SPARTANBURG, S.C. – VMI was well-represented by the Southern Conference Wednesday as the league announced its Spring 2025 All-Academic Team and 2024-25 Academic Honor Roll.

SoCon Press Release

 

In order to achieve SoCon All-Academic honors, an athlete must hold a 3.20 cumulative GPA, be a sophomore or above in class standing and participate in at least 50 percent of the team’s contests.

 

The Academic Honor Roll recognizes the student-athletes who attained a minimum 3.0 GPA or higher for the 2024-25 academic year but does not require an athletic participation level.

 

A total of 2,734 student-athletes across the league were named to the Honor Roll, a new record number since the program began in 1989. In addition, a total of 288 student-athletes achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA and 846 received the Commissioner’s Medal given to those who attain a 3.80 GPA or higher during the academic year.

 

A total of 180 VMI cadet-athletes were named to the 2024-25 Academic Honor Roll led by the lacrosse and women’s soccer teams with 23 entries apiece.

 

VMI registered 24 cadet-athletes on the Spring 2025 SoCon All-Academic Team led by Indoor Track and Field with 10 team members listed.

 

Five Keydets achieved a perfect 4.0 for the 2024-25 academic year including Dayton Bagwell and James Boynewicz from lacrosse, Cameron Jones from women’s soccer, Jack Joyce (football) and Samantha Layton from cross country/track and field.

 

A total of 36 VMI cadet-athletes earned the SoCon Commissioner’s Medal for achieving at least a 3.80 GPA for the 2024-25 academic year.

 

A full listing of VMI’s cadet-athletes named to either the Spring 2025 SoCon All-Academic Team or SoCon Academic Honor Roll is found below.

 

 

VMI Cadet-Athletes named to Spring 2025 SoCon All-Academic Team (24):

 

 

 

VMI Cadet-Athletes named to 2024-25 SoCon Academic Honor Roll (180):

CUNYAC – NEW YORK – The City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) has announced its Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll for the 2025 Spring semester, handing out 445 citations for academic excellence.
 
The CUNYAC Winter/Spring Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll is constructed with student-athletes across eight member campuses who participate in a varsity-level sport and own a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better on a 4.0 scale.

The list includes sports that conducted their championship in the winter or spring (men’s tennis, men’s & women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field, men’s volleyball, baseball, and softball) as well as varsity athletes competing in non-CUNYAC sports.

 

Hunter produced a conference-leading 104 honorees among the eight institutions, followed by Baruch (81) and John Jay (80).

 

16 student-athletes have compiled a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA to date.

For the complete 2025 Winter/Spring Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll, please click here.

Minor league baseball roundup: Hightower heating up

Published 11:41 pm Wednesday, July 30, 2025

From staff reports

Minor league update …

San Diego Padres prospect Cobb Hightower (East Rowan), a third-round pick last summer, has been on a roll in the last week.

Hightower went 11-for-20 in a four-game stretch, with a trio of three-hit games, to boost his batting average from .210 to .240.

Hightower has scored 29 runs in 39 games and has driven in 21.

His OBP is a solid .368 and his contact rate is fine — 28 walks and 31 strikeouts.

He’s been more aggressive at the plate lately, getting more hits and taking fewer walks. His base-running also has picked up, as he’s 7-for-7 on steals.

•••

Business as usual for Springfield relief pitcher Austin Love, although Love (West Rowan, UNC) did take his first loss of the season recently.

Love is 5-1 with two saves. He has a 2.25 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 36 innings.

Love was a third-round pick by St. Louis out of UNC in 2021.

•••

Vance Honeycutt, a 2024 first-round pick by Baltimore, has been sidelined by a left ankle injury.

That may not be a terrible thing, as it gives Honeycutt (Salisbury, UNC) a break and a chance to reset.

Arguably the best player in UNC history, he’s batting .172 with three homers for the Aberdeen IronBirds.

•••

Owen White (Carson), a second-round pick by Texas out of high school in 2018, is 0-7 for the Charlotte Knights with a 5.25 ERA and 50 strikeouts.

White pitched most recently on July 22 and did well, allowing one earned run in five innings and striking out three.

•••

Carson Whisenhunt (Davie, ECU), a second-round pick by San Francisco in 2022, made his MLB debut against Pittsburgh on Monday. The lefty allowed four runs in five innings. His last three innings were strong, and he may get another start this weekend.

•••

Pitcher CJ Gray (A.L. Brown) signed with the L.A. Angels. Outfielder Kane Kepley (South Rowan, Liberty, UNC) signed with the Chicago Cubs. Infielder Coy James (Davie) signed with Washington. Pitcher Jake Barbee (Robinson) signed with Texas. Their pro debuts are expected this summer.

•••

Dylan Driver (Carson, Catawba) had two hits on July 25 and is batting .233 with 16 runs and seven steals for the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League.

DALLAS — The University of Texas at Dallas announced Monday that due to budget cuts, the university’s track and field and cross country programs will be cut in the upcoming semester.

The program cuts will include both men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, and men’s and women’s cross country.

Student athletes received the news via an email from the university.

The university cited the lack of on-campus facilities in addition to budget cuts for the program cuts. The announcement comes just weeks before the start of the academic school year.

