2020-21 UNC Pembroke Athletics Annual Report

Braves Combine Athletics, Academics In Finishing Among PBC’s Best
UNC Pembroke’s curtain call as a member of the Peach Belt Conference could not have been scripted any better. The Braves were the league’s only member to finish among the top-4 institutions in both the final PBC Commissioners Cup standings, as well as the competition for the PBC Presidents Academic Award. The Black & Gold posted a fourth-place showing in the final Commissioners Cup tally – the third time in the last four years that UNCP has finished among the top 4 institutions. UNCP also finished in the runner-up position for the Presidents Academic Award after its student-athletes posted a 2020-21 GPA that was an impressive .323 points higher than the general student body.

UNCP Sends 180 Student-Athletes To Conference Academic Honor Rolls
The work of UNC Pembroke's student-athletes in the classroom paid dividends in late June when 180 Braves were named to either the Peach Belt Conference or Mountain East Conference Honor Rolls. An impressive 121 student-athletes graced the distinguished PBC Presidential Honor Roll, while 59 student-athletes were honored as part of the MEC Spring Academic Honor Roll. UNCP sent 100 or more student-athletes to the PBC’s listing for the 12th-straight year – the longest stretch of any of the PBC’s 12 member institutions. The 2020-21 academic year marked the eighth time in the last nine years that 150 or more UNCP student-athletes have graced a conference academic honor roll.

Women’s Indoor Track & Field, Swimming, Baseball Grab Conference Titles
UNCP continued a growing tradition for itself in 2020-21 with the addition of three more conference championships to its stable. The women’s indoor track & field squad won a league crown for the second-straight season, this time as an associate member of Conference Carolinas, while the swimming team was dominant on the way to capturing the Mountain East Conference Championship for the second-straight season. The baseball team used a 16-game win streak to key its run to the Peach Belt Conference regular season crown – its first league title since a perfect run through the 2011 PBC Tournament, but its first regular season crown in program history.

Six Teams Celebrate NCAA Postseason Berths, Swimming Makes Initial Appearance
Five of UNC Pembroke’s varsity athletic teams were represented by individuals in the NCAA postseason, while the baseball team notched its third appearance on NCAA Division II’s biggest stage thanks to a 29-win campaign in 2020-21. Senior Gillian Manning gave the 5-year-old swimming team its first postseason appearance when she competed at the NCAA Championships in four events. Orlandus Gamble competed in the long jump at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships, while five student-athletes represented the Braves at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Quanterra Harrison became just the second student-athlete in program history to make an NCAA appearance for the women’s outdoor track & field squad.

Student-Athletes Combine To Post Record GPA For Fourth-Straight Year
UNC Pembroke’s more-than 400 student-athletes shattered a department record for the fourth-straight year in 2020-21 as the Braves combined to register a 2.942 grade point average. Fifteen of UNCP’s 16 varsity athletic teams posted a 3.198 GPA or better during the Spring 2021 semester, while 10 teams combined to tally a 3.0 across both semesters. Two squads – golf and soccer – improved on their classroom success as compared to the 2019-20 academic year. A total of 262 student-athletes earned at least a 3.0 GPA during the spring semester, while 184 individuals accomplished that feat during the Fall 2020 term. The academic accomplishments were celebrated at the conference level as well when volleyball's Elly Hicks and golf's Amanda Hamrin were decorated with the Peach Belt Conference's Elite 16 Award which is awarded to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at each of the PBC's 16 conference championships.

Nearly 70 Student-Athletes Earn Degrees At Winter, Spring Commencements
A total of 67 current and former student-athletes earned their bachelor's or graduate degrees during the 2020-21 academic year, including 47 that earned their degrees at the conclusion of the spring semester. The athletics department's bi-annual Student-Athlete Graduation Breakfast, 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, was suspended in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Student-athletes were still presented with their stoles by athletics director Dick Christy and the department’s administrative staff and featured during a video presentation during the annual Golden Braves program. 

