region team title in the 28-year NCAA Division II history of the athletics department.

Braves To Rejoin Conference Carolinas In 2021-22
The Conference Carolinas presidents voted unanimously in favor of adding UNC Pembroke and Francis Marion as the 12th and 13th members of the NCAA Division II conference in mid-April.  Both institutions will officially begin competition in Conference Carolinas in the 2021-22 academic year. It will be the second stint in Conference Carolinas for UNC Pembroke (1976-92) who withdrew from Conference Carolinas to join NCAA Division II and the Peach Belt Conference prior to the 1992-93 academic year. Fifteen of UNCP's 16 varsity sports will compete in Conference Carolinas, while the football team will retain its status as an associate member of the Mountain East Conference.

Wrestling Rolls To NCAA Region Championship, Sends Six To Nationals
Nick Daggett (125 pounds), Logan Seliga (133) and Nick Kee (197) all posted unblemished runs through their respective tournaments, while three of their teammates registered runner-up finishes, to lead a dominating performance for the wrestling team that helped the Braves capture the NCAA Super Regional II title on February 29 in Pembroke. UNCP's 10 entries combined to register 18 bonus-point victories – a dominating performance that helped the Black & Gold amass 142 team points across the three sessions. The performances gave the Black & Gold six representatives at the NCAA Division II Championships. It is the fourth-straight year that UNCP has sent multiple qualifiers to the sport's biggest stage, and the second-most qualifiers under head coach Othello "O.T." Johnson.

Wrestling Captures Mountain East Conference Title
Nick Daggett (125 pounds), Tyler Makosy (149), Kaleb Warner (165), Garrett Hill (174) and Nick Kee (197) all claimed titles in their respective weight classes to help lead the wrestling team to the 2019-20 Mountain East Conference Championship on February 1 in West Liberty University's ASRC Complex. The performance marked the second conference crown in three years for the Braves who also captured the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) regular season title in 2017-18. The event in early February marked the inaugural MEC Championships for the sport of wrestling. Nine Braves picked up all-conference laurels from the league by virtue of top-3 finishes.

Men’s Basketball Grabs Another Peach Belt Conference Crown
Four-straight victories to wrap up the regular season portion of the Peach Belt Conference schedule, including a convincing win over Georgia Southwestern in Pembroke, helped the men’s basketball team claim the league’s regular season title outright in late February. The win over the Hurricanes gave the program its third conference regular season title in the last four years, but the first crown it has claimed outright. The Black & Gold won both the PBC regular season and tournament title to wrap up both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns, and are now one of just six teams in the 30-year history of the PBC to claim three or more regular season crowns.

Men’s Basketball Earns Seventh NCAA Tournament Berth
Another 20-win campaign paid dividends for the men's basketball team in March when the Braves earned their seventh berth into the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament in the last decade. The Black & Gold concluded its 2019-20 campaign with a 24-6 record – the sixth time in the last eight seasons that the Braves have registered 20 or more wins – to fuel its fourth-straight trip to the Big Dance. The third-seeded Black & Gold, which was set to take on sixth-seeded Catawba in the opening round of the NCAA Southeast Regional in Harrogate, Tenn., was forced to cut its trip short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Swimming Rallies On Final Day To Win Mountain East Conference Title
Freshmen Mariel Mencia Martinez, Ketlyn Rodriguez Matos and Nathalia Silva all turned in school-record performances on final day action to help the swimming team rally past Fairmont State on the way to the Mountain East Conference championship in mid-February. The Braves closed out the four-day event with 23 school records and four NCAA qualifying times but, more importantly, amassed 715 points and finished as the top point-scoring team from the MEC among the 13-team field. Silva raked in individual conference titles in both the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle events, while three relay squads made their way to the top of the podium as well.

Silva, Roverato Help Braves Sweep Mountain East Conference Awards
Brazilian Nathalia Silva was named the Mountain East Conference's Women's Swimmer of the Year, as well as the league's Freshman of the Year, while skipper Oscar Roverato was tabbed as the MEC Coach of the Year, the league office announced in late March. Silva won event titles in both the 1,000- and 1,650-Yard Freestyle at the MEC Championships, while posting a third-place finish in the 500-Yard Freestyle and a fifth-place showing in the 200-Yard Freestyle. Roverato, who coached the Black & Gold on an interim basis in 2018-19 before being named head coach last May, led the Braves on a remarkable journey in 2019-20, and culminated the season with an MEC title.

