A lot can happen in the space of nine months.
The 2024-25 Ashland University athletic year saw many notable efforts on the field and the floor, as well as in the classroom – so many that they need one more look back at them all.
VAULTING UP THE DIRECTORS' CUP STANDINGS
The Learfield Directors' Cup, the NCAA Division II all-sports standings for all intents and purposes, is a key measuring stick for where an athletic program stands within the division. Ashland moved up 37 spots in 2024-25 to 17
th place, and 13 teams contributed points to the overall total.
With 259 D-II programs garnering points in the Directors' Cup this past year, Ashland placed itself within the 93
rd percentile in the division.
UNPRECEDENTED ACADEMIC SUCCESS
There were roughly 135,000 student-athletes who participated in NCAA Division II sports in 2024-25. Ashland had an athletic department-record eight who garnered College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American recognition, showing how exclusive being an Academic All-American is:
- Oliver Whaley, fifth-year midfielder, men's soccer – first team
- Dani Hicks, junior forward, women's soccer – second team
- McKinley Mendenhall, senior forward, women's soccer – third team
- Tony Pannunzio, senior wide receiver, football – second team
- Zoe Miller, senior forward, women's basketball – third team
- Riley Hunt, sophomore diver, women's swimming and diving – third team
- Joey Lenczyk, junior diver, men's swimming and diving – second team
- Molly Winner, sophomore thrower, women's track and field – third team
In addition, 68 Eagles were CSC Academic All-District selections, and four were recognized as Great Midwest Athletic Conference Elite 26 Award honorees:
- Kenzie McConnell, senior middle hitter, volleyball
- Mya Bowles, senior base, STUNT
- Ashley Drexler, sophomore attacker, women's lacrosse
- Dhiren Brickman, junior distance runner, men's track and field
The athletic department's academic success wasn't just individual. Every Eagle team had a cumulative team grade-point average of 3.0 or better for a fourth consecutive semester in the spring of 2025.
SCHALY ETCHES HIS NAME IN D-II BASEBALL LORE, ALLEN DRAFTED BY ORIOLES
Eagle baseball head coach
John Schaly has accomplished a lot in a near-four-decade collegiate baseball head coaching career.
On March 15, Schaly became NCAA Division II baseball's all-time winningest head coach with 1,325 victories. Going into 2026, he has 1,351 career wins – 20
th in NCAA baseball history at all levels.
One of Schaly's players, right-handed pitcher
Hunter Allen, became the ninth Eagle to be chosen in the Major League Baseball draft on July 14. Allen was a seventh-round choice by the Baltimore Orioles – becoming the third-highest picked former Ashland player all-time, and the highest in 51 years.
WOMEN'S LACROSSE REACHES NEW HEIGHTS
The 2025 season saw so many firsts for Eagle women's lacrosse that it was a challenge to keep up with them all.
Ashland set new program standards for wins (14) and winning percentage (.700), went undefeated in Great Midwest play (8-0) for the first time, and won both the program's first conference regular-season and tournament championships. That led to the Eagles' initial D-II postseason appearance on May 8 in Indianapolis, Ind., vs. Regis.
All of this came in just the seventh season of the program (sixth full season, with 2020 being truncated due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
FINDING WAYS TO MAKE HISTORY AFTER MORE THAN 100 YEARS
Eagle football won its first road NCAA playoff game in 2024, knocking off No. 6-ranked Charleston at the final gun, 40-38, on Nov. 23.
That was part of a campaign which also featured a Great Midwest title, a 9-4 record, and a fourth consecutive Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team member – senior wide receiver
Dru Johnson.
The team's 28 wins over the last three seasons are the program's most in that span since 2015-17 (30).
WOMEN'S SOCCER KEEPS WINNING, SHUTTING OUT OPPONENTS
Last fall, AU women's soccer went 17-2-2 overall and 12-0-2 in the Great Midwest – winning league regular-season and tournament titles and playing host to a D-II playoff game at Ferguson Field. The postseason appearance was the program's sixth in a row, and the team has won at least 14 games in five straight non-pandemic campaigns.
In 2024, the Eagles shut out their opponents 14 times. In the last two seasons, that clean sheet total is 33 – over a total of 45 contests.
Additionally, sophomore defender
Rachel McCool will continue Ashland's run with student-athlete representation at a national level, as she started her stint on the D-II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
SHE WAS COMING FOR ALL THE RECORDS
Senior
Lily Dowdell was a standout throughout the entire 2024-25 athletic year – first in cross country, then in indoor track and field, and finally, outdoor track and field.
In the fall, Dowdell became the women's cross country team's first first-team All-Great Midwest honoree by finishing in sixth place at the league meet. As it turned out, she was just getting started.
Dowdell broke Eagle program records in the indoor mile run, 3,000-meter run, 5,000 run and distance medley relay, and outdoor 1,500 and 5,000 runs. She earned D-II All-American status in the indoor women's DMR, and was a Great Midwest champion in the indoor DMR and 3,000 run, and the outdoor 5,000 run.
TRACK AND FIELD MAKES MARK AT NATIONAL, CONFERENCE LEVELS
Ashland's men's and women's track and field programs were heard from on both the D-II and Great Midwest levels in 2024-25. Outdoors, both Eagle teams won conference titles for the first time since the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference days in 1999. Indoors, the AU women won the Great Midwest for the second year in a row.
At the D-II Championships, there were three Top 20 team finishes – the women ending tied for 12
th indoors and 16
th outdoors, and the men placing 12
th indoors.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MAKES IT BACK TO SWEET 16 ONCE AGAIN
Eagle women's basketball finished 32-4 overall and 19-1 in the Great Midwest last season, winning both the conference regular-season and tournament titles for a fourth straight year. Ashland also reached the D-II Sweet 16 for the eighth time in program history.
Over the last 14 seasons (2011-12 to 2024-25), Ashland is 422-45 (.904) with three NCAA Division II national titles, two national runner-up finishes, three undefeated seasons, a D-II-record 73-game winning streak, nine 30-win seasons, 13 NCAA postseason qualifications, 10 conference regular-season championships, 11 conference tournament titles, and a mark of 227-14 (.942) at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
WRESTLING TAKES ANOTHER G-MAC TITLE...AND BAILEY REMAINS THE TOP CLOSER IN THE GAME
Ashland wrestling won its fourth Great Midwest championship in late January – while no other Great Midwest program has won more than one.
And for the second year in a row, junior 285-pounder
Wyatt Bailey closed out a home dual with a thrilling pin to give the Eagles a victory. Bailey's win in 5:35 against Glenville State lifted AU to a win over the No. 2-ranked Pioneers, 22-20.
HUNT MAKES GAINS AT NATIONAL LEVEL
Hunt earned her first D-II All-American honor at 2025 nationals, finishing in a tie for 14
th in women's 3-meter diving. She became the first Eagle woman to score team points at swimming/diving nationals in nine years.
Swimming and diving, with Hunt and Lenczyk each reaching the national level, made up two of 18 Eagle teams which participated in NCAA or other national postseasons in 2024-25:
- Baseball
- Women's basketball
- Men's cross country
- Women's cross country
- esports
- Football
- Men's golf
- Women's golf
- Women's lacrosse
- Women's soccer
- STUNT
- Men's swimming and diving
- Women's swimming and diving
- Men's indoor track and field
- Men's outdoor track and field
- Women's indoor track and field
- Women's outdoor track and field
- Wrestling
The 2024-25 year has come to an end. And the good news is that the start of 2025-26 is not far away.
