UC Merced Magazine | Volume XX, Issue VI

NCAA Division II Welcomes the Bobcats SPORTS

By Andrew Mitchell It’s time for a bold, new beginning.

The CCAA is home to the most national championships (156) of any NCAA Division II conference. The Bobcats hope to add to that number. UC Merced also joins the NCAA as the highest-ranked university in Division II in U.S. News and World Report’s list of best colleges in the nation. UC Merced’s enrollment is among the top 50 in Division II. The Bobcats enter this new era with plenty to look back on. • UC Merced started intercollegiate athletics in 2011-12 as a member of the California Pacific Conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). • The Bobcats have won 13 Cal Pac Championships and eight Cal Pac Tournament Championships, along with three NAIA National Championship Opening Round games. • In 2019, UC Merced men’s soccer advanced to the NAIA National Championship Final. • UC Merced has also qualified 29 individuals for cross country and outdoor track and field national championships. Academically, UC Merced is proud to have 170 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes and 48 NAIA Scholar-Teams. You can find more information about the Bobcats’ move to NCAA Division II at ucmercedbobcats.com. Schedules and tickets to all home games are available online.

While the Bobcats compete for California Pacific Conference and NAIA National Championships this academic year, UC Merced athletics is preparing for NCAA Division II competition in 2025-26. This move means the Bobcats will compete against Stanislaus State, Fresno Pacific, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State LA and San Francisco State, to name a few of its potential opponents. Nine of the Bobcats’ 12 varsity sports will compete in the CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association). Men’s and women’s water polo will join the Western Water Polo Association. Men’s volleyball is applying for membership in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. “We are excited to be joining the NCAA Division II and the CCAA,” Executive Director of Recreation and Athletics David Dunham said. “This has been a goal for our program since its inception. “We have achieved this milestone thanks to the hard work and dedication of our coaches, staff and our student-athletes, along with unwavering support from Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz and the rest of the campus leadership. “We look forward to new rivalries in the CCAA and to competing in one of the top Division II conferences in the nation.”

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