Women’s Track & Field Outdoes Field At Mountain East Conference Championships
Junior Erman Jepleting took top honors in both the 800-meter and 1-Mile runs, Aly Hudspeth climbed to the top of the podium in the High Jump, and the 4,000-meter Distance Medley Relay team registered a school-record performance to lead the women’s indoor track & field team to the 2019-20 Mountain East Conference championship. Jepleting was named the league’s Female Track Athlete of the Year, while Dr. Peter Ormsby was lauded with the women’s coach of the year crown. It was the first conference title of any type in the 26-year history of the women’s track & field program who also brought home 18 all-conference awards by virtue of top-3 individual finishes across the 2-day event.

Chepkesir Earns Trip To NCAA Championships In Two Events
The indoor track & field season continued into the postseason for sophomore Joshua Chepkesir when the Kenya native learned that he was selected to compete in both the 3,000- and 5,000-meter Run at the NCAA Division II Championships in Birmingham, Ala., in March. The announcement marked the second-straight year that the Braves have qualified at least one individual to compete on NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field's biggest stage. Although having his run to the national championship cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chepkesir still picked up all-America accolades in both events to cement his place in the record books as the first UNC Pembroke track & field student-athlete to earn multiple all-America nods during the indoor track & field season.

Soccer Racks Up 14 Wins, Fourth NCAA Postseason Appearance
Four separate win streaks of three matches or more propelled the soccer team to a 14-win season, as well as its fourth NCAA Tournament berth in the 20-year history of the program. The campaign was littered with signature victories, including a rousing 2-1 overtime win over perennial Peach Belt Conference powerhouse Columbus State in late September. The Braves, who also made NCAA postseason appearances in 2008, 2010 and 2017, dropped a 3-1 decision to Lincoln Memorial in the opening round of the postseason gala. Four of the Black & Gold’s five setbacks came by just a lone goal, including a 2-1 overtime loss to eventual NCAA semifinalist Flagler.

Gina Ryan Moves Atop Peach Belt Conference’s All-Time Shutouts List
A 108-minute road blanking of Shaw in mid-September helped senior Gina Ryan notch her Peach Belt Conference record-breaking 29th career shutout. That clean sheet moved the Cape Carteret product past former Columbus State netminder Maylyn Parsons (2013-16) atop the league’s all-time shutouts list. Ryan, a two-time all-region standout, logged 75 starts and more than 6,700 minutes in goal across her time in Pembroke and wrapped up her collegiate career with 36 shutouts and 332 saves to complement a 0.79 career goals against average. Her career GAA ranks seventh among the PBC’s all-time goalkeepers, while also ranking eighth with her saves total.

Department Posts Record Showing In Classroom
A solid year in the athletic arenas started in the classroom for UNC Pembroke's student-athletes as the 16 varsity athletic teams combined to post a department record 3.106 grade point average across the 2019-20 academic year, including a 3.371 department GPA during the spring semester. Ten teams – baseball, women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, women’s track & field and volleyball – registered a team GPA of 3.0 or better during the 2019-20 academic year, while three teams – women’s basketball, men’s cross country and baseball – saw their team GPA increase by better 15 percent or better as compared to the 2018-19 academic year.

More Than 70 Student-Athletes Earn Degrees At Winter, Spring Commencements
A total of 73 student-athletes earned their bachelor's or graduate degrees during the 2019-20 academic year, including 53 that earned their degrees at the conclusion of the spring semester. More than 20 of those student-athletes were on hand to participate in the athletics department's bi-annual Student-Athlete Graduation Breakfast in December where head coaches, along with select members of UNCP's athletics administration, presented the graduation candidates with stoles to commemorate their time as a student-athlete for the Black & Gold. The event was suspended in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but student-athletes were still presented with their stoles by athletics director Dick Christy and the department’s administrative staff.

