University of Richmond Athletics
The 2025-26 school year stands as one of the most successful in Spider Athletics history, defined by conference championships, record-setting performances, national postseason appearances, academic distinction, and continued investment in one of the greatest student-athlete experiences in collegiate athletics.
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
98% Graduation Success Rate ranks among top 10 in Division I
3.35 average cumulative student-athlete GPA
7 teams with perfect Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores
Richmond again ranked among the nation’s premier athletic departments for academics in 2025-26. In November, NCAA Graduation Success Rate data showed that 98 percent of Spider student-athletes earned their degrees within six years, tying Richmond for ninth nationally among all Division I institutions and matching Davidson for the top mark in the Atlantic 10.
In May, the NCAA released updated Academic Progress Rate scores, with seven Spider teams earning perfect scores of 1,000, matching the most for UR in any year since the program was introduced in 2003. All 16 Richmond programs measured by the NCAA posted APR scores of 975 or higher, and 14 finished above the Division I average in their sport.
76 percent of student-athletes recorded a term GPA of 3.0 or greater during the spring semester, the same percentage of Spiders who ended the school year with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. Across all sports, UR student-athletes maintained an average cumulative GPA of 3.35 at the conclusion of the 2025-26 school year.
Weeks after winning the Atlantic 10 championship, Spider swimming & diving was honored at the Scholar-Athlete Breakfast in March for having the highest combined GPA of any Richmond team - 3.77 on a 4.0 scale.
Phoebe Rubio (cross country and track & field) and Joe Sheridan (men's lacrosse) won the Presidential Citation Awards at April's SPIDYs for having the highest cumulative GPAs of any female and male senior student-athletes. Rubio was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Office of the Provost and Sheridan was named a First Team Academic All-American and selected as Richmond's recipient of the Atlantic 10's postgraduate scholarship.
COMPETITIVE EXCELLENCE
8 conference championships (most since 2005-06)
5 NCAA Championship appearances
No. 1 ranking for men's lacrosse
Spider teams combined to win eight conference titles during the 2025-26 school year, the most championships for Richmond since 2005-06 and equaling its most in any school year in the 21st century.
Men's lacrosse repeated as regular season and conference tournament champions in the Atlantic 10, and opened the season on a nine-game winning streak that culminated with the Spiders reaching the top spot in the national rankings, the first time any University of Richmond team held a No. 1 ranking at the highest possible level of collegiate competition. UR defeated Saint Joseph's in the A-10 championship game to earn its seventh NCAA appearance in 13 seasons. The Spiders were rewarded with a No. 4 seed and the first NCAA Tournament home game in program history. Richmond finished 14-2 and eight Spiders ended the season by earning All-American honors. Dan Chemotti was named A-10 Coach of the Year for a second straight season and signed a contract extension with Richmond in May.
After an absence of four years, Spider swimming & diving returned to the top of the Atlantic 10, winning the 2026 conference title in February. Richmond collected four gold medals, five silvers, and four bronzes to unseat four-time defending A-10 champion George Washington. Matt Barany won his second straight A-10 Coach of the Year award and his 11th overall, the most by any coach in Richmond history. Since its first A-10 season in 2002, Richmond has now won 17 conference championships, 12 more than any other school.
Men's tennis snapped a two-decade title drought with a historic run to the A-10 title in Orlando. The fifth-seeded Spiders shocked top-seeded and eight-time defending champion VCU 4-3 in the semifinals for their first win over the Rams since 1990. Needing another upset in the championship match, the Spiders battled back from a 3-0 deficit to No. 3 seed Dayton, winning four straight points to secure their first A-10 championship since 2006. Richmond dropped a decision to South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to finish the season 17-9, its most wins and best record since going 18-6 in 2018-19.
Men's golf equaled the best round in program history when it was needed most as the Spiders shot 15-under par to come from behind in the final round and capture the Atlantic 10 title for the first time since 2017. Freshman Lucas Rizo-Patron captured individual medalist honors with a total score of 13-under par (203), equaling the second-lowest tournament score in program history. The A-10 Championship was one of a record four tournaments won by the Spiders during the season, as UR also finished atop the leaderboard at the Metropolis Intercollegiate, Loyola Intercollegiate, and Donald Ross Collegiate Classic. Adam Decker won a second straight A-10 Coach of the Year award, giving him five overall, the most in conference history.