Braves Earn Lion’s Share Of All-Conference Honors In 2020-21
UNC Pembroke’s student-athletes combined to rake in an astounding 130 all-conference laurels in 2020-21, including a league-best 50 honors as an associate member of the Mountain East Conference (three sports). The Braves posted a league-high number in all three sports that they competed in as a member of the MEC, highlighted by an impressive 32 laurels in swimming. The Black & Gold had multiple All-Peach Belt Conference honorees in six sports, including eight awards in baseball, while volleyball sent multiple student-athletes to All-PBC honors for the first time since the 1995 campaign. Track & Field combined to post 24 All-Conference Carolinas awards during the indoor season, and then added 37 All-PBC honors during the outdoor season. The soccer (3), softball (3), football (11) and wrestling (7) squads also boasted multiple all-conference honors as well.

Conference Weekly Honors Plentiful For UNCP Despite Shortened Seasons
Weekly honors from both the Peach Belt Conference and Mountain East Conference proved to be plentiful for UNC Pembroke’s student-athletes in 2020-21, despite abbreviated seasons for the Braves. The football team picked up a pair of weekly awards from the Mountain East Conference, including Co-Offensive Player of the Week laurels for quarterback Josh Jones following a stellar performance in UNCP’s MEC debut at Glenville State. The Braves picked up an additional 12 honors from the PBC for notable weekly performances, including multiple honors from three different teams. The baseball, softball and men’s outdoor track & field teams hauled in a trio of honors apiece, while Quanterra Harrison logged PBC Track Athlete of the Week honors on a pair of occasions for the Braves.

UNC Pembroke Coaches Combine For Six Conference Coach Of The Year Accolades
Five UNC Pembroke head coaches combined to earn an unprecedented six conference coach of the year accolades in 2021-22, including Dr. Peter Ormsby who raked in league laurels for both women’s indoor and outdoor track & field, as well as southeast region women’s indoor track & field coach of the year honors. Ellen McGill led the volleyball team to its best Peach Belt Conference finish in nearly two decades on the way to Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year laurels, while the Braves made it a clean sweep on the diamond in the spring when softball head coach Brittany Bennett and baseball skipper Paul O’Neil collected PBC Coach of the Year nods as well. Oscar Roverato brought home Mountain East Conference Coach of the Year honors after leading the swim team to its second-straight league title.

12 Braves Collect High Conference Honors 
A dozen UNCP student-athletes brought home some of the highest honors awarded by their respective conference offices in 2020-21, including the swimming team who swept the Mountain East Conference’s swimmer (Gillian Manning) and freshman (Anna Miller) of the year awards for the second-straight season. The track & field teams combined to win five high honors from the Peach Belt Conference, including the PBC’s Men’s Runner (Caleb Baldwin), Freshman Men’s Runner (Joshua Chepkesir) and Male Field Athlete (Brandon Boyles) of the Year, as well as the Women’s Field Athlete (Raigan Evans) and Freshman Field Athlete (Lillian Marino) of the Year laurels. Chepkesir took home the PBC Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year award, while Tatum Brummitt shared PBC Softball Player of the Year honors, as did Bucky Bonynge with PBC Baseball Pitcher of the Year recognition. Football wrapped up the highlights by collecting MEC Freshman Offensive (Jai’Veon Smalls) and Defensive (Dante Bowlding) Player of the Year honors.

Baseball Stakes Claim To Program’s First Conference Regular Season Crown
An impressive 8.4 runs scored per game, a solid pitching staff and a momentum-turning surge midway early in the campaign carried the baseball team to its first Peach Belt Conference regular season championship in 2021. Fueled by series sweeps of nationally-ranked league rivals Georgia College and North Georgia at Sammy Cox Field, the Black & Gold wrapped up the program’s first-ever regular season crown, as well as its first conference title since capturing the 2011 PBC Tournament, on the way to 29 victories and its fourth appearance in the NCAA postseason. The Braves were lauded with eight all-conference honors, as well as PBC Co-Pitcher (Bucky Bonynge) and Coach (Paul O’Neil) of the Year honors.

Baseball Keys Magical Season With Record-Matching 16-Game Win Streak
A lopsided defeat at eventual national champion Wingate on March 10 was enough to turn the tide for the baseball team as it responded with a momentum-swinging 16-game win streak that spanned the next month. UNCP got the magic started with a series sweep of defending Peach Belt Conference champion and then-No. 8 Georgia College, March 12-13, and did not taste defeat again until a tight 8-7 setback to Francis Marion on April 11. The Braves hit a collective .359, clubbed 66 extra-base hits and scored 10.4 runs per game over the 30-day stretch, while the pitching staff registered a 3.33 ERA with 129 strikeouts in 138 innings of work.

