HICKORY, NC – The Bears Club is pleased to invite you to its Annual Social which will officially kick off the 2025-26 year for Lenoir-Rhyne Athletics!

This year’s event will combine traditions of past annual dinners with a new look and feel that includes a strolling, social format and a “Taste of Hickory” theme.

The featured guest is Lenoir-Rhyne’s new President, Dr. Summer McGee. Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet new Vice President for Athletics, Daron Montgomery ’95, and the new Director of the Bears Club, JuJu Phillips ’83.

Get the inside scoop from athletic staff and coaches while welcoming the five newest members of the LR coaching family:

• Bob Braman – Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
• Chris Jones ’97 – Head Coach, Men’s and Women’s Golf
• Justin Maullin – Head Coach, Women’s Soccer
• Vic Riggs – Head Coach, Men’s and Women’s Swimming
• Emry Tsitouris – Head Coach, Women’s Basketball

Tickets

$75 per person or $125 per couple

$45 for young alumni (classes of 2015 to 2025)

Event Sponsorship Opportunities:  Activate your brand to the Bears Club membership – includes event sponsorship recognition and up to ten (10) complimentary tickets to the event – $2,000

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt will take over SEC Network on Sunday, offering fans a chance to re-watch some of the best games of the 2024-25 season.

The black and gold takeover features highlights from Vanderbilt football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and soccer games throughout the year. Fans will also have another opportunity to watch Vanderbilt Football’s Spring All-Access special.

The takeover begins at 11 p.m. CT Saturday night (midnight Sunday ET) with football’s Birmingham Bowl victory over Georgia Tech. Throughout the day, fans can relive baseball’s SEC Tournament Championship and Memorial Magic with men’s basketball’s thrilling victories over Kentucky and Tennessee. Women’s basketball gets in on the action with both of its victories over Tennessee, the first time the Dores defeated the Lady Vols twice in a season, and Mikayla Blake’s record-setting, 55-point game at Auburn.

Soccer joins the party with the Commodores’ stunning upset of Florida State to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. The day of black and gold concludes with ESPN’s Best Game of the Year, football’s 40-35 win over Alabama.

The 2025 World Aquatics Championships — featuring swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving — air live on Peacock from July 11-Aug. 3 from Singapore.

Competition starts with water polo.

The U.S. women’s water polo team won five of the last six world titles, then placed fourth at the Paris Games after winning the previous three Olympic titles.

The U.S. men, after winning their first Olympic medal in 16 years (bronze), now seek their first world championships podium finish ever.

In artistic swimming, the U.S. is coming off its first Olympic medal in 20 years (silver in the team event). At worlds, separate sets of medals are awarded for technical and free routines for solo men and women, women’s and mixed duets and the team, plus an extra acrobatic routine for the team.

Diving and pool swimming events start July 26.

In 2024, China swept all eight Olympic program diving events at both the World Championships and at the Paris Games.

The swimming competition features most of the Paris Olympic headliners, including Americans Katie Ledecky, Torri Huske and Kate Douglass, Canadian Summer McIntosh and Frenchman Leon Marchand.

One of the most anticipated events is a likely showdown between Ledecky and McIntosh in the 800m free final (Aug. 2). Ledecky can become the first swimmer to win a seventh world title in the same event. Last month, McIntosh swam a time that was 95 hundredths of a second shy of Ledecky’s new world record from May.

American Gretchen Walsh, who at last December’s short course worlds broke 11 world records (including relays) and won seven gold medals, could swim eight events at these worlds.

World Aquatics Championships Schedule on Peacock

Summer McIntosh crossed an ocean and took up a new sport that helped her have one of the best swim meets in history.

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana – Recent Wabash College graduate Justin Santiago ’25 and rising seniors Sean Bledsoe ’26 and Xavier Tyler ’26 were named 2025 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars by Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine.

All three were first-team selections, boosting the total to 13 Wabash student-athletes to be named an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar since 2018.

Santiago, a native of Westfield, Indiana, is a four-year letterwinner for the Wabash cross country and track and field teams. In his time with the programs, he helped the Little Giants win six conference championships (1 CC/5 TR). His collegiate best times include a 25:39.0 8,000-meter cross country effort at the 2023 NCAA DIII Great Lakes Region Championships to go with a 33:45.86 outdoor 10,000-meter run as a junior.