Individual Awards Evidence Of Academic Prowess Of Student-Athletes
Seven softball players, five wrestlers and a quartet of golfers, as well as soccer’s Katy Ryan and swimming’s Nathalia Silva, were all named to their respective sport’s scholar all-America listing, while football’s Luke Brooks and golf’s Katy Flax were both lauded as academic all-district honorees by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The focus on classroom work was further evident when a department record 66 student-athletes were included as part of the D2 Athletic Directors Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Award listing which recognizes student-athletes who maintain at least a 3.5 cumulative grade point average. In addition, 46 student-athletes graced their sport’s Peach Belt Conference Team of Academic Distinction which mandates at least a 3.3 cumulative GPA.

Handful Of Coaches Tacked Up Milestone Victories In 2019-20
Superlatives came at a premium for the coaches of UNC Pembroke’s varsity athletic teams during the 2019-20 athletics season. Baseball’s Paul O’Neil led the way for the Black & Gold by picking up his 700th career victory on the shoulders of UNCP’s 13-3 rout of visiting Queens in early February. Women’s basketball’s John Haskins joined his profession’s 300-wins club with a 77-71 triumph over USC Aiken in mid-February. Brittany Bennett, who entered her seventh season as UNCP’s softball head coach in 2019-20, became the program’s all-time winningest coach with a win over Chowan in early February, while soccer’s Lars Andersson notched his 200th win as coach of the Braves by toppling Columbus State in September.

UNCP, Lumberton Play Host To 2019 PBC Cross Country Championships
Lumberton’s Luther Britt Park was the setting for the 2019 Peach Belt Conference Cross Country Championships as UNC Pembroke played host to the league’s annual event in late October. The postseason gala attracted more than 500 spectators on a Saturday morning at the facility, while 12 women’s teams and 11 men’s teams battled for conference supremacy on the 5-kilometer and 8-kilometer courses, respectively. The performances for the Braves, who finished fifth on the women’s side and third in the men’s race, were highlighted by a meet-record performance from Joshua Chepkesir who registered a sub-5-minute mile pace on the way to winning by more than a minute.

Braves Earned Lion’s Share Of All-Conference Honors In 2019-20
UNC Pembroke’s student-athletes combined to rake in an astounding 84 all-conference laurels in 2019-20, including a league-best 73 all-league honors as an associate member of the Mountain East Conference (four sports). The Braves posted a league-high number in all four sports that they compete in as a member of the MEC, highlighted by an impressive 33 laurels in swimming. The Black & Gold had multiple All-Peach Belt Conference honorees in four sports, including a trio of awards in both soccer and men’s basketball. Four student-athletes, including track & field’s Joshua Chepkesir and Erman Jepleting, took home their sport’s athlete of the year award, while two coaches were lauded with coach of the year recognition.

Conference Weekly Honors Abundant For UNCP Again
Weekly honors from both the Peach Belt Conference and Mountain East Conference proved to be plentiful for UNC Pembroke’s student-athletes in 2019-20 as well. The Black & Gold was tagged a league-best 10 times for MEC player/athlete of the week recognition over the course of the winter sports season, including four that were awarded to UNCP wrestlers. The Braves picked up an additional 12 honors from the PBC for notable weekly performances, including multiple honors from three different teams. The soccer team hauled in seven PBC Player, Defender or Goalkeeper weekly accolades, while athletes from the baseball and men’s cross country squads were honored on a pair of occasions.

Chepkesir Shatters PBC Championships Record On Way To Individual Title
All eyes were on Joshua Chepkesir from wire to wire as the Kenyan busted a 17-year-old meet record by 18 seconds on the way to his second-straight individual title at the UNC Pembroke-hosted Peach Belt Conference Cross Country Championships in late October. The sophomore covered the 8-kilometer course at Lumberton’s Luther Britt Park in 23:48.04 – nearly 1-minute and six seconds faster than the rest of the 93-man field – and managed a mile pace of 4:47.3 across the race. The time easily shattered the previous event record that was tacked up at the 2002 PBC Championships by North Florida’s Zepherinus Joseph (24:06). Chepkesir previously had turned in a time of 24:22.3 at the 2018 PBC Championships.

