While the University of Northern Colorado Bears are now off and enjoying a well deserved summer lets take a look into how the year was for each program. The Bears are still a ways off from competing for the Big Sky Presidents Cup (most successful award), but there was still significant hardware and achievements for the Bears. Scroll below to see a recap of all 16 prominent sports at UNC.

Fall Sports

Football

Record: 0-11 (0-8)
Final Conference Position: 12th
Season Analysis: The record is all that casual fans, opposing teams, and flaky big-box media will look at and surely will not give it a second glance at all. The Bears did fail to win a game, but they were far more competitive across the board than they were under McCaffrey. Lamb has much to prove and the administration completely backs his teaching methods of challenging staff and players to abstain from substances completely, be willing to fail and grow from challenging , and continually buy into the program and the athletes’ best selves. Analytically we can say the Bears were in position to win four of their games, but at least two of them were blown due to errors made by the staff. Now that the Bears have a competent offensive coordinator those mistakes should not happen next season. The Bears also placed five Bears on the all-conference list and quarterback Jacob Sirmon has been signed to the Cleveland Browns as of April 29th.

Volleyball

Record: 18-12 (12-4)
Final Conference Position: 2nd
Season Analysis: The ladies had a great season on the hardwood finishing second in the conference, making the NIVC tournament, and even winning a first round game against Valparaiso 3-0. Other notable results were a 3-2 win over Colorado State, winning the Colorado Classic, runner-up in the Hampton Inn UNC Classic, and only four losses in conference. The Bears placed three players on the all-conference list including Syd Cole as Setter of the Year and Gabi Placide as Freshmen of the Year. This was also the Bears 18th straight year making the Big Sky Conference tournament or every single year the Bears have been eligible at Division I. This has also aligned with every year Coach Lyndsey Oates has been at the helm outside of the first year she was coaching where the Bears were not Big Sky eligible yet. The volleyball program is in extremely good hands as Coach Oates has turned down offers, such as Colorado State and had the Bears winning the Big Sky tournament three of the last five years to advance to the NCAA tournament.

Women’s Soccer

Record: 1-13-4 (1-4-3)
Final Conference Position: 8th
Season Analysis: The soccer and football team’s supporters both were down in the dumps this year and even experienced some animosity as “at least soccer won a game”. While we never want to see any discourse online or on campus it is a fair statement. It is also fair to say the program has taken a significant hit since 2021’s championship win. Tim Barrera has been with the program for 23 years and certainly seen his fair share of triumphs and tribulations. Thankfully, Freshman Lexie Tuite helped lift the Bears to a 4-0 walloping of Eastern Washington in Cheyney as Lexie tallied herself a hat trick and player of the week combo.

Women’s Cross Country

Final Conference Position: 7th
Season Analysis: Regina Mpigachai and Shantell Hafner posted impressive times at NCAA Regionals to claim 16th and Hafner was eight seconds off her best posted time. The two finished the 6000 meter course in 21:37 and 21:39.

Men’s Cross Country

Final Conference Position: 8th
Season Analysis: Jesse Hayward and Isaad Rascon also competed at NCAA Regionals, but did not make the ranked list for finishes. Hayward posted the school’s second best time with a time of 31:08 in the 10k meter race.

Winter Sports

Wrestling

Record: 10-5 (3-4)
Final Conference Position: 10th in BIG 12
Season Analysis: The Bears were without Andrew Alirez representing them at the duals this year as he pursued the Olympic Trials and was defeated in the semi-final round. Despite the setback and transfer portal scare, the senior will be back on the mat for UNC as he declared he will be back on May 21st. The Bears performed admirably at the Big XII Championships and Nationals without the lead star. Dominic Serrano, Windsor native, led the Bears at the conference tournament as he finished third and his teammates added two seventh places and one eighth to the tally. UNC sent three Bears to Nationals where Stevo Poulin led the Bears with a 10th place exit, one round short of the podium and All-American status, where his comrades fell behind on day one and finished significantly lower.

Women’s Basketball

Record: 15-16 (10-8)
Final Conference Position: 5th in Big Sky
Season Analysis: Women’s basketball had a good, but not great year. As the narrative has been for the last few seasons is Hannah Simental is an all-star and the supporting cast needs to catch up. Evidence of this follows the news of the transfer portal as Hannah will cruise up Shields Street to grace the hardwood of Moby Arena next season for Colorado State. Simental will likely assume the role McKenna Hofschild had as the face of the team and pivotal scorer. The Bears were able to blowout Utah State, beat University of Denver in the Sky-Summit Challenge, keep a close conference tournament game in a loss to Montana State 47-44, and reach the WNIT first round against UTSA. Three Bears were selected to all-conference and academic all-district (Simental, Byrne, and Lilah Moore). Coach Kristen Mattio has been busy in the transfer portal securing next year’s roster with a significant focus on international players.

Men’s Basketball

Record: 19-14 (12-6)
Final Conference Position: 2nd in Big Sky
Season Analysis: The men’s basketball team had an electric year following the crazy athleticism of Saint Thomas. While Thomas continues his nomadic journey onto The University of Southern California and Dejour Reaves made the breakaway for Iona University, Coach Steve Smiley is navigating the even crazier men’s college basketball transfer portal fantastically as he roped in big-time recruit Taeshaud Jackson II from VMI. It may be exciting to have such a roller-coaster roster experience for fans, but it will be an even better payoff if the majority of the transfers and recruits stick around. UNC had a tragic early exit to Idaho State in the conference tournament, yet somehow still secured an invite to the CBI tournament where they lost by two, without Thomas and Reaves present, to Cleveland State. The Bears were able to secure a ton of conference hardware as the Bears had three all-conference, Top Reserve, Top Newcomer, and Co-Coach of the Year awards. Thomas also made the NABC all-district team. Northern Colorado was lucky to hold onto Coach Smiley with the departure of former Bears Head Coach Jeff Linder at Wyoming for an assistant role at Texas Tech. Lets hope Smiley and his new company around him can help the Bears get past the first round of the conference and a post-season tournament.

