Stanford received the 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, including one other title to probably the most exceptional streak in school sports activities historical past.
Stanford has now received not less than one NCAA team championship in 50 straight educational years, the longest such streak in NCAA historical past.
The streak began Nov. 28, 1976, when Stanford’s males’s water polo team defeated UCLA 13-12 for the NCAA title. Nobody knew a half-century custom had simply begun.
The newest chapter: Men’s gymnastics team wins the 2026 NCAA title in Champaign
Stanford received the team title Saturday on the 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Gymnastics Championships on the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. It marked this system’s eleventh nationwide title and Stanford’s newest entry in its 50-year dynasty throughout school sports activities.
The win capped a postseason wherein the Cardinal entered the championship because the No. 3 seed, carrying the motivation of a slender 0.163-point runner-up end a yr in the past. Senior Asher Hong, a 2024 Olympic bronze medalist, completed his school profession as a three-time NCAA team champion. Head coach Thom Glielmi claimed his eighth NCAA title at Stanford.
How Stanford’s 50-year streak compares to the remainder of NCAA historical past
Stanford’s 50-year streak is so long as the second and third all-time streaks mixed. Only one different college in NCAA historical past has cleared 30 consecutive seasons with a team championship.
| Rank | School (Years) | Streak | Unique Sports |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford (1976-current) | 50 | 19 |
| 2 | Kenyon (1979-2010) | 31 | 3 |
| 3 | Methodist (1993-2012) | 19 | 2 |
| 3 | Southern California (1959-78) | 19 | 7 |
| 5 | Arkansas (1983-2001) | 18 | 4 |
| 5 | North Carolina (1980-98) | 18 | 5 |
| 7 | Adams State (2003-20) | 17 | 5 |
| 8 | Cal Poly (1978-92) | 14 | 7 |
| 8 | UCLA (2002-16) | 14 | 14 |
| 10 | Penn State (2006-19) | 13 | 6 |
50 seasons. 19 sports activities. 126 championships.
This isn’t one dynasty. It is many dynasties, throughout many years and sports activities.
- 19 Stanford packages have received not less than one NCAA team title throughout the streak.
- Six packages now have 10 or extra team championships throughout the run.
- Women’s tennis leads the way in which with 20 NCAA team titles, adopted by males’s tennis (15), males’s water polo (11), girls’s swimming and diving (11), girls’s water polo (10) and males’s gymnastics (10).
- Three occasions, Stanford received championships in two totally different sports activities on the identical day (1996, 2003, 2019).
- Twice, Stanford received six NCAA team titles in a single educational yr — a college report set in 1996–97 and matched in 2018–19.
The seasons when one win saved the entire streak alive
Not yearly got here with a number of championships. In 11 seasons, a single Stanford team’s title was the one factor standing between the streak and its finish.
- Women’s tennis: Saved the streak 5 occasions (1983-84, 1990-91, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2012-13).
- Men’s tennis: Saved it twice (1977-78, 1979-80).
- Women’s cross-country: Saved it as soon as (2007-08).
- Men’s swimming and diving: Saved it as soon as (1984-85).
- Men’s water polo: Saved it as soon as (1978-79).
- Women’s water polo: Saved it as soon as (2013-14).
The closest name in latest reminiscence got here in 2024-25, when Stanford did not win an NCAA team title till May 11, when the ladies’s water polo team defeated Southern California. Women’s rowing added a second title just a few weeks later.
Dynasties throughout the dynasty
The 50-year streak incorporates a number of of the longest single-sport championship runs at school historical past.
- Women’s tennis: Six consecutive titles (1986–91).
- Men’s gymnastics: Five titles in six seasons (2019, 2021–24; no championship was held in 2020).
- Women’s swimming and diving: Five consecutive titles (1992–96).
- Men’s tennis: Four consecutive titles (1995–98).
- Teams with three-peat runs: Men’s soccer (2015-17), males’s swimming and diving (1985-87 and 1992-94), girls’s swimming and diving (2017-19), males’s tennis (1988-90).
Stanford leads all of faculty sports activities in whole NCAA team championships
With 138 NCAA team championships throughout 20 sports activities, Stanford holds the all-time report. The tables under present the place Stanford stands amongst all colleges in whole titles and within the variety of packages to attain the feat.