Chepkesir Finishes 8th At NCAA Championships, Earns All-America Status
Sophomore Joshua Chepkesir became just the second student-athlete in the history of the cross country program to post a sub-30-minute time in the 10K on the way to finishing 8th at the NCAA Division II National Championships in northern California in late November. The result marked just the fifth top-10 finish for a Peach Belt Conference student-athlete in the 30-year history of the league, but the first since Columbus State's Meshack Koyiaki tallied a runner-up showing at the 2010 championships. Chepkesir’s performance marked the best result for a UNCP runner at the NCAA Division II National Championships since former all-American Garry Henry won the national championship in 1980.

Akia Pruitt Claims PBC Player Of The Year, Jones Named Coach Of The Year
Senior Akia Pruitt hauled in the program's first Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year accolade, while interim head coach Tony Jones was lauded with coach of the year recognition, as the men's basketball team walked away as the big winner at the league's annual awards banquet in March. Pruitt, a three-time all-conference selection, became the league's all-time leading rebounder in late January, and reached the 1,000-rebound plateau in March. Jones, who was named interim head coach of the program in November, led the Black & Gold to its first outright PBC regular season title, as well as its fourth-straight 20-win season.

Men’s Basketball Claims National Ranking For Sixth-Straight Year
An incredulous run that watched it capture 17 of its last 19 regular season contests on the way to an outright Peach Belt Conference regular season title kept the Braves among the top 20 in the final installment of both national polls. The ranking marked the sixth-straight season that the Black & Gold has either started or finished among the nation’s top 25 teams, and also signaled the seventh-straight season that UNCP has been ranked among the top 25 for at least one week. The Black & Gold wrapped up the 2019-20 campaign listed No. 20 in the D2SIDA Top 25, and No. 22 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Top 25.

Parks Paces NCAA In Punting Average, Earns All-America Honors For Second-Straight Year
An NCAA Division II-best punting average as a lethal part of football’s special teams unit was enough to push junior Isaac Parks to an all-America nod from the Associated Press for the second-straight year. With the announcement, Parks became just the third player in the history of the program to be decorated with all-America honors in multiple seasons. The Greensboro native earned all-America honors from three different organizations as a sophomore in 2018. Parks led all of NCAA Division II with a 45.7 yard average on 52 punts, including 17 kicks that went for 50 or more yards. The Braves have now sent at least one player to all-America nods following each of the last seven seasons.

Davis Inks Free Agent Contract With NFL’s New York Jets
Another UNCP student-athlete stepped into the world of professional sports in late April when defensive lineman Domenique Davis signed an undrafted free agent contract with the National Football League’s (NFL) New York Jets. He was the fourth player in the 14-year history of the program to participate in an NFL minicamp. Former long snapper Mike Yerry (2011-13) was invited to Tampa Bay Buccaneers camp in 2014, defensive lineman Mike Keck (2012-15) camped with the Buffalo Bills in 2016 and placekicker/punter Matt Davis (2011-12, 14-15) worked out with the Green Bay Packers in 2017. Davis, a Laurinburg native and Scotland High School product, logged 122 tackles (51 solo) across his three-year career in the Black & Gold, including 15.0 tackles for loss.

Pruitt Surpasses 1,000-Rebound Mark, Moves Atop PBC Career Charts
Senior Akia Pruitt became the first student-athlete in the Peach Belt Conference’s 30-year history to reach the 1,000-career rebound mark when he pulled in an offensive board late in the first half at Georgia Southwestern in January. The three-time all-conference and two-time all-region selection played in 126 games (122 starts) over his collegiate career, and wrapped up his time in the Black & Gold with career averages of 12.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.1 assists per game. He currently ranks first on the PBC’s all-time rebounding list with 1,011 boards, but also ranks third all-time in league annals with 241 blocks and 13th with 1,613 career points scored.