Women's golf repeated as Atlantic 10 champions with a dominant performance at Evermore Resort in Orlando. The Spiders combined to shoot 51-over par (915) over three rounds, 28 strokes better than their nearest competitor. Richmond's five golfers finished first, third, fourth, fifth, and fifth (a tie) as junior Maya Beasley ran away with individual medalist honors at 5-over par (221). The program has now won six conference championships, all coming since 2016. Calle Barlow was named A-10 Coach of the Year, and helped lead Richmond to an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Regional in Chapel Hill, matching the best NCAA Regional finish in program history.
Women’s lacrosse captured its first outright regular season title after going 9-0 against Atlantic 10 opponents during its conference schedule. The Spiders finished the year 13-4 after dropping a one-goal decision to host Davidson in the semifinals of the A-10 Championship, their best record since 2023. Anne Harrington was picked as the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year for the first time after leading the Spiders to a third conference title in the last four seasons.
Field hockey captured a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the A-10 Championship with a 2-1 double-overtime win at VCU in the final game of the regular season. It was Richmond’s first Atlantic 10 title since 2015. Clara Larripa became Richmond's first field hockey All-American since 2015 after leading Richmond to the final of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, which was held at UR's Crenshaw Field.
In addition to its eight team championships, several Spiders earned individual conference titles in 2025-26. Maya Beasley and Lucas Rizo-Patron captured individual medalist honors at their respective A-10 Golf Championships. Molly Wise (long jump), Caroline Donohoe (800 meters) and Brooke Reif (1,500 meters) won gold at the A-10 Outdoor Track & Field Championship in May, and Richmond's distance medley relay team placed first at the conference's Indoor Championship in February. Presley Baber won gold in the 100 freestyle at the A-10 Swimming & Diving Championship, and was a member of all three of Richmond's championship relay teams: the 200 medley, the 200 freestyle, and the 400 freestyle.
Also in Spider Athletics this year:
• Women's basketball reached the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season, the longest streak in program history. The Spiders earned an at-large bid after amassing 26 wins behind repeat Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Maggie Doogan, who finished her career as the second-leading scorer in UR history. On January 10, Doogan smashed the Richmond and Atlantic 10 single-game scoring records by pouring in 48 points in UR's triple-overtime win over Davidson at the Robins Center.
• In April, Alisa Kresge became the 18th head coach in Spider women's basketball history. Kresge arrived at UR after leading Vermont to the NCAA Tournament three times in the last four seasons.
• Baseball finished 33-24 and compiled a 20-10 record in Atlantic 10 play — its best conference record since 2007 — to earn the No. 2 seed in May's A-10 Championship.
• Football completed its first season as a member of the Patriot League with a 7-5 record and produced the program’s first 11 Patriot League All-League selections. The Spiders capped their season with a thrilling 28-21 comeback win over William & Mary in Williamsburg to capture the Capital Cup Presented by C&F Bank and extend their win streak in the “Oldest Rivalry in the South” to three games.
• Men's basketball went 10-3 in its non-conference schedule en route to a 15-17 season, a five-win improvement from 2024-25. The Spiders averaged 76.7 points, their most since the 1979-80 season, and Aiden Argabright was named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team, UR's first selection since 2018.
• Women's tennis finished 11-11 and placed four players on the Atlantic 10's All-Conference teams after reaching the A-10 semifinals, where the Spiders fell to No. 2 seed VCU.
• Women's track & field tied for fifth at the A-10 Indoor Track & Field Championships and placed sixth at the A-10 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, earning a combined four gold medals.
• Women's cross country placed fourth at the A-10 Championship behind sophomore Hallie Muniz, who placed sixth individually to earn First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors. The men finished 10th. Senior Henry Haase led UR with a 25th-place finish at the meet.
• Soccer finished the year at 4-7-7, equaling its best winning percentage in the last six seasons. The Spiders completed the season by losing just once in their final six matches.
STUDENT-ATHLETE LEADERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT
Sponsored more than 50 professional development events
Women's Health Symposium for all female student-athletes
98% placement rate in job or grad school for Class of 2025
Spider Performance (SP4) continued to strengthen Richmond’s student-athlete experience through year-round programming focused on leadership, well-being, career readiness, academic success, and community engagement.
Year-long programming for members of the 2025-26 leadership cohort was built on the theme of Leading with Light. Members of the cohort participated in leadership skill-building sessions, were introduced to the benefits of meditation through a subscription to Headspace, and were paired with a mentor to help guide them along their leadership journey, which concluded with a special graduation ceremony at the end of the spring semester.
More than 100 female student-athletes attended SP4's Women’s Health Symposium, which featured information on reproductive health and education on how to train and compete at the highest levels as female athletes.
Spider Performance, UR Career Services, and The CoStar Group partnered for the annual Etiquette and Networking Dinner for junior student-athletes at the Country Club of Virginia. The group received tips and guidance on dining etiquette during an interview as well as when attending networking events. Prior to the dinner, student-athletes were paired with Richmond alumni, community members, and senior staff members for a mock interview exercise.