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Record: 3-4 (2-2)
Final Conference Position: 4th in WAC
Season Analysis: The women’s swimming and diving program continues to improve and impress in the pool and in the classroom. The swim program has been a longtime leader in the academic portion of student-athlete life being one of the most consistent and top earning athletes. They continued being a strong presence with a 3.7 GPA this year. Additionally, the Bears also dominate in the pool, set new records, collect podium hardware, and Kyra Rabess picked up WAC Freshmen of the Year honors. The Bears had a strong season despite the team record as they recorded seven placers in the Denver Relays, nine across their Northern Arizona/Grand Canyon trip, and a solid fourth place finish at the WAC Conference Championships, finishing only nine points behind New Mexico State. Kyriana Chambo and Madison Berg competed at the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships, where Chambo placed 34th on 3 meter spring board dive and Berg placed 41st on 1 meter spring board dive.

Spring Sports

Softball

Record: 27-26 (9-5)
Final Conference Position: 1st
Season Analysis: Dedeann Pendleton-Helm has done it again as the Bears take home the Big Sky Regular Season and Conference Tournament Championships. Coach Helm has taken her success at Colorado State and fully enhanced UNC’s team into a conference powerhouse the last two seasons. Coach Helm helped pitcher Erin Caviness reach incredible heights as she threw a perfect game against UC Santa Barbra (UNC’s first in the DI Era), tossed a complete game shutout of Kansas City, and earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-West Region Third Team honors. Additionally, Isabelle DiNapoli threw a no-hitter against Manhattan (UNC’s third in the DI Era), beat Nebraska 5-3, and took home a slew of awards including Pitcher of the Year (Caviness), Co-Player of the Year (Amailee Morales), and Coach of the Year (Helm).

Men’s Golf

Final Conference Position: 4th in Big Sky
Season Analysis: The Bears finished fourth of the four teams in the Big Sky and will be moving to Summit League next season as Big Sky Men’s Golf has been difficult to sustain. UNC finished 14 strokes off of the lead that Sacramento State built up early on. Gage Messingham put on a great performance finishing fourth overall and three under par, but the competition was a step ahead of the Bears in the first two rounds. UNC also collected both individual awards with Messingham as the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year and Pietro Boeris earnering Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year.

Women’s Golf

Final Conference Position: 5th in Big Sky
Season Analysis: The Bears placed 5th in the Big Sky Conference Championship at 25 over par. The Bears were 27 points off Sacramento State’s first place lead of finishing two under par at 850. Marija Jucmane led the Bears with an eighth place finish at two over par. Louise Dahl earned a Big Sky Golfer of the Week award and finished as an all-conference second team player. Timbre Shehee also received an all-conference honorable mention.

Baseball

Record: 16-38-1 (13-16-1)
Final Conference Position: 4th
Season Analysis: What could have been a terrible season was turned around by Coach Mike Anderson and company. The Bears started the season 0-22 with tough opponents like Georgia, Utah and New Mexico State. A big rally going through the conference season put the Bears into position to be able to make waves in the conference tournament, including going 6-0 versus South Dakota State. The Bears needed to win the last series against North Dakota State to even have a chance at the conference tournament and they did. Once in the tournament they knocked off the one seed Omaha 4-2. A stout loss to Oral Roberts 14-0 sent them into familiar territory in the losers bracket with NDSU. Another Cinderella moment came with the Bears taking down the Bison one more time to make the Summit Championship game. Unfortunately, Oral Roberts was again too much to handle, but the Bears made it closer in an 11-4 loss.

Men’s Track & Field

Final Conference Position: Indoor – 8th Outdoor – 6th
Season Analysis: The track team overall finished with six school records and nine podium placements. That great success was overshadowed by 110 meter hurdler Jerome Campbell as he ascended to heights no Bear has accomplished yet at the Division I level. Campbell raced his way to Big Sky Conference MVP, Big Sky Title, and the seventh fastest 110 meter hurdler in the NCAA. Campbell made it all the way to the NCAA finals in Eugene, OR where he finished seventh overall with a time of 13.49. Campbell also plans to compete in the Olympic Trials for Team Jamaica.

Women’s Track & Field

Final Conference Position: Indoor – 8th Outdoor – 9th
Season Analysis: The track team overall finished with six school records and nine podium placements. UNC sent two ladies to regionals, but neither of them placed high enough to advance to the NCAA Finals. Regina Mpigachai was 28th at 2:08.02 in 800 meter run and Alexia Austin was 34th at 13.55 in the 100 meter hurdles. Mpigachai will also be trying to make an Olympic team as she will attempt to make Team Tanzania’s roster.

UNC’s Podium Finishes at BSC Meet

“Campbell ran the fastest 100-meter and 200-meter dash times in program history. He won silver in the 200m.

Alexia Austin secured a bronze medal with a school record in the 100-meter Hurdles.

Wendira Moss posted the fastest time in the 400m in school history, placing third. She corralled a second bronze medal in the 200m.

Zach Wells inked the fastest time in the men’s 1500m. Mpigachai matched the feat on the women’s side, doubling up on silver medals, adding on in the 800-meter dash too.

Edgar Garcia secured bronze medals in both the 100m and 200m.

The quartet of August Van De Weijer, Donovan Castillo, Abdul Razak and Jesse Hayward finished third in the 4x400m Relay” – UNC Athletics.