Drew Richards Returns To Lead Men’s Basketball Program
Having already served five seasons as an associate head coach during a record-breaking era for the Braves from 2014-19, Drew Richards was announced as the 16th head coach in the 80-year history of the men's basketball program in mid-March. Richards returns to Pembroke following a 2019-20 campaign that saw him lead Lander to its most regular season victories in 20 years on the way to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship and a berth into the NCAA postseason. In five seasons with the Braves, Richards helped guide the Braves to a 113-43 (.724) record and four NCAA Tournament appearances. The Braves compiled a 72-29 (.713) record against conference foes over that span, and captured PBC championships in both 2016-17 and 2017-18. 

Diamond Braves Finish Shortened Season On 11-Game Win Streak
A 1-run loss at Barton at February 18 awoke a sleeping giant as the baseball team rattled off 11-straight victories to wrap up what would turn out to be a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the 11-game winning skein that lasted from February 22 until March 10, the Black & Gold posted a .354 batting average and scored 13.5 runs per game across the span, while also registering an impressive 2.94 team earned run average with 129 strikeouts in 104 innings of work. The run of success included Peach Belt Conference series sweeps of USC Aiken, Claflin and Young Harris, and ultimately resulted in the Braves breaking into the national rankings (No. 28) on March 10.

Baseball Registers Record Scoring Weekend In Sweep Of PBC Foe Claflin
Amid its 11-game win streak that ultimately concluded the 2020 campaign for the club, the baseball team shattered a Peach Belt Conference record by tacking up 66 runs (22.0/game) in a three-game Peach Belt Conference series sweep of visiting Claflin in late February. The Braves got the scoring barrage going with a 30-0 blanking of the Panthers, before registering 10-1 and 26-1 triumphs in games two and three of the set, respectively. The Black & Gold combined to hit .496 (64-for-129) at the plate on the weekend, while also limiting Claflin to a .135 batting average (12-for-89). Six Braves hit .533 or better on the weekend. 

UNCP Athletics Announces 40th Hall Of Fame Class
Student-athletes representing three sports, as well as one of the school's all-time winningest coaches, were officially inducted into the UNC Pembroke Athletics Hall of Fame as part of Homecoming Week in early October. Former diamond standouts Ray Nixon and Richard Thompson became the 29th and 30th baseball players to be inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame, and were joined by fellow former student-athletes Iris Bethea and Roger Carr. Bethea and Carr joined 38 other men's or women's basketball players already in the Hall of Fame. Dr. Tommy Thompson, who departed the playing courts as the school's all-time winningest volleyball coach to serve UNCP as the chair of the then-Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department, is just the 11th former coach to join the distinguished group.

Department Claims Six More NACMA “Best Of” Awards
The athletics department’s external operations team picked up six more of the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) "Best Of" Awards for its marketing and promotions efforts during the 2019-20 athletic season. The Braves earned a silver medal under the category of Digital Promotion for their marketing efforts across men's basketball's Social Media Night, and earned five bronze laurels under the categories of Schedule Poster, Revenue-Generating Idea, Revenue-Producing Video, Single-Game Sales Campaign and Static Promotional Advertisement. The external operations team has now collected 14 NACMA “Best Of” awards over the last three years – including three at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, and five to highlight the 2018-19 campaign. 

Leviner Strikes Out 17, Records Program’s First Solo Perfect Game
Senior right-hander Malerie Leviner became the first student-athlete in the 31-year fastpitch history of the softball program when she struck out a career-best 17 batters and did not allow a baserunner on the way to a perfect game in the front half of a doubleheader at Fayetteville State in early March. The Whiteville native struck out the side in four different frames, including a run of six-straight strikeouts in the second and third innings. Only four Fayetteville State players managed to put the ball in play, but none of those balls found their way out of the infield. Leviner has now been involved in both perfect games in program history after combining for a 5-inning perfect game performance in 2019.

Volleyball Registers Best Finish Since 2014
A winning record at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court, as well as a home-and-home sweep of Peach Belt Conference foe Georgia College propelled the volleyball team to its most wins since the 2014 campaign. The Braves captured eight of their 15 matchups in Pembroke to register their first winning record at home since 2014, as well as their most home wins since that season as well. The sweep of Georgia College, including a thrilling come-from-behind effort in Milledgeville, Ga., was the first PBC sweep for the Black & Gold since taking both ends of a series with Francis Marion in 2015. 