Over the course of the year, SP4 sponsored more than 50 events designed to support Spider student-athletes with their professional development and career preparation. Among them were visits by the men's and women's basketball teams to Richmond-area corporations, career development trips to New York City for the men's and women's lacrosse teams, financial literacy training sessions, two job and internship fairs for Spider student-athletes, and much more.
Data collected during the year showed that of the members of the Richmond Athletics Class of 2025, 76 had secured employment, 25 were attending graduate school, and 10 were pursuing professional athletics.
Richmond's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) remained a force for student-athlete support, community engagement, and more. SAAC hosted an Athlete Orientation Fair for all first-year Spiders, and SAAC members contributed countless hours to support more than a dozen community service efforts across the Richmond region.
Richmond Athletics also continued to provide a host of services designed to ensure that current Spiders are operating at their physical and mental peaks:
- Implemented sport science programs designed to maximize student-athlete health, safety and performance.
- Created daily analytics reports for coaches, including use of CoachMe Plus and hydration monitoring to support recovery.
- Used Polar technology to track GPS-derived movement data, inertial sensor metrics and heart-rate information to better evaluate training demands.
- Partnered sport performance and sports medicine staffs to build injury-prevention programs and individualized return-to-play support.
- Provided nutrition education through registered dietitians, including one-on-one sessions and team sessions.
- Operated three fueling stations to help bridge nutritional gaps between meals and provide hydration support, Gatorade and water.
- Hosted interactive “Top Chef”-style cooking competitions with multiple teams and added “Smoothie Friday” programming to increase student-athlete access to dietitians.
- Provided more than 1,500 “To Go” meals for student-athletes with schedule conflicts, along with game-day nutrition products for pregame, halftime and postgame use.
- Distributed major fueling resources throughout the year, including more than 20,000 protein shakes, 100,000 healthy snacks, 20,000 pieces of fruit and 10,000 bagels.
- Implemented pre-participation mental health screeners for all student-athletes to identify concerns early and connect them with services.
- Delivered mental health education, coping-skills training and sport performance programming for all 17 varsity teams, including more than 20 team sessions.
- Facilitated more than 400 individual mental health sessions, saw more than 100 student-athletes for at least one appointment and conducted 37 consultations with coaches and staff.
- Promoted holistic wellness through Monthly Wellness Wednesday programming, Student-Athlete Mental Health Week, nine Mental Health Awareness games and events, Headspace memberships and continued advocacy with Morgan’s Message.
- Provided comprehensive sports medicine care through a multidisciplinary team, with services that included more than 25,000 treatments and rehabs and 118 on-campus physician clinics.
COMPLIANCE, POLICY, AND GOVERNANCE
Completed first football season as associate member of the Patriot League
Created new funds to support direct payments to basketballs student-athletes
Expanded Opendorse partnership to offer expanded NIL services
Along with the more than 300 Division I schools that opted into the terms of the House v. NCAA settlement, Richmond Athletics continued to develop its response to the landmark agreement, which went into effect on July 1, 2025.
In November, Richmond announced the creation of the Men's Basketball Student-Athlete Development Fund and the Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Development Fund. The funds support direct NIL payments to Spider basketball student-athletes, giving Spider fans the chance to invest in the university's efforts to enhance roster-building, recruitment, and retention in the NIL era.
The funds are managed by Associate Athletics Director for Basketball Development Jim Merritt, who returned to Richmond in August after serving Richmond Athletics and the University of Richmond in a variety of leadership and advancement roles from 1988 to 2022.
All student-athletes benefited from the Athletics department's expanded partnership with Opendorse, the industry-leading provider of NIL technology, education, and support services. The agreement gives Spiders access to the full suite of Opendorse products, providing them with the ability to use best-in-class tools to elevate their personal brands, share and organize content, and navigate potential NIL opportunities.
Spider Athletics honored outgoing Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade for her years of dedication to the conference and its student-athletes at a men's basketball home game in early March. McGlade retired at the conclusion of the academic year. She was succeeded by Dan Leibovitz, formerly the Senior Associate Commissioner for Men's Basketball for the Big East Conference.
16 of Richmond's 17 varsity sports are members of the Atlantic 10 Conference, but Spider football is now a veteran of the Patriot League, having completed its inaugural season in the conference in 2025. UR will be joined by longtime conference rivals William & Mary and Villanova in the conference for the 2026 season as the league expands to 10 football members.
