LA CROSSE, Wis. – Six members of the St. Olaf College men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the UW-La Crosse Final Qualifier in their final attempts to qualify for the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships on Wednesday evening at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.

Junior Ignatius Fitzgerald, senior Andrew Skemp, junior Lance Nemecek, junior Cullen Moore, and sophomore Max Albertson were in action from the men’s team, while junior Lauren Walda was the lone participant from the women’s team.

After sitting 10th entering the final lap, Fitzgerald ran 58.76-second split on the final lap to win the 1,500-meter run in 3:48.55, which ranks fifth on St. Olaf’s all-time list in the event. The time was a PR of over two seconds and ranks 26th in the country this season. Skemp concluded his career with a 25th-place finish (4:06.92) in just the third time running the event in his career.

Nemecek and Moore both placed in the top four in the 800-meter run, with Nemecek finishing second (1:51.86) and Moore fourth (1:52.87). Entering the meet, the time to crack the top 22 in the country in the event was 1:50.62.

Albertson posted an eighth-place finish in the long jump with a mark of 6.89 meters (22′ 7 ¼”) after needing to jump at least 7.24 meters to break into the top 22.

Walda was the lone runner in the 5,000-meter run and recorded a time of 17:59.32.

The qualifiers for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be announced on Friday, May 16 by 7 p.m. CT via press release on NCAA.com. The national meet will be held at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio from May 22-24.

 

CITY SECTION BOYS VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

SEMIFINALS

DIVISION II

#1 VAAS d. #4 Fairfax, 25-21, 25-19, 25-18

#2 Mendez d. #3 Banning, 25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 26-24

DIVISION III

#1 East Valley d. #4 SOCES, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-21

#7 Maywood CES d. #19 San Fernando, 3-2

DIVISION IV

#8 Hamilton d. #5 Animo Venice, 25-13, 29-27, 25-20

#10 Port of Los Angeles d. #11 University Prep Value, 25-19, 22-25, 28-26, 19-25, 15-10

DIVISION V

#1 Wilson d. #4 Animo South Los Angeles, 25-21, 25-16, 25-18

#3 Harbor Teacher d. #2 Dorsey, 25-21, 26-24, 25-20

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

FINALS

At Birmingham

DIVISION I

#2 Carson vs. #1 Taft, 7:30 p.m.

DIVISION III

#7 Maywood CES vs. #1 East Valley, 5 p.m.

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

FINALS

At Birmingham

OPEN DIVISION

#3 El Camino Real vs. #1 Venice, 6 p.m.

DIVISION II

#1 Valley Academy of Arts & Sciences vs. #2 Mendez, 3:15 p.m.

DIVISION IV

#10 Port of Los Angeles vs. #8 Hamilton, 12:30 p.m.

DIVISION V

#3 Harbor Teacher vs. #1 Wilson, 10 a.m.

TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona Athletics held its annual Student-Athlete Graduation Celebration on Thursday in the McKale Center, recognizing the 104 student-athletes that have earned degrees from the University of Arizona.

The class includes graduates from 64 different states or countries, 63 unique majors, 12 student-athletes that are first generation graduates from their families and four graduates from the CATS Forever program. 

The mission of the CATS Forever program is to assist former Arizona student-athletes in fulfilling the goal of graduation for those who left school before receiving their undergraduate degree.

Please click here to read who the graduates wanted to acknowledge for helping them and supporting them during their time as a Wildcat. They also share what their plans are for after graduation. 

Below is a complete list of the graduates.

BASEBALL

Emilio Corona

Kyler Heyne

Bradon Zastrow

Garen Caulfield

Raul Garayzar

Matthew Martinez

Richard Morales

Eric Orloff

Tommy Splaine

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Luke Champion

Liam Lloyd

Caleb Love

Will Menaugh

Ajae Yoakum

CATS FOREVER

Cody Deason (Baseball)

Nick Hundley (Baseball)

TJ Nichols (Baseball)

Trevor Werbylo (Men’s Golf)

