West Point Team Handball

West Point Team Handball is a handball club from West Point, New York, United States. They are the handball team of the United States Military Academy. They play with four teams at various competitions. There are two teams for each gender. The West Point Black team (men and women) is the first team and the West Point Gold team (men and women) is the second team. They have won the most College National Championships in their collegiate league with the men's team winning 40 College National Championships, with their 18th consecutive College National Championship in 2026 at North Carolina State University. Three past members have competed in the Summer Olympics for Team USA to include Peter Lash (’81) - 1984 & 1988 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and Korea; LTC (R) Craig Gilbert (’78) - 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and Mike Thornberry (’93) - 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Many other players have competed for the USA National Team to include Mark Miller ('24) and Gary Phillips ('25).^[1]

Location of West Point Team Handball

FullnameWest Point Team Handball

ShortnameWPTHB

Founded1976

ArenaArvin Gymnasium

Quick facts Full name, Short name ...

West Point Team Handball

Full name	West Point Team Handball
Short name	WPTHB
Founded	1976
Arena	Arvin Gymnasium
Head coach	MAJ Coree Aten
Captain	Owen Rodgers and Samuel Neaves
League	The Northeast Team Handball League
Club colours
Website Official site

Close

Accomplishments

Nationals:
- Men's Elite:
  - Bronze : 2014^[2]
  - Silver : 2007^[3]
- Men's Open / Division I:
  - Bronze : 1998
  - Gold : 2006^[4]
  - Silver : 2014^[2]
- Men's Division II:
  - Bronze : 2017^[5]
College Nationals:
- Men:
  - Gold : 1976, 1979–1982, 1985–1987, 1989–1993, 1995–2001, 2003, 2007–2019, 2022–2026
  - Silver : 2002–2006, 2010–2013, 2015–2016
- Bronze : 2024–2025
- Women:
  - Gold : 1980, 1990–1991, 1996, 1999–2003, 2005–2007, 2012–2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026
  - Silver : 2009–2011, 2022, 2025
  - Bronze : 2000, 2002, 2006 2010, 2015–2017, 2024
Northeast Team Handball League
- Men's Division I:
  - Silver : 2012/2013, 2013/14, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2022, 2023
  - Bronze : 2009/2010, 2011/12, 2014/15
- Women's Division:
  - Gold : 2014/2015
Carolina Blue Cup (men) : 6
- Gold : 1991, 1992, 1998, 2009, 2010, 2024
- Silver : 1993, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2016
- Bronze : 1994, 2000, 2007, 2011, 2023

More information Season, Coach ...

Head coaches

Season	Coach	Seasons	College Nationals Titles	%
1975–1978	CPT James J. Thome Sr.	3/6	1/4	33/75
1978–1979	LTC Gert Evert	1	1	100
1979–1981	CPT Terry Freeman	2/3	2/3	100/100
1981–1983	MAJ Bob Asiello	2	1	50
1983–1985	MAJ Jim Johnston	2	1	50
1985–1986	MAJ Terry Freeman (2)	1/3	1/3	100/100
1986–1988	MAJ Howard Barton	2	1	50
1988–1991	LTC James J. Thome Sr. (2)	3/6	3/4	100/75
1991–1992	MAJ John Turner	1	1	100
1992–1993	MAJ Bill Nanry	1	1	100
1993–1994	MAJ Rollie Jacobs	1	0	0
1994–1996	MAJ Bill Rapp	2	1	50
1996–1997	MAJ Greg Wise	1	1	100
1997–1998	MAJ Mike Endres	1	1	100
1998–2000	CPT Jonathan Negin	2	2	100
2000–2002	MAJ Kevin Volk	2	1	50
2002–2004	MAJ Darren Smith	2	1	50
2004–2005	MAJ Kyle Simpson	1	0	0
2005–2008	CPT Chris Springer	3	2	67
2008–2009	MAJ Travis Habhab	1	1	100
2009–2010	MAJ Adam Hodges	1	1	100
2010–2012	MAJ Michael Tilton	2	2	100
2012–2014	MAJ Harry Terzic	2	2	100
2014–2016	CPT Reginald Shelton	2	2	100
2016–2018	CPT Jonathan Harmeling	2	2	100
2018–2021	SFC Eric Lawson	3	1^{[* 1]}	100
2021-2024	MAJ Craig Champlin	3	3	100
2024-2026	MAJ Dylan Hyde	2	2	100
2026-	MAJ Coree Aten	-	-	-

Was a captain and coach of the West Point Team Handball

Was a player and coach of the West Point Team Handball

[1]
2020 and 2021 edition were cancelled due to Covid. Therefore, Eric Lawson won 100% of the possible College Nationals.

