NJC celebrates championships and classroom success across athletics program
NJC paired a 3.25 department GPA with 98 Region IX Academic honorees, while volleyball finished third nationally after a 34-4 season.
Northeastern Junior College said its athletics department posted a 3.25 cumulative GPA across 189 student-athletes in 2025-26, tying one of Sterling’s most visible championship years to classroom performance. The department also reported 98 Region IX Academic student-athletes, 65 NJCAA Academic All-Americans and 23 perfect 4.0 GPAs, with seven of the college’s 10 athletic programs earning All-Region Academic Team honors.
The clearest example came from volleyball. The Plainswomen won the Region IX South Championship and the Region IX Tournament title, then finished third at the NJCAA National Tournament after beating Weatherford College in the third-place match on Nov. 24, 2025, in Clarksville, Tennessee. NJC’s volleyball page says the team had already taken down Casper College in the Region IX title match on Nov. 8, 2025, in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, finished the year 34-4 and spent part of the season ranked No. 4 in the NJCAA Division I poll.
That success reached beyond the scoreboard. The volleyball roster produced 10 All-Region Academic student-athletes and six NJCAA Academic All-Americans, including three players with perfect 4.0 GPAs. Women’s soccer added 12 Region IX Academic honors and 10 NJCAA Academic All-Americans, while men’s soccer collected 14 Region IX Academic honors and 10 NJCAA Academic All-Americans. Women’s golf also added academic recognition as it continued building its roster.
The numbers matter in Logan County because student-athletes now make up about 11% of NJC’s total enrollment, and the college says that share has risen steadily over the last five years. In Sterling, that makes athletics part of the college’s academic profile as much as its public face on game day.
The athletic department is also moving through a leadership transition. Marci Henry retired as athletic director in May 2026 and shifted to head beach volleyball coach, while Eddie Trenkle, who had coached men’s basketball since 2006, was promoted to athletic director. NJC announced beach volleyball as a new sport for the 2026-27 academic year on May 26, 2026.
The current results followed another strong academic year in 2024-25, when NJC said 72 student-athletes earned Region 9 Academic honors, 45 earned NJCAA All-Academic honors and six teams won NJCAA Academic Team GPA awards. Men’s soccer led that year with a 3.3 team GPA, reinforcing a pattern that has become central to how NJC measures success in Sterling.
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