The acceptance of UC Merced into competition at the NCAA Division II level is bringing new hopes to students, athletes and Bobcats fans alike.
The announcement was made earlier this month, after the acceptance was approved by the National Collegiate Athletics Association.
The university will begin competing at the NCAA Division II level in the 2025-26 academic year. Some non conference tournaments are already scheduled this fall.
According to a news release, nine of the Bobcats’ 12 intercollegiate varsity programs will compete in the CCCA (California Collegiate Athletic Association) conference.
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
Joey Alvarez is from Winton and plays soccer for UC Merced. He hopes the change attracts athletes and sports fans like at Fresno State.
“Now that we’ve made that jump to where they’re at,” Alvarez said. “And the fact that we are very prestigious in the other areas of our university. I feel like that’s going to definitely attract more people towards our university.”
Alexa Ultreras plays volleyball. She says this also impacts the next generation of athletes.
“I have a younger sister,” Ultreras said. “So I’m kind of looking at it for the younger girls that look up and are feeling inspired by us.”
The acceptance into NCAA Division II was a long time coming for David Dunham, UC Merced’s executive director of recreation and Athletics.
Dunham and others have worked for years to see the news come to fruition. “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,” Dunham said in a news release.
“We look forward to the new rivalries to be formed within the (California Collegiate Athletic Association) and competing in one of the top Division II conferences in the nation.”
UC Merced, which opened in 2005, started intercollegiate athletics in 2011-12 as a member of the California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, according to the release.
The Bobcats have won 13 Cal Pac Championships and eight Cal Pac Tournament Championships since the university’s inception, and have won three NAIA National Championship Opening Round games.