CLEVELAND — High Point University Athletics' historic 2025-26 year continues to be recognized. On Monday, the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association announced that HPU finished the highest it ever has in the Division I-AAA ADA All-Sports Trophy standings, earning second place (out of 101 universities) with 236.50 points.
"Our High Point University student-athletes continue to receive national recognition for a record-setting year," HPU Vice President and Athletic Director Dan Hauser said. "We have strategically focused on being the best Division I-AAA university in the nation for several years now. To complete the 2025-26 year ranked No. 2 out of 101 universities is amazing. While this represents the second time HPU has finished in the top 5, I'm confident our entire athletic department team is motivated to continue to climb to the No. 1 position. Our Panther fans know something special is building at High Point University and the best is yet to come!"
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The Panthers won a department-best 16 championships and had nine NCAA Tournament appearances en route to the highest DI-AAA ADA All-Sports Trophy finish in school history. HPU finished in second behind Pepperdine (293.25 points), while being ahead of St. John's (178.00 points), Denver (153.00 points) and Cal Baptist (149.00).
HPU women's basketball and men's indoor track and field finished atop the 2025-26 DI-AAA ADA All-Sports standings in their respective sports across the nation.
DI-AAA ADA all-sports trophy sport winners
Fall sports
- Cross country (men's): California Baptist
- Cross country (women's): Providence
- Soccer (men's): Saint Louis
- Soccer (women's): Lipscomb; Xavier
- Volleyball (women's): Creighton
Winter sports
- Basketball (men's): St. John's University
- Basketball (women's): California Baptist; Charleston; Fairfield; Fairleigh Dickinson; Gonzaga; High Point; Jacksonville; UC San Diego; Vermont
- Swimming and diving (women's): UC San Diego
- Track and field (men's indoor): High Point
- Track and field (women's indoor): UTRGV
Spring sports
- Baseball: St. John's; Arkansas Little Rock
- Golf (men's): Pepperdine
- Golf (women's): Pepperdine
- Lacrosse (men's): Jacksonville
- Lacrosse (women's): Denver
- Softball: Grand Canyon; South Carolina Upstate; Saint Mary's
- Tennis (men's): Pepperdine
- Tennis (women's): Pepperdine
- Track and field (men's outdoor): Long Beach State; Oral Roberts
How HPU scored 236.50 points
High Point's best fall finish was led by men's soccer and the Panthers' 64 points. The HPU men's soccer team completed a historic season, playing to an undefeated Big South (9-0) record while winning two Big South championships en route to the program's highest national seed in the NCAA Tournament (No. 10) and first Round of 32 victory over West Virginia for the first-ever appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
Women's soccer and volleyball earned 25 points each. Women's soccer completed the "Miracle in Matthews" and upset the top two seeds to win the Big South Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Volleyball followed suit with an upset of the top seed to claim the program's third straight Big South Tournament title after being crowned regular-season champions.
Men's basketball led the way in the winter with 50 points after sweeping the Big South Conference championships for the second straight year to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament once again. This time, HPU received its highest seed (No. 12) ever and went on to shock the world with an upset of fifth-seed Wisconsin in the first round of March Madness. It marked the men's basketball program's first NCAA Tournament win and the sixth in school history.
The HPU track and field program brought in 25.5 points as the Panthers had two student-athletes compete at the NCAA Track and Field Indoor Track and Field Championship. Ricardo Montes de Oca podiumed with a seventh-place finish in the pole vault to become a First Team All-American as Justin Sluijter finished 15th in the long jump for Second Team All-American honors.
Women's basketball repeated as Big South champions, sweeping the regular-season and tournament trophies to return to the NCAA Tournament for the third time. The Panthers earned their highest NCAA Tournament seed (No. 15) and added 25 points to the winter standings' efforts.
In the spring, women's golf added the final 22 points after the Panthers won the program's first-ever Big South Conference title to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. With 236.50 points, HPU earned a top 25th percentile finish in the nation's Division I LEARFIELD Directors' Cup.
The second-place finish in the DI-AAA ADA All-Sports Trophy standings is the highest placement since the Panthers finished third in 2020-21.
The DI-AAA ADA All-Sports Trophy is awarded to the institution that has the highest point total in all sports in which at least 25 percent of the eligible I-AAA membership sponsor the given sport. Further, additional annual recognition is provided via the awarding of a plaque to those member institutions that finish the highest in the NCAA postseason tournaments in those sports in which at least 25 percent of the eligible I-AAA membership sponsor the given sport. This currently includes the following 21 sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor track, men's and women's outdoor track and women's volleyball.