Athletic scholarships for the cut programs will still be honored for the 2025-2026 school year, according to UTD. The school also said they assist students who wish to transfer.

UT Dallas currently competes at the NCAA Division II level.

Four members of the Blue Ridge Volleyball Association combined to win three out of the four girls’ open championships at the USA Volleyball Beach National Championship held July 16-21 at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront Boardwalk. Breeze Johnson won in the 18-and-under division with Emma White and at 16U with Elle Sossong of Pennsylvania. Johnson’s sister Skylar and Allie Grace Allison won the 12U division. 

This is the second in a series of five stories highlighting the greatest sports moments in Adams County history as it celebrates its bicentennial.

QUINCY — The definition of a dynasty, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time.”

Here’s what it could say.

“See Quincy College soccer.”

From 1971 through 1981, the Hawks won nine NAIA men’s soccer national championships and lost in the national semifinals the other two years. Their five consecutive championships from 1977-81 are an NAIA men’s soccer record and the nine titles in 11 seasons is outdone by only two programs across all NAIA sports.

The Grand View men’s wrestling program won nine consecutive titles from 2012-20 and has won 13 of the last 14 national crowns. The Azusa Pacific men’s outdoor track and field team won seven straight titles from 1983-89 and 11 in a 13-year span.

Quincy’s 11 national titles — the Hawks won in 1966 and 1967 — are the most in NAIA men’s soccer history with Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) second on the list with nine titles. And the Hawks haven’t been an NAIA program since 1986.

The championships aren’t the mentions of Quincy found in the NAIA record book.

The 1976 national semifinal matchup with Simon Fraser remains the longest game played in NAIA postseason history. The Hawks had their string of three consecutive nationals end with a 2-1 loss to Simon Fraser in 14 overtimes. The game lasted 221 minutes 43 seconds.

Imagine if the Hawks had won that game. It could have been nine national titles in a row.

That’s unprecedented in Adams County.

None of the six high schools have won three or more consecutive state titles in any sport, and only the 1981 Quincy High School boys basketball team was tabbed as the national champion. The Quincy Jets qualified for three Amateur Softball Association national tournaments and dominated play on the state and regional level.

The South Side Boat Club rowing team won national championships in the eight-man event in 1904 and the four-man event in 1905.

But only one Adams County program can be called a dynasty.

The QC program — the school’s name was officially changed to Quincy University in 1993 — won its first NAIA national title in 1966, going 13-0-0 in Roger Francour’s second season as head coach. The Hawks repeated as national champions in 1967, and Francour stepped aside the following year.

Jack Mackenzie, a St. Louis native, was hired in 1969 and the program became synonymous with winning. The Hawks won a national championship in 1971 in Mackzenie’s third season, finishing 17-2-0 after beating Davis & Elkins 1-0 in the title game.

For the next 12 seasons, Quincy was at the forefront of the soccer boom.

The Hawks won three consecutive titles from 1973-75, losing only seven matches in that span and finishing the 1975 season with a 19-1-0 record. After the 14-overtime loss to Simon Fraser in 1976, the Hawks roared back in 1977 to go 19-3-0 and beat Keene State 3-0 for the national title.

The championship didn’t leave Quincy for four more years.

By the end of the 1981 season, the Hawks had made history with five consecutive titles. The 1981 team finished 21-3-1, setting the program’s single-season record for victories that has been matched only by the 2014 team that reached the NCAA Division II final four, and beat Alderson Broaddus 4-1 in the title game.

In 1982, Quincy lost to Belhaven in the national quarterfinals, effectively ending the dynasty.

All told, from 1970 when the Hawks finished as the national runner-up to 1982, they went 218-43-15. That’s an .817 winning percentage.

Mackenzie continued coaching the Hawks through the 2011 season, retiring with a 516-258-76 overall record. He was named the NAIA Coach of the Year four times and was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame, the United Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame, the St. Louis Players Hall of Fame and the QU Hall of Fame.

Mackenzie passed away in 2018 at the age of 77, but he left a legacy unmatched.

So did his teams.

They became the epitome of a college soccer dynasty.

Below is a look at the longest championship streaks in NAIA history:

Baseball — Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), 6, 1987-92

Men’s basketball — Tennessee State, 3, 1957-59; Kentucky State, 3, 1970-72

Women’s basketball — Southern Nazarene 4, 1994-97; Oklahoma City, 4, 1999-2002

Football — Carroll, 4, 2002-05

Men’s golf — Sam Houston State, 4, 1978-81; Huntingdon, 4, 1985-88; Oklahoma City, 4, 2001-04

Women’s golf — Oklahoma City, 5, 2005-09

Men’s outdoor track and field — Azusa Pacific, 7, 1983-89

Women’s outdoor track and field — Prairie View A&M, 9, 1982-90

Men’s soccer — Quincy, 5, 1977-81

Women’s soccer — Lee, 4, 2008-11

Softball — Oklahoma City, 4, 1994-97

Men’s swimming and diving — Simon Fraser, 9, 1972-80

Women’s swimming and diving — Simon Fraser, 5, 2000-04

Women’s volleyball — Hawaii-Hilo, 4, 1981-84; BYU-Hawaii, 4, 1994-97; Fresno Pacific, 4, 2007-10

Wrestling — Grandview, 9, 2012-20