Richmond Deputy Athletics Director LaRee Sugg was one of four individuals enshrined in the Chesterfield County Sports Hall of Fame in April. Sugg was recognized for her decades-long impact as a golfer, coach, and athletics administrator.
FINANCE, ADVANCEMENT, AND FACILITIES
Record $2.07 million raised during UR Here Giving Day
Code Red resulted in largest women's basketball crowd since 2000
$10M lead gift to build lacrosse facility from Paul & Anne-Marie Queally
The Spider Athletic Fund reached new heights in its ongoing efforts to ensure that Richmond Athletics has the resources needed to fulfill its mission of educating, inspiring, and assisting Spider student-athletes. SAF helped Richmond Athletics raise more than $2.07 million during the University’s eighth annual Giving Day, an increase of approximately 62 percent from the department’s $1.28 million total in 2025.
Class of 1986 alumni and Spider parents Paul and Anne-Marie Queally provided an unparalleled investment in the future of Spider lacrosse, donating $10 million to build a new facility that will house locker rooms, strength and conditioning spaces, meeting rooms, offices, and more to support the men's and women's lacrosse programs.
A crowd of 6,805 filled Robins Stadium in May for the first NCAA Lacrosse Tournament game at Richmond. The game, which aired on ESPNU, drew the largest crowd for a first-round game in the history of the NCAA Lacrosse Championship. The record-setting turnout helped Richmond draw 28,740 fans over 11 men's lacrosse games in Robins Stadium during the season, the second-highest cumulative attendance in the nation behind Syracuse.
Attendance records were also set during women's basketball season, when Richmond Athletics and the University partnered to launch Operation: Code Red, a joint effort aimed at drawing a historic "Red Out" crowd for the women's basketball game on CBS Sports Network against VCU on January 18 at the Robins Center. 5,224 fans saw the Spiders roll over the Rams, the largest women's basketball crowd in the arena since a 2000 contest against Wake Forest.
Richmond's suite of athletic facilities was again honored as one of the best in the nation by The Princeton Review, which placed UR seventh in its annual list of schools with best athletic facilities. The Spider soccer team competed on a brand-new grass playing surface at President's Field at River Road, and took up residence in a completely renovated and expanded locker room in the Robins Center. Women's lacrosse also moved into a brand-new, state-of-the-art locker room in the Robins Center, and the team's shared practice field with men's lacrosse received a new turf surface.
Basketball action in the Robins Center had never looked or sounded sharper, as the arena's video and audio systems were completely redone in the largest enhancement to the building since a full renovation of the inner bowl was finished in 2014. The men's and women's teams also benefited from a new team room that allows the Spiders to hold pregame, halftime, and postgame meetings just steps off the playing court.
Richmond Athletics’ broadcast operations also continued to grow, with UR announcing a multiyear contract extension with ESPN Radio. Voice of the Spiders Bob Black will continue to handle play-by-play duties for football and men's basketball and host Behind the Web, a weekly, in-season coach's show. Black will also anchor SpiderTV digital and linear broadcasts for games that don't appear on national television. Those broadcasts will be produced by longtime Spider Athletics employee Blake Ellett, who was elevated to Director of Multimedia Production in July.
INCLUSION AND BELONGING
Cultural immersion trip to Chile through Richmond's EnCompass program
Hosted “The Syracuse 8” program during Black History Month
Sent student-athletes to the NCAA Impact Forum and the Black Student-Athlete Summit
Richmond Athletics continued to strengthen its commitment to inclusion, belonging, and lifting student-athlete voices during the 2025-26 school year.
Eight Spider student-athletes went on the journey of a lifetime, participating in a cultural immersion program in Chile as part of Richmond's EnCompass program. The student-athletes documented their voyage with daily blogs on RichmondSpiders.com.
During Black History Month, Athletics welcomed Clarence “Bucky” McGill to campus to share his story of igniting change for both his Black teammates and future athletes at Syracuse University. McGill spoke to a group of football student-athletes, coaches, and staff, delivering an intimate presentation about his experience as one of the Black Syracuse football players who boycotted the 1970 season because of the discrimination they faced as members of the program. The event was part of the Millhiser Dialogue Series.
Members of Spider football were informed, prepared, and ready to participate in the 2025 Virginia election thanks to a voter education session for the team that was led by Assistant Director for Community Relationships and Place-Based Engagement Sasha Hollister.
Richmond Athletics continued to identify and support student-athletes and staff participation in national leadership and identity-based development opportunities. Two student-athletes attended the NCAA Impact Forum alongside Coordinator for Leadership Development and Engagement Jalynn Spaulding, while four student-athletes were selected to attend the Black Student-Athlete Summit in Eugene, Oregon.