River Ryan Selected In 11th Round Of MLB Draft By San Diego Padres
River Ryan joined an elite list of current and former UNC Pembroke baseball players in mid-July when the Huntersville native was selected in the 11th round (340th pick) of the 2021 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft by the San Diego Padres. Ryan became the 14th player in program history to be drafted by an MLB organization, and is the third MLB draftee to have played collegiate ball under head coach Paul O'Neil. He was the first UNCP baseball player to be drafted since 2014 when the Atlanta Braves selected Jordan Edgerton in the ninth round. Jason Morales was picked in the 24th round by the Kansas City Royals in the 2008 MLB Draft. Morales played for O'Neil and the Braves from 2005-08.

Tatum Brummitt Tabbed As Finalist For National Player Of The Year 
A phenomenal season that would eventually culminate in a pair of all-America honors was accentuated even further for Tatum Brummitt in mid-May when the junior was recognized as a top-15 finalist for national player of the year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Brummitt, a Garner native and everyday first baseman for the Black & Gold, ranked 14th nationally with a Peach Belt Conference-leading .485 (48-for-99) batting average, while also ranking among the nation’s top-10 leaders in on-base (6th, .582) and slugging (10th, .921) percentage. She shared PBC Player of the Year honors, and collected the program’s first-ever first team all-American nod in late May.

UNCP Athletics Announces 41st Hall Of Fame Class
Individual student-athletes representing four different sports, as well as the legendary 2004 men's soccer team, comprised the 41st UNCP Athletics Hall of Fame Class that was announced in late June by athletics department officials. The group was scheduled to be recognized at a ceremony in October, but the ceremony was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Former track & field standout and head coach Larry Rodgers joined baseball’s Johnny Dial, wrestling’s Greg Shealy and women’s basketball’s Teresa Carl in the class. The 2004 men's soccer team, which rattled off a 16-3-0 record on the way to an appearance in the NCAA Final Four, was the second team in four years to be inducted into the Hall.

Four Student-Athletes Decorated With All-America Laurels
Prolific performances by a handful of UNCP student-athletes paid dividends in the postseason as wrestler Nick Daggett picked up his all-America honors for the second-straight year, while baseball’s River Ryan, softball’s Tatum Brummitt and track & field’s Orlandus Gamble all picked up their first career all-America nod. Daggett advanced all the way through to the national championship matchup to tally his second all-America crown, while Gamble finished among the top 9 individuals at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships to grab two all-America awards. Ryan, an all-conference pick at three positions, earned all-America status from two different organizations, while Brummitt did the same while also being tabbed as a top-15 finalist for national player of the year.

Women’s Indoor Track & Field Stakes Claim To Conference Carolinas Supremacy
The 4,000-meter Distance Medley Relay team crossed the finish line first to cement the final outcome as the women’s indoor track & field squad rolled to the 2021 Conference Carolinas Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championship in late February. In their first and only season as an associate member of Conference Carolinas, the Black & Gold combined for 14 top-3 finishes across 11 events and posted 155 points – 40 points better than the rest of the 11-team field. It was the second-straight conference championship for the Braves who won the program’s first league title as an associate member of the Mountain East Conference in 2020.

Braves Represented At NCAA Indoor, Outdoor Track & Field Championships
The track & field program continued a long-standing tradition for itself in 2021 as the men’s and women’s squads combined to send representatives to both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Newcomer Orlandus Gamble was the lone student-athlete to make an appearance at both events, finishing ninth in the high jump at the indoor event, and then posting a seventh-place tally in the same discipline at the outdoor event to become just the second student-athlete in program history to earn indoor and outdoor all-America honors in the same season. UNCP sent a quintet of student-athletes to the outdoor championships, including Quanterra Harrison in the women’s 100-meter Hurdles as well as the men’s 4x100-meter Relay team.

Swimming Rolls To Second-Straight Mountain East Conference Title
Nine event titles, three meet records and 40 top-3 finishes were more than enough to carry the swimming team to its second-straight Mountain East Conference championship in early April with a dominating performance inside the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio. Newcomer Gillian Manning was named the meet’s most outstanding swimmer after the Fayetteville native claimed four individual event titles, while also swimming a leg on two relay event titles as well. The Black & Gold compiled 964 points across the four-day event – nearly 250 points better than their 2020 total – and finished almost 370 points ahead of the rest of the six-team MEC field.

