Cross Country

The year just ending has been one for the college sports record books and many kudos are due to the Bobcat athletes and their coaches.

UC Merced men’s and women’s outdoor track swept the California Pacific (Cal Pac) Conference Championships in their inaugural seasons. Women’s soccer beat 14^th-ranked Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the Cal Pac Tournament Championship game and got to hoist their first trophy in front of Bobcat Nation on Bobcat Field.

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's and women's outdoor track teams swept the team titles at the California Pacific Conference Championships on Friday at Soka University Track Complex.

Individually, Jonathan Chavez took home Cal Pac Track Male Athlete of the Year honors, Elizette Ysais earned Cal Pac Female Athlete of the Year, and head coach Vicente Velarde was named the Cal Pac Men's and Women's Coach of the Year.

UC Merced is highlighting incoming first-year students for fall 2022 — a dynamic, diverse and accomplished cohort of new Bobcats.

Jordynn Lewis is excited to start her journey as a UC Merced Bobcat when the fall semester begins in August. The first-year student recently graduated from Holy Names High School in her hometown of Oakland.

UC Merced is adding men’s and women’s water polo and men’s and women’s outdoor track as varsity intercollegiate sports beginning in the 2022-23 academic year.

This announcement gives UC Merced Athletics 12 sponsored varsity sports: six men’s teams and six women’s teams.

“We are excited to be able grow our programs as our campus continues to grow,” Executive Director of Recreation & Athletics David Dunham said. “Water polo has a rich history in the Central Valley and will be a great addition to our campus.”

It’s an incredible time to be a Bobcat student-athlete.

In a year turned inside-out by COVID-19, UC Merced’s intercollegiate teams have risen above with atmospheric levels of success.

With all sports seasons shifted to spring because of the global pandemic, UC Merced squads burst out of the gate and racked up one success after another.

It is often said in sports that you have to struggle and overcome adversity before being able to bask in the glory of success.

UC Merced athletics has faced adversity since first transitioning from a recreation program to a NAIA member eight years ago.

But the wait for success was, well, not long at all.

Last fall, Turlock native Marcus DeCouto reminded the sports scene that UC Merced consistently brings some of the top freshmen to the California Pacific Conference.

DeCouto, now a sophomore midfielder on the Bobcats’ men’s soccer team, became the first Cal Pac player since 2015 to record at least 10 goals and 10 assists in a single season. To little surprise, he was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year.

Saturday’s annual Journey 5K Fund Run has special meaning for the UC Merced community.

Last November, the campus lost Ryan Nunez — head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country teams — in a tragic motorcycle accident.

UC Merced’s Athletics Department has hired Mike Barbee as men's and women's cross country coach.

More than 300 participants, including students, alumni, faculty and staff members and friends of the campus, gathered for the second annual UC Merced Jour