Top 10: Most NCAA team championships (all-time, all divisions)
| Rank | School | Total Titles | Unique Sports |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford | 138 | 20 |
| 2 | UCLA | 126 | 21 |
| 3 | Southern California | 115 | 17 |
| 4 | Kenyon | 62 | 3 |
| 5 | Texas | 61 | 14 |
| 6 | Abilene Christian | 57 | 6 |
| 6 | Penn State | 57 | 10 |
| 8 | Oklahoma State | 55 | 5 |
| 9 | Arkansas | 53 | 7 |
| 10 | North Carolina | 52 | 8 |
| 10 | Wisconsin-La Crosse | 52 | 7 |
UCLA’s girls’s basketball championship earlier this month added one other distinctive team championship for the Bruins to interrupt a tie within the class with Stanford for many within the NCAA.
Top 10: Schools which have received NCAA team titles in probably the most sports activities
| Rank | School | Unique Sports | Total Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCLA | 21 | 126 |
| 2 | Stanford | 20 | 138 |
| 3 | Southern California | 17 | 115 |
| 4 | Florida | 15 | 44 |
| 5 | Texas | 14 | 61 |
| 6 | Ohio State | 12 | 32 |
| 7 | Williams | 11 | 38 |
| 7 | California State University, Northridge | 11 | 30 |
| 7 | Arizona State | 11 | 25 |
| 10 | Penn State | 10 | 57 |
| 10 | California | 10 | 43 |
| 10 | Michigan | 10 | 37 |
| 10 | Virginia | 10 | 36 |
Outlier: The one Stanford program to win an NCAA championship outdoors of this 50-year streak? Men’s basketball, which received the 1942 championship
Notable athletes who competed on championship Stanford groups
Many of probably the most acknowledged names in sports activities have Stanford championship banners on their résumés. Below is a have a look at just a few of the numerous standout Stanford alums who competed on NCAA title-winning Cardinal groups throughout the streak.
Women’s swimming and diving
- Katie Ledecky: A member of the 2017 and 2018 NCAA championship groups, Ledecky is probably the most embellished American feminine Olympic swimmer of all time with 14 Olympic medals, together with 9 gold.
- Simone Manuel: A member of the 2017 and 2018 NCAA championship groups, Manuel turned the primary Black American girl to win an particular person Olympic gold in swimming, ending in a tie for first within the 100-meter freestyle in 2016.
Men’s swimming and diving
- Pablo Morales: A member of the 1985, 1986 and 1987 NCAA championship groups, Morales received Olympic gold within the 100-meter butterfly on the 1992 Olympics. Morales additionally was a member of the 1985 and 1986 nationwide championship groups in males’s water polo.
Men’s tennis
- John McEnroe: A member of the 1978 NCAA championship team in his lone collegiate season, McEnroe additionally received the person singles title and went on to win seven Grand Slam singles titles as knowledgeable.
- Bob and Mike Bryan: Members of the 1997 and 1998 NCAA championship groups, the dual brothers mixed for 119 ATP doubles titles.
Women’s soccer
- Naomi Girma: A member of the 2019 NCAA championship team, Girma scored the penalty kick within the title-clinching shootout in opposition to North Carolina. She received an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in 2024.
Women’s water polo
- Maggie Steffens: A member of the 2014, 2015 and 2017 NCAA championship groups, Steffens earned match Most Outstanding Player honors in each 2015 and 2017. She’s a three-time Olympic gold medalist (2012, 2016, 2020) and the all-time main scorer in Olympic girls’s water polo historical past.
Women’s basketball
- Jennifer Azzi: A member of the 1990 NCAA championship team, Azzi was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. She received an Olympic gold medal in 1996 and was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
Men’s gymnastics
- Brody Malone: A member of the 2019, 2021 and 2022 NCAA championship groups, successful the person all-around title in 2019 and 2021, Malone additionally helped Team USA win an Olympic bronze medal within the team occasion in 2024.
Baseball
- Mike Mussina: A member of the 1988 NCAA championship team as a freshman, Mussina went on to an 18-year MLB profession and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.