2025-26 Sports Spotlight

STUNT defends its national title, McCloskey inducted into hall of fame, and freshman swimmer completes historic season

STUNT Defends National Title

For a second straight season, the university’s STUNT team is the best in the nation at the Division III level.

Led by program director Reba McLennan and head coach Beth Sanchez, the squad successfully defended its crown with a dramatic final-day performance at the national championships in Nashville, Tennessee, in late April. Entering from the losers’ bracket, the Bruins first defeated the No. 3-ranked Saint Mary’s Belles, 24-16, rallying from a halftime deficit, before facing top-ranked Muskingum – the same school George Fox defeated in the 2025 finals – and scoring a wire-to-wire 25-20 victory.

With the win, STUNT became the first Bruin team to claim back-to-back championships in the university’s NCAA era. It was the athletic program’s sixth Division III team championship since 2000, joining baseball (2004), women’s basketball (2009), women’s track and field (2018), women’s golf (2023) and last year’s STUNT team.

McCloskey Earns Induction into National Hall of Fame

With a track record that includes a national NCAA title, 14 straight top-10 national finishes and two individual NCAA champions, women’s golf coach MaryJo McCloskey joined elite company with her induction into the Women’s Golf Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in December.

McCloskey, hired as head coach in the program’s inaugural season in 2006, has turned the Bruins into a perennial national contender and a dominant force in the Northwest Conference. Through the 2026 season, George Fox has won 16 consecutive NWC titles, made 16 NCAA appearances, produced 33 All-Americans and earned four PING WGCA Players of the Year.

Perhaps most impressively, the Bruins have earned a national trophy in nine of the past 14 seasons by virtue of a top-four finish at the NCAA Championships. In addition to her team’s success, McCloskey is an eight-time Division III Golf Pride WGCA West Region Coach of the Year.

Freshman Swimmer Competes in NCAA Nationals

Freshman phenom swimmer Gabbie Patti capped a historic season by becoming the first Bruin to qualify for three events at the 2026 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.

Competing on the national stage in Indianapolis, Patti qualified for the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke. Her strongest finish came in the 200 backstroke, where she placed 20th with a time of 2:02.05, the sixth-fastest mark among all freshmen in the field.

For Patti, simply reaching nationals was historic: She became just the second Bruin to compete at the big event, after Aspen Monkhouse in 2019. En route to qualifying for nationals, Patti set six individual women’s program records.

Perhaps most impressively, she finished first in every regular-season individual event she competed in, including all three races she swam at the Northwest Conference Championships. For her efforts, Patti earned both NWC Rookie of the Year and Swimmer of the Year honors.