The financial economics major was active in the campus community as part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and served as a production volunteer at his church. A Dean’s List honoree, Santiago was a summa cum laude graduate and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He served as an innovation consultant for Wabash College’s Center for Innovation, Business and Entrepreneurship and has a project management certification from the University of Adelaide.

Bledsoe, a native of Columbia City, Indiana, is a three-year letterwinner for the Wabash golf team, posting a 75.44 scoring average in 66 career rounds played. He was the runner-up at the 2025 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championships, earning all-conference honors. He has seven rounds at par or better with a low of 69.

The English major is well connected on campus, serving as an advocate for ‘shOUT, the gay/straight alliance, working as a manager for the basketball team, and handling color commentator duties for the basketball livestreams. A Dean’s List honoree, Bledsoe also was named to the NCAC Academic Honor Roll.

Tyler, a native of Evansville, Indiana, is a three-year letterwinner and a second-team all-NCAC honoree for the football team after leading the Little Giants with more than 1,000 yards rushing in 2024. His accomplishments included a career-best 199 yards on Nov. 9, 2024, at Wittenberg, as well as a long rush of 81 yards, tied for the eighth-longest in school history, set Oct. 21, 2023 at Kenyon.

The philosophy major has held multiple positions of leadership within his fraternity, Delta Tau Delta. He is the community service committee chairman for the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies, has worked at a group home for people with severe mental and physical disabilities, and speaks regularly at inner-city middle schools to kids about attending college and how to positively carry themselves. Tyler is a Dean’s List honoree and has earned all-NCAC Academic Honor Roll accolades.

The trio joined Mawuli Nevis ’25 as Ashe honorees, as he was named the 2025 Arthur Ashe Jr. Wrestling Sports Scholar of the Year. A biology major from Cincinnati, he was a semifinalist for the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year award. Nevis is the second Wabash student-athlete to earn national distinction from the publication in the last three years.

Since 1992, Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars have demonstrated stellar athletic ability and academic performance (3.5 cumulative GPA or higher), in addition to a commitment to community service and student leadership. The award is inspired by tennis legend Arthur Ashe Jr.’s dedication to education as well as his love for the game of tennis.

Release Courtesy Baruch Athletic Communications

NEW YORK – Brady Ambro has been named Head Coach of the Baruch College Men’s Volleyball Team.

The announcement was made by Baruch College Director of Athletics and Recreation, Heather MacCulloch on Thursday.

A Baruch alumni (’17) and former standout on the court, Ambro returns to the program he once proudly represented. With an established connection to Baruch College and first hand experience competing at the highest level of Division III volleyball, he is well-positioned to lead the Bearcats to an era of more success.

“We are proud to welcome back Brady Ambro as the new Head Coach of Baruch College Men’s Volleyball,” said Heather MacCulloch. “As a dedicated alumnus, former assistant coach, and a key member of our NCAA tournament teams, Brady brings not only deep experience but also a true passion for the Baruch program. His commitment to excellence and connection to our Bearcat legacy make him the ideal leader to guide the next generation of student-athletes.”

Ambro played for the Bearcats from 2013 to 2016 while earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. As an outside hitter, he helped lead the team to multiple CUNYAC titles (2013, 2014, 2015) and NCAA Tournament appearances (2013, 2014, 2015), including a trip to the Final Four in 2013 in Rochester. His accolades include the 2016 Baruch College Helen Belden Sportsmanship Award, Team Captain Honors, 2016 Team MVP, and was named a 2016 CUNYAC First Team All-Star.

His coaching resume includes serving as an assistant coach for the Baruch men’s volleyball team during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, as well as coaching

with the International Volleyball Club, where he continued to develop and mentor young athletes.

“I am happy to be back in the ARC Arena as the new men’s volleyball head coach,” said Ambro. “As a former Bearcat, the culture of the program has always inspired and motivated me and I am excited to help lead the next generation of Bearcats to success on and off the court.”

Baruch Athletics is excited to welcome Coach Ambro back to the court. He was a key contributor to the teams continued success during his tenure as a player — now he aims to do so as the team’s head coach.

