Members of the women's tennis team after winning the NCAC tournament.
This spring saw an incredible run of success across the board for Kenyon athletics, with four teams sending representatives to NCAA Division III championships and a longstanding coach notching his 500th career victory.
Leading the way was the men’s golf team, which finished with the best season in team history. It wrapped up the 2026 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship in May in a tie for sixth place within the field of 43 teams. The program's previous best finish was a tie for eighth place in 2024. Individually, Adrian Jordan ’28 tied for third place in the field of 225 golfers — representing the best finish ever by a Kenyon golfer.
In tennis, both the men’s and women’s teams were nationally ranked and made it to the third round of the NCAA Division III team championships.
The men’s squad, ranked No. 11 in the nation, also sent three players — Alejandro Gonzalez ’27, Maximo Llamas Castellanos ’29, and Juozas Cioladis ’28 — to participate in the NCAA Division III Singles and Doubles Championship in Tennessee.
For the No. 14-ranked women’s team, this year’s accolades included their fourth-straight North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season title and NCAC Tournament crown. Eleni Lazaridou ’26 went on to represent the Owls in the NCAA Division III Singles Championship. On the doubles side, Lazaridou and Hana Nouaime ’28 competed in the tournament.
Women’s track and field also sent a representative to compete for a national championship. Anna Brown ’26 took part in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in La Crosse, Wisconsin — rewriting her own program record in the process of qualifying — and left as a Second-Team All-American.
The College’s newest team — women’s golf — also achieved at a high level. The squad took second place at the program’s inaugural NCAC Championship, where Rafa Plasa ’29 came in first and Sasha Belova ’29 was runner-up after a tiebreaking playoff.
Other teams made lasting impressions this season as well. In softball, the squad set more than 20 different team and individual records over the course of the season — easily making this year’s team the top-producing offense in program history. It also celebrated a new, state-of-the-art playing surface at the Kenyon Softball Complex.
Men’s lacrosse tied for the NCAC regular season crown in April, and, in the final game, saw Adam Hall ’26 set the program record for career saves, a mark that had stood since 1971. On the women’s side, the team made it to the NCAC tournament semifinals.
In men’s track and field, a number of program records fell this season, including Charlie Blackmer ’28 breaking the team record twice in the 1,500-meter run; Graham Yeager ’28 setting a new mark for the discus throw; and the 4x400-meter relay team team of Julius Thompson ’26, Marius Mazeika ’28, Kudzaishe Mhere ’28, and Josh Greville ’26 breaking a record that had stood since 1991, nearly 35 years ago.
And in baseball, head coach Matt Burdette celebrated his 500th career victory in March. Burdette — a four-time NCAC Coach of the Year — has led the program for the past 30 seasons.
