DIVISION II MEN'S NATIONAL INTERCOLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Division II Men’s National Intercollegiate Championship tournament is part of the United States Polo Association's Intercollegiate/Interscholastic (I/I) polo program, which is dedicated to growing the sport by providing maximum exposure, recruiting collegiate and scholastic institutions, coordinating activities and organizing competition. Supporting this mission, the I/I program has experienced tremendous growth in recent years.
Developed from a targeted initiative to grow collegiate polo, the USPA and I/I leadership groups divided the intercollegiate system into Division I and Division II polo, leading to an increase in the number of emerging teams competing in spring tournaments and the number of competitive games at every level.
Division assignments are based on the strength of teams as determined by rosters, a team’s regular season scores and the strength of their schedule. In addition, women’s and men’s teams from the same school are not required to play in the same division, allowing teams to participate at an appropriate level. Teams are able to move back and forth between the divisions from year to year to accommodate for student matriculation and annual roster changes.
First played for in 2022, Babson College claimed back-to-back victories (2022, 2023), followed by Cornell University etching its name onto the trophy in 2024.
In 2024, Northeastern Regional winners Cornell University (Eduardo Palacios-Garcia, Patricio Fraga-Errecart, Benito Jaramillo, Michael Lovier) went head-to-head against Southeastern Regional victors Georgetown University (Ford Middendorf, Hamilton “Max” Gundlach, Benedikt Jaenecke, Muhammad Bin Talal, Alfonso Pla Zobel de Ayala) at Central Coast Polo Club in Los Osos, California. Despite trailing in the opening chukker, Cornell’s ability to capitalize from the penalty line combined with a powerful fourth chukker, rewarded the team’s balanced offensive efforts to earn Big Red’s first Division II Men’s National Intercollegiate Championship victory, 14-10. Read article here.
Relocating to the East Coast and hosted by Cornell Polo Club in Ithaca, New York, reigning champions Cornell University (Northeastern Region) will defend its title on home turf, as Babson College (At-Large Selection) seeks a return to the podium for the third time in four years. Rounding out the talented competition, California Polytechnic State University (Western Region), Texas Tech University (Central Region) and the University of Kentucky (Southeastern Region) will each vie for its first Division II Men's National Intercollegiate Championship title.
Photo: 2024 Division II Men's National Intercollegiate Championship Winner: Cornell University - Michael Lovier, Benito Jaramillo, Patricio Fraga-Errecart, Eduardo Palacios-Garcia. ©Kaile Roos
