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John Hartrick, senior associate director of athletics-communications, is the longest-tenured member of the Athletics Division. Hartrick started at 91���� in 1991 — and witnessed and wrote about the University’s move to Division I athletics in 2001. Here are Hartrick’s Top 5 Bearcats teams of the D1 era:

1) 2009-10 Men’s Tennis
• 25–2 overall record (only regular season loss was 4–3 to No. 56 Columbia)
• Set a school-record with 20 straight wins
• America East Conference champions
• Became first America East program to earn a point at NCAAs (4–1 loss to No. 24 Georgia Tech)

 

2) 2003 Men’s Soccer
• 12–3–7 overall record
• Captured program’s first America East tournament title with a shootout win at home
• Won NCAA tournament game with 1–0 road upset at No. 13 Fairleigh Dickinson
• Nation’s top defense with seven goals allowed and 15 shutouts

 

3) 2009 Baseball 
• Won America East regular season and tournament titles
• Set school record with 30 wins and set NCAA record by improving win total for sixth straight year
• America East tournament championship was won at 3 a.m. at Union-Endicott High School
• Team then won its first-ever NCAA tournament game (11–6 over No. 30 George Mason) at East Carolina Regional

 

 

4) 2008-09 Men’s Basketball
• Produced record-setting 23–9 season (13–3 in America East) that ended with a nationally televised NCAA tournament game vs. Duke on CBS in front of 20,000 in Greensboro, North Carolina
• Won first-ever America East regular season and tournament titles — both clinched at home in front of standing-room-only Events Center crowds
• Ran off 11 straight wins — third-longest streak in country that season
• Won program’s first conference title in 63 years

 

5) 2025 Softball
• Went 36–14 (16–2 in America East)
• Captured both America East regular season and tournament titles for first time
• Earned an NCAA No. 3 seed instead of the customary No. 4 seed for America East champion
• Became first America East team to sweep all four major awards (coach, player, pitcher and rookie of year)

Runners-up: 2011–12 Wrestling; 2016 Baseball; 2009 Men’s Cross Country; 2002-03 Golf

 

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This story is part of 91���� Magazine’s “80 things to love about 91����” in the Spring 2026 issue. The special section highlights the people, places, history, and cornerstones that have made the University special over the past 80 years.