Manning Earns NCAA Berth, Braves Make Program Debut In Top 25
Newcomer Gillian Manning snagged the swimming program’s first berth into the NCAA Championships in mid-March, and posted a trio of top-20 finishes in Birmingham, Ala., including a 17th-place showing in the 500-yard Freestyle. The postseason appearance for the six-time All-Mountain East Conference honoree was one of several accolades during the 2020-21 season for the Braves who climbed as high as No. 17 in the CollegeSwimming.com/SwimCloud national ranking in late January. The Black & Gold, which pummeled then-No. 14 Lenoir-Rhyne by nearly 100 points on January 15, made its program debut at No. 21 in that computer ranking in mid-November. 

Wrestling Caps Perfect Dual Season, Sends Five To Nationals
An average margin of victory of better than 25 points, as well as five wins in the comfy confines of home, highlighted a perfect 7-0 dual meet season for the wrestling team – the first unblemished dual meet record in the history of the tradition-rich program. UNCP narrowly missed out on its second-straight Mountain East Conference title, but still sent five wrestlers to the NCAA Division II Championships where it tallied 17 points and a 19th-place finish inside America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, Mo. It was the 14th-straight year that the Braves have finished among the nation's top-30 teams at the event, and the sixth time in 10 seasons under Johnson that they have qualified four or more wrestlers for the national stage.

Daggett Posts Runner-Up Finish At NCAA Championships
All-American Nick Daggett became the fifth different UNCP student-athlete in the last nine seasons to compete in a national championship bout with an impressive run at the NCAA Division II Championships. Daggett posted a convincing 9-0 major decision over the nation’s second-ranked wrestler at 125 pounds in his opening match of the event, and then clinched all-America status for the second-straight year after toughing out a 6-5 decision over 11th-ranked Christian Mejia of McKendree. He would eventually be forced to settle for runner-up with a heartbreaking loss to West Liberty’s Cole Laya in the championship bout. Daggett will lug 98 career victories into his senior season with the Black & Gold, and has won 77 percent of his collegiate matchups.

Volleyball Surges, Posts Best PBC Finish In Two Decades
A thrilling 4-set victory over eventual Peach Belt Conference champion Augusta in mid-March, as well as consecutive shutout wins over Lander and Young Harris two weeks later, proved to be the fuel that helped the volleyball team register its best season in nearly a decade. In addition to a .714 win percentage at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court, the Black & Gold posted seven victories inside Peach Belt Conference play which matched the 2001 and 2011 squads for the most league victories since the 1994 campaign. Brianna Warren, who ranked 3rd across all of NCAA Division II with a PBC-best 86 total blocks, and Shannon Skryd earned all-league laurels, while Ellen McGill was tabbed PBC Coach of the Year. 

Football Tops West Virginia State, Successfully Opens Mountain East Conference Era
The Braves racked up nearly 475 yards of total offense behind a career passing day from junior quarterback Josh Jones, and UNCP successfully opened up the Mountain East Conference era of the program with a 30-7 road rout of Glenville State. The 350-yard, 4-touchdown performance would lock up MEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors for Jones, while the Braves also snapped a 15-game, 3-1/2-year road skid in the process as well. The win over the Pioneers would mark the first of three-straight road games for UNCP who played its only home game of the abbreviated season more than a month later.

Wehling, Luckett Tabbed To Head Up Volleyball, Golf Programs
The Braves welcomed a pair of head coaches to its athletics department family in May with the additions of Carly Wehling and Hannah Luckett. Wehling, a former standout volleyball player at West Alabama, became the 11th head coach in the 48-year history of the volleyball program after helping to lead Indian Hills Community College to 50 wins over the last two seasons. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A standout student-athlete at Limestone (2012-16), Luckett has spent the last four seasons on the coaching staff at Newberry, including the last two as head coach of the Wolves. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BraveNation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BraveNation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/UNCP_Golf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UNCP_Golf</a><a href="https://t.co/mX2oz7qm8m">https://t.co/mX2oz7qm8m</a></p>&mdash; UNCP Braves l #BraveNation (@UNCP_Sports) <a href="https://twitter.com/UNCP_Sports/status/1397290867644420101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>, including the last two as head coach. She helped lead the Wolves to 13 top-5 finishes during her time in central South Carolina.

