Lehigh Athletics is celebrating a landmark year as Audrey Jimenez wins a national championship, men’s basketball returns to March Madness and football earns another Patriot League title.
Olivia Link, Dan Sanderlin
While spring sports are in full swing and may give the Lehigh community more to celebrate, the athletics program has already amassed success this academic year. The university has seen multiple programs earn Patriot League titles and even crowned a national champion in women’s wrestling, which just completed its first season as a Division I program.
Here’s a look at some of the recent successes from Lehigh Athletics the past few months.
Audrey Jimenez poses with the Women's Outstanding Wrestler Award at the 2026 NCAA Women's Wrestling Championships in Coralville, Iowa.
A National Champion and Team Titles
In its inaugural season as a Division I program, Lehigh women’s wrestling had one of its own crowned a national champion.
Audrey Jimenez won the 110-pound national championship in early March, pinning Grand Valley State’s Sage Mortimer in the first period of their finals bout at the NCAA Women's Wrestling Championships in Coralville, Iowa. Jimenez also took home the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award, earned the NCAA’s Most Dominant Wrestler Award for the 2025-26 season and was named the NCAA’s Women’s Wrestler of the Year.
The women’s wrestling team, founded as a club sport in 2020 and became a Division I program this academic year, went 15-2 in duals and won the Super Region 2 meet with four individual champions in their first season. While the program had five wrestlers qualify for the inaugural NCAA NC Women’s Wrestling Championships, Jimenez, Aubre Krazer (131) and Abbi Cooper (117) made history by becoming the first three in program history to achieve All-America status.
The men’s wrestling team also had to make space in their display case. The team captured their second consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) title, and 40th in program history, in early March thanks to five individual champions during the tournament. Graduate student Sheldon Seymour (125), sophomores Luke Stanich (141) and Logan Rozynski (157) and senior Nathan Taylor (285) all won their second career EIWA titles, while senior Max Brignola (165) won his first.
Nathan Taylor picked up his second career EIWA title, earned the Sheridan Award for most falls in the fastest time in the championship bracket and the Fletcher Trophy for career points scored at the EIWA Championships.
Taylor also won the Sheridan Award for most falls in the fastest time in the championship bracket, as well as the Fletcher Trophy for career points scored at the EIWA Championships. Head coach Pat Santoro was honored as well—he was named EIWA Coach of the Year for the seventh time.
The team also made some noise at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland as sophomore Luke Stanich took third place and finished the season 18-1. The squad as a whole finished 16th in the nation with 26.5 points.
Tournament Time for the Men and Women
Lehigh men’s basketball, ranked eighth in the league’s preseason poll, captured their fourth Patriot League title and the automatic NCAA Tournament bid that comes along with it by topping Boston University, 74-60, on March 11.
The men's basketball team celebrates after punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Patriot League Championship.
The win sent the Mountain Hawks to “The Big Dance” for the first time since 2012, when, as a 15 seed, they beat No. 2 Duke University behind a 30-point effort from CJ McCollum.
This year, Lehigh earned a 16 seed and faced off against No. 16 Prairie View A&M University in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four in Dayton, Ohio. In its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, Lehigh came up short in the play-in game against Prairie View, 67-55.
Junior Nasir Whitlock, whose half-court shot sent Lehigh past Holy Cross and into the Patriot League Semifinals, earned the honors of Patriot League Championship MVP and was named a finalist for the 2025-26 Lou Henson Award. The annual award is presented to the nation’s top mid-major college basketball player.
The women’s basketball team reached the Patriot League Championship Game for the second straight year and also qualified for postseason play, meeting Monmouth in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). It was the program’s second WNIT appearance.
Back-to-Back on the Gridiron
Lehigh football continued to build on the momentum it has created the past few seasons by becoming back-to-back Patriot League Champions and hosting a home playoff game for the first time in 21 years.
A perfect 12-0 regular season, which was capped by a 42-32 win over Lafayette in Easton for the Patriot League title, earned the Mountain Hawks the No. 5 overall seed in the FCS Playoffs and a first-round bye.
Lehigh began postseason action by hosting No. 12 Villanova at Goodman Stadium in the second round. It was the first time Lehigh had hosted a playoff game since losing to James Madison University, 14-13, in 2004.
A win over Lafayette in Easton gave the Mountain Hawks a Patriot League title and the No. 5 seed in the FCS Playoffs.
Seven Lehigh players were recognized as Associated Press All-Americans. Offensive lineman Langston Jones and linebacker Tyler Ochojski earned second team All-America recognition, while running back Luke Yoder, offensive lineman Aidan Palmer, defensive linemen Matt Spatny and TJ Burke and sophomore safety Mekhai Smith were named honorable mention All-Americans.
All seven of Lehigh's AP All-Americans were first team All-Patriot League honorees.
Yoder was also a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given to the FCS' top offensive player, while Ochojski was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, which honors the FCS' top defensive player.
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Olivia Link, Dan Sanderlin
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