{"id":34805,"date":"2026-06-18T10:26:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=34805"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:27:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:27:16","slug":"necc-ranked-top-njcaa-athletic-program-in-new-england-for-second-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/06\/18\/necc-ranked-top-njcaa-athletic-program-in-new-england-for-second-year\/","title":{"rendered":"NECC Ranked Top NJCAA Athletic Program in New England for Second Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Haverhill, MA (June 18, 2026) \u2014 For the fourth straight year, the Northern Essex Community College athletic program has climbed higher in the final standings of the NATYCAA Ron Case Cup presented by Daktronics, finishing 12<sup>th<\/sup> overall in the non-scholarship division.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2004, the Ron Case Cup has recognized excellence in two-year college athletics based on championship competition. The Knights&#8217; 12th-place\u00a0finish marks the highest finish ever by a community or junior college in New England in the 23 years the cup has been awarded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe 2025-26 athletic seasons for the Knights were truly rewarding and showed the tireless efforts of our student-athletes and coaches, along with the continued success and growth of the entire athletic program. I\u2019d like to thank the college\u2019s administration for their continued support of the program,&#8221; said NECC Athletic Director <span data-markjs=\"true\">Dan<\/span> <span data-markjs=\"true\">Blair.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In each of the previous three years, NECC has finished higher than the year before, finishing 18<sup>th<\/sup> in 2025, 23<sup>rd<\/sup> in 2024 and 30<sup>th<\/sup> in 2023.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 2025-26 academic year, the Knights scored a program-best 54 points, highlighted by the men\u2019s basketball team capturing the school\u2019s first-ever national championship in March. NECC also picked up cup points in baseball (4<sup>th<\/sup> place), men\u2019s soccer (5<sup>th<\/sup> place) and women\u2019s track and field (19<sup>th<\/sup> place).<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RCSJ-Gloucester won the trophy for the third consecutive year, which was awarded at the annual NACDA Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about athletics at Northern Essex, visit the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.neccknights.com\/landing\/index\">webpage<\/a>\u00a0or contact Athletics Director\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:dblair@necc.mass.edu\">Dan Blair<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (June 18, 2026) \u2014 For the fourth straight year, the Northern Essex Community College athletic program has climbed higher in the final standings of the NATYCAA Ron Case [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":32778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,758,16,17,20],"tags":[75,80,84,85,776,743,640],"class_list":["post-34805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-headline","category-press-releases","category-programs","category-students","tag-athletics","tag-awards","tag-baseball","tag-basketball","tag-champions","tag-track","tag-volleyball"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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