Stanford athletics hits historic 50-year streak of national championships

Stanford athletics added to a remarkable streak on Saturday.

The Cardinal men's gymnastics team won the 2026 National Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Championships in Champaign, Illinois, to continue the longest streak in NCAA history, with the university having one team winning a national title in the NCAA team championship in 50 straight academic years.

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The streak dates back to Nov. 28, 1976, when the Cardinal men's water polo team defeated UCLA 13-12 for a national championship. The streak includes 126 national championships across 19 unique sports.

The national championship in men's gymnastics was the 11th in program history, with eight of them coming under current head coach Thom Glielmi.

Stanford's 50-year streak is the longest in NCAA history, well ahead of Kenyon, which had a 31-year streak between 1979 and 2010 across three sports. Penn State, which won 13 championships between 2006 and 2019 across six sports, was the last active streak outside of Stanford.

With 138 total national championships in 20 unique sports, Stanford extended its lead over UCLA (126 in 21 sports) for the most in college sports history. The 20 team titles are also second to the Bruins' 21 team titles for the most ever.

Stanford's 50 straight years with national titles by numbers

During the run for the Cardinal, 19 different programs have won at least one title, while six have won 10 or more during the run. Women's tennis has won 20 team titles in the last 50 years. Men's tennis has 15 in that span.

In the 2018-2019 and 1996-97 academic years, the Cardinal won six titles in the same year. In 1996, 2003 and 2019, Stanford won multiple titles on the same day in multiple sports.

While the Cardinal have had multiple championships in a single academic year, there have been years where one sport saves the day with the lone championship in the season. Here's a look at the years the streak was saved by one sport.

• **Women's tennis:**5 (1983-84, 1990-91, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2012-13)
• **Men's tennis:**2 (1977-78, 1979-80)
• **Women's cross-country:**1 (2007-08)
• **Men's swimming and diving:**1 (1984-85)