With 2023 coming to a close, we looked back on all the great accomplishments of the year. LR student-athletes and teams accomplished so much in the calendar year and her are the top 10 stories. Without further ado, let's get into the countdown. 

#10 Record-Breaking Year for the Bears Club
In an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience, the Bears Club continued to reach new heights in 2023. The Athletic Department brought in over $2.5 million in external annual revenue, thanks in large part to the record $1,229,052 in Bears Club revenue. Annual sponsorship revenue also set a new record for the department at $981,000.

In addition to Homecoming weekend, 176 golfers played in the 35th annual Hanley H. Painter Bear Memorial Golf Tournament and 450 attended the Homecoming Kick Off event at Blowing Rock Draft House. The Bear Memorial Golf outing along with the silent auction brought in $141,00, a new record for that event. Homecoming was highlighted by a sellout crowd of 7,346 for a 47-3 win over Barton. 

One of the marquee Bears Club events was a first time celebration that was a huge success in 2023. In the spring, the first BeaRaPalooza was launched around the football spring game and a multiude of home spring events. In total, the event raised over $185k in support of the LR student-athlete experience along with scholarships. Bears Give Back Day saw $116,668 donated to athletics from 242 different donors. The spring raffle broke a record for the most ticket sales at 510 from 378 different people and money raised at $51,000.

#9 Continued Growth in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Lenoir-Rhyne kicked off its "United We Roar" campaign in February in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of Title IX and women in sports. Throughout the month, student-athletes warmed up in "United We Roar" t-shirts for games and phone wallets were also given out. In order to receive a t-shirt, LR student-athletes had to first sign a pledge which hangs in the lobby. Also, speaker Nevin Capel, a DEI expert whose modules were studied and discussed by LR Athletic Administration, presented to all LR student-athletes in the gym on developing inclusive leadership. The initiatives expanded to mental health in the fall with noted speaker Doug Middleton who embarked on a mission to raise awareness of the the importance of taking care of one's mental health, concentrating on the African-American community and student athletes. To that end, he founded Dream the Impossible with the goal  to de-stigmatize mental health and help others understand that a person's mental. LR also partnered with the SAC on a week-long mental wellness initiative with partners from Mrogran's Message and Courtex Performance. Continuing on with the mental health theme, the DEI Committee offered Guided Yoga and Meditation and the first-ever "Puppy Play Day" where the LR community was invited to play and hang out with the athletic staff's pups. 

#8 Championship Run from Women's Basketball
The women's hoops start to the season made the list last year as they had a 13-game winning streak from the season opener to the end of December but they continued that hot start and the finish of the season earns a spot in the yearly top 10. The Bears would finish the regular season with 21 wins overall and would move into SAC Tournament play. LR easily dispatched of Tusculum 80-56 in the Quarterfinal to move on to Timmons Arena in Greenvville for the Semifinals. Taking on nationally-ranked Catawba -- a team that would go on to the Final Four -- the Bears earned a 68-63 win over the top seed in the tournament to move to the championship. The Bears would beat Anderson for a third time, this time a 63-59 results, to claim the third SAC Tournament Title in program history and the first since 2009. Emily Harman won the Tournament MVP award and the Bears would go on to earn the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. 

#7 Women's Soccer Grabs Three Trophies
It was an amazing year for the LR Women's Soccer Team. The program went 22 games without losing, starting 17-0-5. The Bears won the SAC Regular Season crown with a 2-1 win at Catawba in the regular season finale. The Bears would go on to top Catawba in PK's in the SAC Tournament to grab a second championship and then defeated the Indians in the Regional Final to win the NCAA Southeast Region Championship. LR earned the first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in program history and had the SAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in Elin Hansson and Ria Acton. Dean Ward was also named the SAC and Regional Coach of the Year. 

#6 Run to National Semifinal for Football
The LR Football Team had a season for the ages in 2023. The Bears tied a program record with 13 wins and went to the National Semifinal game, just the second appearance in the National Semifinal since the Bears made the jump to NCAA play in 1990. The Bears won the Piedmont Division crown with a win over Catawba and then claimed the SAC Championship by throttling Tusculum 48-7. LR also captured the Super Region Two Championship when they defeated Valdosta St. 35-7 in a driving rain storm. LR had a pair of All-Americans in Jon Ross Maye and DeAree Rogers and the SAC Coach of the Year in Mike Jacobs. The Bears would fall to eventual National Champion Harding in the Semifinal and finished the season ranked No. 4 nationally, the second-highest ranking to finish a season in the NCAA era for the Bears. 