Source:^[6]

Captains

Season	Captain	College Nationals
1975–76	Marty Wisda	1st Place: 1976
1978-77	Mike Harwood	Attended: 1977
1977–78	Joe James	Attended: 1978
1978–79	Mike Clark	1st Place: 1979
1979–80	Mark House	1st Place: 1980
1980–81	Jim Kons	1st Place: 1981
1981–82	Mark Condry	1st Place: 1982
1982–83	Brad Elrod
1983–84	Bill Rapp
1984–85	Rick Oleksyk	1st Place: 1985
1985–86	Mike Endres	1st Place: 1986
1986–87	Ross Brown	1st Place: 1987
1987–88	Joe Chatfield	1st Place: 1988
1988–89	Chip Anderson	1st Place: 1989
1989–90	Kevin Hucthinson	1st Place: 1990
1990–91	Rhett Nichol	1st Place: 1991
1991–92	H. Huthison	1st Place: 1992
1992–93	JT Thome	1st Place: 1993
1993–94	R. Heine
1994–95		1st Place: 1995
1995–96		1st Place: 1996
1996–97	David Borden	1st Place: 1997
1997–98	Jonathan Hartley	1st Place: 1998
1998–99	J. Kohowski	1st Place: 1999
1999-00	Frank Wendt	1st Place: 2000
2000–01	Mike Gilmartin	1st Place: 2001
2001–02	Adam Clements	2nd Place: 2002
2002–03	Kurtis Bennett	1st Place: 2003
2003–04	Tim Lawrence	2nd Place: 2004
2004–05		2nd Place: 2005
2005–06	Alex Deep	2nd Place: 2006
2006–07	Alex Mullin	1st Place: 2007
2007–08	Jonathan Harmeling	1st Place: 2008
2008–09	Brian Walsh	1st Place: 2009
2009–10	Jason Borchik & Pat Saxby	1st Place: 2010
2010–11	Adam Moore, Marc Beaudoin, & Rickey Royal	1st Place: 2011
2011–12	Mark Conard & Greg Ayers	1st Place: 2012
2012–13	Craig Champlin & Ian Emory	1st Place: 2013
2013–14	Andrew College & Sean Boyle	1st Place: 2014
2014–15	Coree Aten & Connor Holt	1st Place: 2015
2015–16	Alec Zeck & Corinth Cross	1st Place: 2016
2016–17	Paul Palmer	1st Place: 2017
2017–18	Nick Scheblar	1st Place: 2018
2018–19	Nick Webster	1st Place: 2019
2019–20	Rob Purdy	No tournament due to COVID-19
2020–21	Ryan Thistlewood & Nathan Chilian	No tournament due to COVID-19
2021–22	Chris Frazier & Will Considine	1st Place: 2022
2022–23	Colin Gray & Spencer Knudsen	1st Place: 2023
2023–24	Mark Miller & Ethan Flege	1st Place: 2024
2024–25	Gary Phillips & Aidan Halloran	1st Place: 2025
2025–26	Jamison Uptgraft & Caden Uptgraft	1st Place: 2026
2026–27	Owen Rodgers & Samuel Neaves

Source:^[7]

Close

Rankings

2017–18

More information Month 1, Month 2 ...

		Month 1	Month 2	Month 3	Month 4	Month 5	Month 6 Final
Black	Men's	7	7	7	11	10	7
Black	College	*	1 (9)	*	1 (8)	1 (7)	1 (5)
Gold	Men's	20	NR	NR	NR	NR	24
Gold	College	*	NR	*	5т	NR	3

Close

2018–19

More information Month 1, Month 2 ...

		Month 1	Month 2	Month 3
Black	Men's	6	6	7
	College	1 (7)	1 (7)	1 (6)
	Women's	NV	NR	NR
Gold	Men's	17	22 т	NR
Gold	College	NV	NV	NV

Close

* No Ranking was released.

**Legend**
		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
		No change in ranking from previous week
NR		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of men's poll or Top 5 College poll
т		Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

Current roster

More information Number, Name ...

Number	Name	Year	Position
1	Caden Uptgraft	Senior	Center back
19	Reid Wesley	Senior	Pivot
3	Cooper Johnson	Junior	Left wing
7	Jacob Johnson	Junior	Right wing
21	Owen Rodgers	Junior	Right back
5	Sam Orcutt	Junior	Right back
28	Liam Gilfillan	Senior	Goalie
10	Jamison Uptgraft	Senior	Left back
4	Jack Kendrick	Senior	Pivot
6	Kalev Kilgast	Junior	Left back
24	Sam Neaves	Junior	Center back
22	Tyson Smith	Sophomore	Right wing
11	Toby Thompson	Junior	Pivot
16	Thomas Nicholson	Junior	Center back

Close

West Point Team Handball

Accomplishments

Head coaches

Captains

Rankings

2017–18

2018–19

Current roster

References

External links

Related Articles