Golden Braves Goes Virtual As Department Honors 2019-20 Performances
Four teams were celebrated for winning conference championships in February as the show went on for the Braves on in late April with an online showing of the seventh annual Golden Braves. Soccer's Gina Ryan was decorated with Most Well-Rounded Female Student-Athlete, while wrestling's Tyler Makosy took home the award on the men's side. Adolphus Lee Turner, a military veteran and long-time supporter of UNCP Athletics, was awarded Braves Club Member of the Year honors, while Mark Hunt and Dr. Bryan Winters shared the Changing Lives Through Education Award. Five traditional awards – the male and female athlete of the year, male and female rookie of the year and the Dan Kenney Coach of the Year – will be presented at the Student-Athlete Welcome Back event in August.

Baucom, Scott, Ormsby Honored At Welcome Back Event In August

Baseball’s Ethan Baucom was decorated with Male Student-Athlete of the Year accolades, while former soccer standout Stacey Scott raked in Female Student-Athlete of the Year laurels, as the department welcomed back its nearly 400 student-athletes in mid-August inside the Givens Performing Arts Center.  Cross country's Joshua Chepkesir and softball's Cameron Davis took home Male and Female Newcomer of the Year recognition, while Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Peter Ormsby picked up the Dan Kenney Coach of the Year crown. The awards put a wrap on the 2018-19 Golden Braves program which was held in April 2019 at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court. 

New Faces Abundant On Coaching Staffs In 2019-20
Three teams filled their coaching staffs with new faces over the course of the 2019-20 athletics season. Newly-named basketball head coach Drew Richards elevated former assistant coach/interim head coach Tony Jones to associate head coach in March, and then added former Mount Olive standout Dory Hines and UNCP standout Andrew Evans to his staff as well. Shane Richardson hired on former Methodist head coach Bill Young as defensive coordinator for the football team in January, and then announced the hiring of Johnson C. Smith assistant coach Chi-Emeke Worthington as the defensive backs coach for the Braves. Jaleesa Harper, who served the volleyball team as a graduate assistant coach in 2018, was promoted to assistant coach in time for the 2019 campaign.

Cuthrell, Gooding, Slavin Join Athletics Administrative Staff
New faces were rampant on the athletics department administrative staff as well with the hiring of assistant athletics directors Jack “Bull” Slavin and Joshua Gooding, as well as Andrea Cuthrell who will serve as the assistant director of the Braves Club. Slavin, a former baseball student-athlete, joins the department as Assistant AD for Marketing Partnerships, while Gooding, a former football student-athlete, takes over the role of Assistant AD for Athletic Performance. Both gentlemen previously served multi-year roles as graduate assistants/interns in their current department. Cuthrell, who comes to Pembroke after a stint as an assistant athletics director for compliance at nearby Barton. 

Department Adds Championship Ring Partnership To Stable 
Just weeks removed from one of the most successful months in its 81-year history, the department logged another win in April when it announced Baron® as the official championship ring of UNC Pembroke Athletics. The 3-year partnership will cover a run of success that the Black & Gold enjoyed in February when four of its teams – wrestling, swimming, women's indoor track & field and men's basketball – captured conference titles, while the nationally-ranked wrestling program dominated the field at the NCAA Super Regional II tournament. The contract will run through the 2022-23 athletic season. As part of the agreement, Baron® is the only ring manufacturer permitted to use the UNCP logo, in addition to any wording or nicknames related to the institution, for the design and manufacturing of championship rings.

Braves Extend Partnership With Holiday Inn Express, SIDEARM Sports
Athletics department officials announced in October that they have renegotiated their exclusive multi-year hotel partnership with Holiday Inn Express in Pembroke with an extension through the 2022-23 season, while also extending their partnership with SIDEARM Sports which serves as the host of the university’s athletic website. The Holiday Inn Express in Pembroke will receive marketing through UNCP's athletic properties and events, while serving as the exclusive hotel vendor for all athletics department business. The department kicked off its renewed five-year partnership with SIDEARM Sports by launching a redesigned website in early June. As part of the contract, UNCPBraves.com will be revamped again prior to the start of the 2022-23 athletic season.