Andersson, Johnson Reach Milestone Career Victory Marks
Soccer head coach Lars Andersson and wrestling skipper Othello “O.T.” Johnson became the latest coaches to net milestone victory marks for the Braves. Andersson, who has mentored squads at the junior college, NAIA and NCAA Division II levels over his 27-year collegiate coaching career, grabbed career win No. 300 with a 2-0 triumph over Georgia Southwestern on February 8 and upped his win total as coach of the Black & Gold out to 215. Johnson, who wrapped up his 10th season as a head coach – all in Pembroke – in 2020-21, registered his 100th career dual meet victory with a 28-6 drubbing of visiting Lander on February 11.

Pruitt, Silva, Jones Honored At Welcome Back Event In October
Men’s basketball’s Akia Pruitt was decorated with Male Student-Athlete of the Year accolades, while freshman swimmer Nathalia Silva raked in both Female Student-Athlete and Female Newcomer of the Year laurels, as the department welcomed back its nearly 400 student-athletes in October via a virtual presentation. Wrestling’s Nick Kee took home Male Newcomer of the Year recognition, while men’s basketball interim head coach Tony Jones picked up the Dan Kenney Coach of the Year crown. The awards put a wrap on the 2019-20 Golden Braves program which was held virtually for the first time in April 2020.

Golden Braves Goes Virtual Again As Department Honors 2020-21 Performances
Three teams were celebrated for winning conference championships across an adverse athletic season as the show went on for the Braves on in late April with an online showing of the eighth annual Golden Braves. Volleyball’s April Tankersley was decorated with Most Well-Rounded Female Student-Athlete, while wrestling's Nick Daggett took home the award on the men's side. Dr. Wiley Barrett, a long-time supporter of UNCP Athletics, was awarded Braves Club Member of the Year honors, while the UNCP Facilities Department was crowned with the Changing Lives Through Education Award. Five traditional awards – the Male and Female Athlete of the Year, Male and Female Newcomer of the Year and the Dan Kenney Coach of the Year – will be presented at the Student-Athlete Welcome Back event in late August.

Cash Bash Fundraising Event Brings In More Than $70,000
Athletics department officials at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke announced in mid-October that its seventh annual Cash Bash fundraising event raised more than $70,000 for the department's general scholarship fund. The total of $71,257 was spearheaded by the Fund-A-Cause portion of the 5-day virtual event which brought in more than $25,000 alone – the second-highest total raised by that portion of the program in the seven-year history of the department's premier fundraising event. The silent auction, which featured more than 80 unique items and vacation experiences, raked in more than $12,000 toward the total. To date, the annual event has generated nearly $700,000 in eight years for student-athlete scholarships. 

Athletics Department Launches “Back The Braves” Campaign
Athletics department officials at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke announced in early April a new initiative that will call on families, fans and alumni who back the Black & Gold to throw their financial support behind their "Back The Braves" campaign which will help support the department's 17 teams and more than 400 student-athletes. With an initial goal for the initiative being set at $50,000, the athletics department will incorporate the campaign into various events throughout the next calendar year, including the Golden Braves Awards, College Colors Day and the department's annual Cash Bash fund-raising event.

Braves Rake In Five More NACMA “Best Of” Awards
UNC Pembroke was well-represented as the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) kicked off its virtual convention that spans much of the month of June. The athletics department's external operations team picked up five more of the organization's "Best Of" Awards for its efforts during a challenging 2020-21 athletic season, including one gold medal. The Black & Gold was among 62 colleges and universities (all levels) to earn at least one award, and one of just 34 institutions to bring home multiple honors. The NACMA "Best Of" Awards program honors outstanding achievement in marketing and promotions. The Braves earned a gold medal under the category of Multi-Platform Branding Campaign for its marketing efforts for College Colors Day, while also raking in two silver and bronze medals as well.

UNCP Announces Key Ticketing Partnerships
The Braves stepped into the digital age of game day ticketing in December when the department inked a key partnership with Hometown Ticketing. As part of the partnership, Hometown Ticketing will provide convenient online ticketing options for Braves fans, as well as additional security and reporting capabilities for the athletics department to utilize. A fully automated ticketing solution, HomeTown’s ticketing platform is tailored specifically to the needs of schools and fans. The department also inked a June agreement with TicketSmarter that makes the organization the official ticket resale marketplace partner of UNCP athletics, and gives fans a safe, trusted platform to buy and sell tickets.