For the latest news on the CUNY Athletic Conference, log on to cunyathletics.com – the official site of the CUNY Athletic Conference. Also, become a follower of the CUNYAC on Instagram (@CUNYAC), Twitter (@CUNYAC) and YouTube (@CUNY Athletic Conference), and “LIKE” Us on Facebook (CUNY Athletic Conference).

A development group that previously explored building a Major League Soccer stadium on the Chula Vista Bayfront is back, albeit absent one partner, with a remastered proposal that is equally ambitious and may be more plausible.

The project, named Pangaea, is anchored by a large tennis complex and complemented by a water polo academy, a handful of hotels, a retail village, blue tech office buildings and a public trail, according to the proposal submitted to the Port of San Diego and obtained by the Union-Tribune through a public records request.

The project also features an IMAX theater by Paragon Entertainment and an elevated mini-golf venue co-owned by Tiger Woods called PopStroke, the proposal states. A 50,000-seat soccer stadium is envisioned for a second phase of development.

Pangaea is the brainchild of Virginia Beach-based commercial real estate firm Divaris Group of Companies, its development and planning subsidiary, The McGarey Group, and locally renowned architect Tucker Sadler Architects Inc. The team also includes Provident Resources Group, a nonprofit that specializes in facilitating financing for public-private partnerships.

The team’s superlative-laced proposal describes Pangaea as a world-class destination beyond compare. It is proposed for 124 acres of bayfront property at 990 Bay Blvd., south of the recently opened Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center.

“In combining the finest broad-scale tennis training in North America, including leading-edge wellness, spa and physical therapy, with a spectacular and challenging 36-hole putting experience, the probability of adding professional soccer and entertainment to the campus, the supporting mixed-uses of hotel, retail, food & beverage, entertainment and office are activated in a way no project has been delivered in America. Ever,” the proposal states. “The connectivity to the community culture and bayfront is a marriage of interests long overdue and a bold signal that the district, the community of Chula Vista, and all stakeholders are committed and entrusted to enhance and protect the waterfront for many generations to come.”

The document’s site plan depicts a Latin Quarter-inspired retail center and pedestrian plaza with hotel rooms atop shops at the north end of the project site, south of J Street. The retail street meanders south toward the PopStroke venue, just north of a watershed at L Street that bifurcates the site and empties into San Diego Bay. Opposite the channel are more hotels and the tennis complex, which includes a central tennis venue and 34 surrounding courts of varying size, surfaces and purpose.

The stadium and water polo academy are located beyond the tennis facility. The blue tech office buildings are situated near the project’s southern border, where Naples Street would intersect the site.

Tuesday, the Pangaea project will be considered by the Port of San Diego’s seven-member board in open session. The agency has permitting authority for the land, subject to review and approval by the California Coastal Commission. Port staff are asking the commissioners to authorize a six-month exclusive negotiation period so that the development team can formalize a partnership with an unnamed professional tennis player who will be the face of Pangaea’s tennis complex.

The requested board action comes more than 18 months after the agency first signed a nondisclosure agreement with the development team, public records show. The development team submitted its original proposal in February 2024, one month after the contract was signed. A second proposal with additional information was submitted in February of this year. The most recent submittal includes some financial details that have been redacted.

Port staff and an outside real estate consultant firm have discussed the unsolicited Pangaea proposal continuously since the original submission, the records show. Commissioner Ann Moore, who represents Chula Vista on the board, has been included in some meetings. In April, board members discussed the proposed real estate deal for the 990 Bay Blvd. site in closed session.

“Port staff have been conducting initial due diligence on a mixed-use development proposal for a 124-acre area in the Otay District of the Chula Vista Bayfront. The Board of Port Commissioners will receive a presentation in open session at their July 15 meeting. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend the meeting and/or to watch online,” Brianne Page, a spokesperson for the agency, said in an emailed statement. “Staff believe the proposal represents a unique opportunity to potentially partner with an experienced developer on a project that, according to preliminary findings, has strong market demand.”

If the board advances the proposal, the development team will conduct “robust community and stakeholder outreach,” said Tony Gordon, the port’s vice president of real estate.

Staff’s current request for a short-term exclusive negotiating agreement with the development team suggests that the Pangaea proposal has more legs than a similar plan that was in the works in 2023. Divaris and Tucker Sadler previously teamed on a proposal for a soccer and hotel complex that seemingly fizzled because a former partner, Petra Development, did not appear to have ties to the MLS, as it maintained.

