UNC announces 2026 Patterson Medal winners

STANFORD, CA - OCTOBER 04: North Carolina Tar Heels forward Ryleigh Heck (12) celebrates North Carolina Tar Heels defender/midfielder Katie Dixon (14)'s goal during a match between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Stanford Cardinal on October 4, 2024 at Varsity Field Hockey Turf in Stanford, CA. (Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Between all the different awards across the different college sports, plus even school specific things like North Carolina’s Rammy Awards, there are a lot of different pieces of hardware Tar Heel athletes can win. Just purely as far as the university itself goes, the most prestigious is their Patterson Medal, which honors athletes across their entire UNC careers. Earlier this week, Carolina announced this year’s honorees : tennis’ Reese Brantmeier, baseball’s Jason DeCaro, and field hockey’s Ryleigh Heck.

Brantmeier is a dual national champion at UNC, helping the Tar Heels win the NCAA team championship in 2023, but she also won on an individual level in 2025. In addition, she was part of several other ACC-winning Carolina teams, and won a host of other honors individually too. In 2023, a team of her and Elizabeth Scotty came runner-up in doubles at NCAAs, falling to UNC teammates Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig in a three-set match.

DeCaro was a star pitcher for this past year’s UNC baseball team that made it to the finals of the College World Series. He was part of the team that made it to Omaha in 2024 as well, and won the ACC Tournament with the 2025 Diamond Heels. He finished his Carolina career with a 26-7 record and a 3.46 ERA and was named an All-American this past season. Just a couple weeks ago, he was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the MLB Draft, and has signed with them.

Last but not least, Heck was part of the 2023 NCAA Championship-winning field hockey team, scoring the game-winning shootout goal in a season in which she also won the National Player of the Year award. Like her coach, Erin Matson, Heck was named an All-American four times in her career and made it to at least the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament four times. Thanks to her NPOY award win, her #12 will be retired by UNC field hockey.

The Patterson Medal has been won by a “who’s who” list of athletes from throughout Carolina athletics history. Past winners include Mia Hamm, Tyler Hansbrough, Lawrence Taylor, and so many more from across the sports horizon. Michael Jordan is, funnily enough, one of the few big names who hadn’t been honored, but at the time, you had to play four seasons at UNC to receive the honor. These days, that number is only three , in light of more and more players going professional earlier.

Congratulations to this year’s winners on joining an impressive list of all-time greats!

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