FOOTBALL

Ty Buchanan

Quali Conley

Kevon Darton

CJ Flores

Justin Flowe

Ayden Garnes

Blake Gotcher

Dalton Johnson

James “Chubba” Maae

Shancco “Ise” Matautia

Deshawn McKnight

Samuel Olson

Cash Peterman

Tiaoalii Savea

Tre Smith

Ryan Stewart

Javin “NuNu” Whatley

MEN’S GOLF

Griffin Rhoads

Johnny Walker

WOMEN’S GOLF

Carolina Melgrati

GYMNASTICS

Alysen Fears

Elizabeth LaRusso

Emily Mueller

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Brooke Blutreich

Kylee Fitzsimmons

Annie Kost

Olivia Rubio

SOCCER

Maia Brown

Marley Chappel

Megan Chelf

Nicole Dallin

Trinity Dorsey

Rikako Hayami

Nyota Katembo

Madeleine Koleno

SOFTBALL

Paige Dimler

Devyn Netz

MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING

Tate Bahti

Jack Donovan

Jadan Nabor

Mason Nyboer

Beck Parnham

Daniel Young

WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING

Maddy Ahluwalia

Stefani Beisel

Nadia Bouraoui

Stella Copeland

Alexis Duchsherer

Brooke Earley

Elizabeth Mackowiak

Amalie Mortensen

Alyssa Schwengel

MEN’S TENNIS

Inaki Cabrera Bello

Casper Christensen

Colton Smith

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Midori Castillo-Meza

Tanvi Narendran 

Belen Nevenhoven 

TRIATHLON

Laura Holanszky

Gabrielle Lemes

Lydia Russell

Eleanor Tuck

MEN’S TRACK & FIELD

Jesse Avina

Isaac Davis

Zachary Extine

Jacob Kauffman

Youssef Koudssi

Zach Landa

Brian Limage

Diego Marquez

Reinaldo Rodrigues

WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD

Malaya Abueg

Esther Akinlosotu

Jenica Bosko

Lauryn Love

Alisa Lyesina

Presley Money

Mackenna Orie

Hollan Powers

Morgan Rhett

Zana Ryan

VOLLEYBALL

Amanda DeWitt

Alayna Johnson

Ava Tortorello

Haven Wray

Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux promised that this year’s Un Certain Regard sidebar lineup would be more driven by narrative and genre than years past. Looking at Charlie Polinger‘s feature directing debut “The Plague,” he wasn’t kidding.

This harrowing, 35mm-shot story of pubescent boys tormenting each other at a water polo summer camp doubles as a coming-of-age drama and an adolescent, acne-scarred body-horror nightmare. The 12- and 13-year-olds populating its frames are all afraid of catching an imagined (or not?) contagion — let’s call it puberty — that turns their brains into “mush,” one says, and manifests with psoriasis-like lesions on their bodies. But the words and almost ritualistic humiliations they exchange (think the mocking of speech impediments and centipedes thrown into your bed at night) are even more wounding.

Polinger, an AFI Conservatory grad working with many of his fellow alumni including cinematographer Steven Breckon, based this disturbing and personal film on his own experiences as a kid at an all-boys summer sports camp, culling from his rediscovered journals to write the script. Millennials who came of age in the aughts (“The Plague” is set in summer 2003) will recognize the touchstones, from the period music references to the Capri-Suns everyone seems to be slurping. “I was leaning into the Capri-Sun, into sort of this pre-internet or very early internet age, with the kind of jokes that they make,” Polinger told IndieWire.

Joel Edgerton, who stars as the boys’ generous but out-of-his-depth coach in terms of dealing with unruly and toxic boys, initially received the script from Polinger’s agent and wanted to direct it. “I was like, ‘I really have to direct this one. It’s too special to me.’ He was just really cool about it. We ended up getting on a call. He really related to the themes, the social dynamics of these kids, and bullying, and his own experiences being a 12-year-old boy in Australia. He basically just said, look, I’m happy to produce the film and act in the film, and do anything I can to help get this made.”

Polinger and his casting director Rebecca Dealy (“Hereditary”) looked at thousands of tapes of kids to cast the right ensemble. They landed on “Griffin in Summer” star Everett Blunck as Ben, the hero of this story if there is one, and the seemingly innocent kid through whose eyes we see the film. The kind of kid who will see with his awkward, ruthlessly bullied peer who’s left alone at the cafeteria. They found Kayo Martin, who plays the camp’s freckled top bully Jake who presides over the cool-kids table with imperious authority, off social media. It’s a breakout performance for a young star.

“He felt exactly like the type of bully or character who messes with your head in a way that I feel like I haven’t seen represented in a movie or TV show very often because he’s always very understated,” Polinger said. “You never know if he’s joking or not, and it really kind of gets inside your head. He is so comfortable hanging out with adults all the time and going around New York, going to all the bagel shops and all these places [where Martin does social media pranks], and he does have a certain maturity level that can actually play very uncanny in the situation with other boys.”