However, many of the original proposal’s elements remain intact, including the stadium.

Pangaea’s stakeholders will pursue an MLS team, a USL Championship league team or a Mexican Football Federation team as part of a second development phase, according to the proposal. Alternatively, the stadium could be used for concerts and festivals, the document states.

“The expanse of the stadium encompasses what will be the largest and most technologically advanced stadium in the United States,” the document states. “Designed to exacting specifications, allowing for multi-use of professional soccer, tennis and/or major acts/live entertainment. It will be, without a scintilla of doubt, jealously guarded as the region’s catalyst within the booming South County marketplace, trading heavily on the advantages of its waterfront location, main-line connectivity with local and cross-border commerce, and the ever-emerging local resident population of Chula Vista.”

The project site, referred to as the Otay District within the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan, was the home of the since-demolished South Bay Power Plant. It was once considered as a potential stadium location for the former San Diego Chargers.

The Chula Vista Bayfront’s Otay District is currently entitled for an RV park, industrial business park use and a passive public park, meaning the Pangaea project will, if it continues to move forward, require a Port Master Plan Amendment and review under California’s Environmental Quality Act, which are lengthy, multi-year processes.

The land in question is not currently being advertised by the port for lease or redevelopment. The agency’s board will need to waive its own policy requiring a competitive solicitation process in order to enter into the exclusive negotiating period.

A report prepared by port staff for Tuesday’s meeting states that it would be challenging for the port to attract proposals through a competitive process without first updating land entitlements, which could take years. As such, the agency is justified in waiving board policy related to a competition solicitation, the report states. Other justifications cited include the strength of the development team, a local appetite for tennis courts, the project’s public access features and the prospect of an elite athlete adding brand cachet to the effort.

The Pangaea proposal calls for phase-one development of the tennis center and water polo academy alongside 300,000 square feet of retail space, 700 hotel rooms spread across three properties, a 150,000-square-foot blue tech building and a 2.3-mile public trail. The second phase includes the soccer stadium, another two hotels with 800 rooms, three more 150,000-square-foot office buildings and 9.3 acres of active open space envisioned as community soccer fields.

The Union-Tribune contacted project leaders — McGarey Group CEO Denver McGarey, Divaris Group CEO Gerald Divaris and Tucker Sadler CEO Greg Mueller — for additional information. Janelle Burchfield, a spokesperson for Divaris Group, said the team is not in a position to share details beyond what is included in the staff report.

To date, the port has conducted preliminary due diligence, tapping real estate consultant Jones Lang LaSalle for a market demand study focused on the tennis facility. Staff also reviewed the developer’s background and qualifications, and determined that the team has a track record of financing complex mixed-use projects, the staff report states. The agency has received a financial forecast, or what’s known as a pro forma, Gordon, the real estate executive said. The group’s financing assumptions, which were not disclosed, have not yet been vetted, according to the staff report.

Founded in 1974, Divaris Group of Companies is a commercial real estate brokerage and services firm that manages or leases more than 37 million square feet of office, retail and industrial space across the U.S., according to information provided to the port. The firm, for instance, manages portions of The Town Center of Virginia Beach, a large mixed-use development with residences, hotels, retail and a performing arts theater.

Divaris Group subsidiary The McGarey Group was the retail development consultant on Atlantic Station, a 138-acre mixed-use development in Atlanta. The firm, which has an office in Coronado, also handles leasing for USC Village.

Headquartered in San Diego, Tucker Sadler Architects designed and helped entitle the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park and Portside Pier, projects that are both on port tidelands.

The Pangaea proposal lists a number of additional team members, including hotel management and development firm Highgate as the hospitality provider. Swinerton is listed as the general contractor. The water polo training academy, 6-8 Sports, plans to relocate to the Chula Vista complex, the proposal states. The company was co-founded by Olympians Tony Azevedo and Maggie Steffens.

The six-month exclusive negotiating agreement is atypically short for projects of this magnitude. However, Gordon said the port uses shorter-term contracts to accomplish immediate goals before making a longer-term commitment. In this case, the primary goal is for the developer to formalize the partnership with the elite professional athlete, he said. At the end of the period, staff will return to the board to report on progress and seek further direction.

Originally Published: July 10, 2025 at 3:45 PM PDT