RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – On Tuesday, the Great American Conference announced the finalized standings of the league's President's Trophy and Commissioner's Cup for the 2025-26 year of competition. In those standings, Arkansas Tech Athletics placed second in both, marking the highest finish in an unaltered athletic year since 2016-17.
The President's Trophy standings are determined by the percentage of points a school can score based on the sports they sponsor. The Commissioner's Cup on the other hand, is based on the cumulative points available across the 14 sports that are sponsored by the GAC.
Tech totaled 91 points in the Commissioner's Cup and 75.21% in the President's Trophy standings.
"This past year was a tremendous one for Arkansas Tech Athletics all around," said ATU director of athletics, Abby Davis. "Our student-athletes, coaches and staff worked so hard and intentionally this past year and the end results reflect that effort. To have a four-spot jump in the standings in one year and our best finish since 2016-2017 is very impressive."
"A great showing from our fall sports sparked university and community pride that endured and grew throughout the year," added Davis. "From increased attendance across all sports, winning six conference championships and the opening of the state-of-the-art Cindi and Jimmy Ferguson Student Union, Arkansas Tech University continues to elevate its place within the GAC and the region."
In the fall, ATU saw women's cross country capture their first-ever conference championship back in late October. First-year head coaches
Hannah Wuest (volleyball) and
Roy Thompson (football) made immediate impacts on their programs.
Volleyball finished tied for fourth-place in the conference standings with an 11-5 record. The 11 conference wins were a six-match improvement over the year prior and the most since the 2021 season. In football, the Wonder Boys put together the first winning season since 2017 and finished the regular season 7-4 to earn an invite to the Heritage Bowl Powered by Riot and played against (rv) West Texas A&M.
Spanning both the fall and spring semesters, ATU's men's and women's basketball programs combined for 12 of the overall points earned. Highlighting that portion of the athletic year were the Golden Suns, who finished tied for second place in conference play in what was the final year on the sidelines of legendary head coach Dave Wilbers.
Building on the momentum gained by the fall and winter sports, spring sports at Tech took the torch and dominated the league, winning five conference championships, elevating them to their runner-up finish in both the President's Trophy and Commissioner's Cup standings.
Men's and women's golf, baseball and women's tennis each won their respective tournament championships while softball won the regular season outright.