#5 Record Finish in Learfield Directors' Cup
The Learfield Directors' Cup measures excellence in NCAA Postseason play where athletic departments are awarded points based on finishes of individual teams at NCAA Championships. The Bears broke a record in the final standings of 2023 which were released in June. The Bears finished 12th after the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, by far the best finish in program history. However, LR has gone and topped itself in the same calendar year. At the conclusion of the fall season, the Bears placed sixth overall in the Learfield Directors' Cup as all seven teams made postseason play. With a trip to the National Semifinal, the LR Football team brought home 83 points while the Women's Soccer team garnered 73 points for their trip to the National Quarterfinal. Women's Cross Country earned LR 27 points with Sabrina Fleig's strong showing and each of men's soccer and volleyball earned 25 points. 

#4 Off The Field Excellence
As much success as the Bears had on the field in 2023, they had even more so in the classroom. The LR Men's Lacrosse Team not only won a National Championship but they also had the highest team GPA of any NCAA Division II men's lacrosse program. LR broke a school record with eight SAC Scholar-Athletes of the Year and Myles Moffat would go on to win his second straight SAC President's Award. Men's Swimming also posted the highest GPA of ll DII men's swimming programs. The department also set a record with a cumulative team GPA of 3.40 with 123 student-athletes having a perfect GPA and over 500 having a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The Bears also finished in the top 20 in community service hours for the fifth straight year.

#3 Alexis Brown's Individual National Championship
It was a record-breaking season for both the Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field teams in 2023. The season was highlighted by an individual National Championship from Alexis Brown in the 200m dash at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships. Brown posted the fastest time in the history of the Indoor Championships with a time of 23.26 seconds. Brown would go on to earn a National Runner Up honor in the 100m dash at the Outdoor Championships. Brown earned SAC Freshman of the Year honors in both indoor & outdoor. As a program. LR Track and Field sent 18 combined athletes to the NCAA Championships. The men's 4x400 relay team finished third at Outdoor Nationals and Jacob Wadsworth took home 4^th in the Heptathlon at Indoor Nationals. Dario Matau earned National Runner Up at the Outdoor Championships ni the 200m dash and the Indoor Championship in the 60m and 200m. 

#2 Triathlon Wins Second Straight National Championship
For the second straight year, the LR Women's Triathlon Team won a USAT National Championship. The Bears recorded a team score of 847, which outperformed the likes of Wingate and Colorado Mesa, which finished second and third, respectively, with scores of 753 and 723.  Sabrina Fleig led the way for the Bears as she finished with the best time amongst Division II participants with a 1:04:35.6 posting. Fleig tallied the fifth-best time across all divisions in the running portion of the race with a 18:10-second performance. The All-Region Freshman of the Year Zoila Sicilia recorded the second-best time amongst LR participants with a 1:06:17.3 result. Following a second-place finish at the East Regional, Eliska Rihova secured the sixth-best time amongst Division II participants with a 1:07:43.5 result. The sophomore's best section was the running portion of the event, where she finished fifth in Division II with a time of 19:34 seconds. The fourth fastest LR participant was Claudia Teran-Romagosa who finished eighth amongst all Division II participants with a time of 1:09:00.1. Rounding out the top five finishers for Lenoir-Rhyne was Teresa Vesely, who finished with a time of 1:09:58.8.

#1 Men's Lacrosse Wins National Championship
The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Lacrosse Team became the first-ever five seed to go on to win the National Championship in Division II history. The Bears won four games away from home and traveled over 1,900 miles to capture the title. The team became just the second men's program in the history of LR Athletics to win a National Championship, joining the 1960 Football Team. LR dominated Mercyhurst in the National Title game, winning by a final of 20-5 and were up 14-1 at halftime. The 15-goal margin of victory was the second-largest in NCAA Division II National Championship history. Evan Voss would capture the Most Outstanding Player award and LR won its last three tournament  games by a combined margin of 28 goals. Rob Pensabene made 56 saves in the NCAA Tournament, one shy of the record which stood since 1977. Relive the moments at lrbears.com/champs.