There are scenes in “The Plague” that pit the child actors into adult scenarios that are, in real life, likely familiar to them. In one scene, they share sexual fantasies and talk about masturbation from across each other’s bunk beds. Directing children always comes with its own set of challenges, even with parents on set, but Polinger and his team worked with an intimacy coordinator to burrow into these most uncomfortable (but relatable) moments.

“The first day with the intimacy coordinator, we all sat around and we were talking about the scene, and she was coming at it very delicately: ‘Is this something that you guys know about?’ And they were miles ahead of her in terms of what they already knew and the jokes that they were making,” Polinger said. “It was really important to me that we were capturing that age in a real way. [The actors] were very fearless and just excited to dive into it… They were so much more mature than you would imagine.”

In terms of references for the film’s more horror-leaning later stretches, Polinger wanted to combine the feel of 1980s and aughts coming-of-age teen movies with a more genre-oriented sensibility (comparisons to “Black Swan,” eventually, are invited).

“I love those movies about boys, though I often feel like a lot of movies about young boys are either a little more sort of broey hangout or a little more nostalgic, kind of biking-around-the-suburbs type of thing,” he said. Movies like Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” and Julia Ducournau’s “Raw,” he said, “capture a social dread and vulnerability of your body and something you don’t see as much with boys because it requires a certain vulnerability to be an object of terror in that way… I was even looking at some sort of dread-filled, ‘Shining’ daylight kinds of horror movies, [with] huge imposing spaces.”

Movies about military situations, like Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” also came to mind. Even Claire Denis’ “Beau Travail,” which is “such an incredible exploration of masculinity.”

Every rising indie filmmaker these days wants to shoot on film — who doesn’t? — which can be a big upfront non-negotiable from a first-time director. But “The Plague” benefits from that celluloid touch, making the movie like a grainy memory of a bad dream. “It was pretty challenging. We had to find some additional funds to do it. We got a lot of help from Kodak. [It was] definitely hard, and especially with kids and pools and all the other variables that add more time, and having tight days. The film [aspect] just added a whole other wrench into it,” Polinger said, though “The Plague” did shoot during a sweltering summertime when the kid actors were out of school.

Shooting on film, though, he said, “just made it feel magical. We were capturing something that felt timeless and, to me, there’s no comparison. It looks so great to shoot on film, and these kids’ faces and closeups just rendered in such a beautiful way.”

“The Plague” will seek a distributor at Cannes, though Polinger already has wind in his sails with another movie lined up, and at A24: an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” starring Sydney Sweeney. “The Plague,” which Polinger wants to be seen in theaters, would be a smart fit for any distributor looking for a risky genre offering, and one that offers no easy answers about the prickly (and, yes, pimply) perils of adolescence.

“The Plague” premieres at Cannes on Thursday, May 16. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

The European League of Football (ELF) has signed a long-term partnership with SportWorld, a global streaming platform for live sports.

Beginning with the 2025 season opener on May 17, all 101 live ELF games will be available to watch through pay-per-view (PPV) on the SportWorld app. Fans can book and stream each game individually on their Smart TV or smartphone (iOS and Android).

SportWorld is already a major player in sports streaming, with over 12 million app downloads and users in 205 countries.

“With SportWorld, we gain an innovative partner who takes digital sports streaming to the next level,” said Zeljko Karajica, CEO of ELF investment partner SEH Sports & Entertainment Holding. “Our goal is to grow European football across all platforms, making it easy to access and exciting to watch. Being able to stream ELF games via pay-per-view directly on Smart TVs worldwide is a big step forward.”

This deal is not just about streaming games. B1 SmartTV, which operates SportWorld, will also become global licence holder for ELF teams and players. That means fans will be able to experience more exclusive content in special ’zones’ dedicated to each team within the SportWorld app.

“Adding the ELF to our platform is a great win for SportWorld,” said Robert Niemann, CEO at SportWorld. “We are expanding our global live sports offer and giving football fans a great way to follow their sport on all devices – whenever and wherever they want. The ELF has energy, a strong community, and exciting content. It’s a perfect match for us.”

The partnership between ELF and SportWorld is signed for an initial period of three years, covering the 2025 to 2027 seasons. The agreement includes all international markets, showing the strong global focus of the European League of Football.

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts men’s and women’s track & field programs are set to compete in the Last Chance Meet on Thursday, May 15 at the UMass Track & Field Complex in Amherst, Mass. This is the final event for Massachusetts ahead of the NCAA Regional Qualifiers.

A full schedule of events can be found here. 

Expected lists of participants are attached below:

Women’s performance list

Men’s performance list