GRAPEVINE, Texas – An extraordinary season produced by Arkansas sprinter Jordan Anthony was deemed worthy of The Bowerman, collegiate track & field’s highest individual honor, as announced by USTFCCCA on Thursday evening at the Gaylord Texan Resort.

Anthony becomes the third Razorback to achieve the prestigious honor as he joins Jarrion Lawson (2016) and Jaydon Hibbert (2023) as previous Arkansas winners of The Bowerman. Three other men’s programs – Florida, Florida State, and Oregon – have had a pair of winners each since the award was first presented in 2009.

The Bowerman 2025 men’s finalist included Auburn’s Ja’Kobe Tharp and Baylor’s Nathaniel Ezekiel, who would have been the first recipient of the honor for their respective schools.

In becoming the first sprinter to claim NCAA titles in the 60m indoors and 100m outdoors during the same season since 2017, Anthony generated UA records in both events. His remarkable campaign included a pair of national sprint titles and three SEC titles while claiming high point honors at both SEC Outdoor and NCAA Outdoor Championship meets.

Anthony ran 6.47 in the NCAA Indoor 60m prelims before winning the final in 6.49. The 6.47 performance was just off the collegiate record of 6.45 shared by three sprinters.

Outdoors, Anthony improved the UA record in the 100m to 9.95 as he swept the 100m and 200m at the SEC Outdoor Championships, producing a 19.93 in the 200m as the second fastest time in Arkansas history behind a 19.89 by Wallace Spearmon Jr.

Anchoring the Razorbacks to a SEC third-place finish in the 4 x 100m relay, Anthony totaled 21.5 points and earned the Commissioner’s Trophy as the men’s high point scorer in the conference meet.

Anthony was named SEC Outdoor Runner of the Year via voting by league coaches and became the first Razorback to earn the honor since 2012. An additional honor for Anthony during the 2025 season included South Central Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

Under all-conditions, Anthony blazed to an equal second fastest time ever by a collegian in the 100m with a 9.75w (2.1 wind) during the NCAA West First Round. That time equaled the world-leading mark for the 2025 season under all-conditions.

Multiple Winners | Men’s Programs

GLASSBORO, NJ — For the fifth year in a row, Rowan was represented by Matthew Conway on the Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Men’s Cross Country Team.

The Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area teams are nominated for, and voted on, by the sports information directors at 30 institutions in the Philadelphia region. Student-athletes must be in at least their second year at their current institution and hold a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.30 or higher to be considered for nomination.

Conway, a chemical engineering major, capped his final cross country season with a second-straight appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship, where he placed 94th in this year’s nationals. He was a seventh-place finisher at the NCAA Metro Regional to help the Profs place fifth overall. A first-team All-NJAC selection after runner-up finish at the conference championships where Rowan was second.

Conway was joined on the team with Owen Bluman, Micah Lachman, and Torin Pelton-Flavin from Haverford, Sebastian DeSimone from Gwynedd Mercy, Jacob Dinerman from Rutgers-Camden, Bryan Hernandez from Williamson College of the Trades, Cohen Manges from Swarthmore, and Ryle Mellinger of Eastern. Dinerman was voted the performer of the year.

 

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WAFF) – University of Alabama track and field athlete Doris Lemngole won the Bowerman Award, becoming the first UA student to receive collegiate track and field’s highest individual honor.

The 23-year-old claimed the prestigious award Thursday night after being named a semifinalist last year.

Lemngole is a four-time national champion and five-time SEC champion.

The Bowerman Award recognizes the top collegiate track and field athlete in the country.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Texas A&M volleyball program had never appeared on a stage like the one it graced Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena, playing for a spot in the national championship match.

Pitt, meanwhile, had been here in a semifinal four times in the past four seasons. 

So much for the importance of big-match experience.

The upstart Aggies rolled past the battle-tested Panthers, 29-27, 25-21, 25-20. Four days after Texas A&M upset No. 1-ranked Nebraska on its home court, coach Jamie Morrison’s team took its game up a notch.

It will face Kentucky on Sunday in an all-SEC final. The Wildcats (30-2) outlasted Wisconsin in five sets, winning the fifth 15-13 in the second semifinal.

A&M (28-4) earned a No. 3 regional seed in the 64-team tournament and needed five sets against Louisville in the regional semifinal — and five more to dispatch the previously unbeaten Huskers.

On Thursday, the Aggies swept the Panthers, one of four top seeds in regional play, behind the relentless attack of Ifenna Cos-Okpalla in the middle, Kyndal Stowers on the left pin and Logan Lednicky on the right.

“Literally, why not us?” Lednicky said. “We are considered the underdog in a lot of these moments, just because we haven’t been here before. But we know we have all the right pieces.”

Cos-Okpalla slammed the final kill against the Panthers on Thursday to secure a fifth loss in the national semifinal round since 2021 for Pitt (30-5). Cos-Okpalla, a first-team All-American, finished with eight terminations on a lethal .538 hitting efficiency.

Lednicky recorded 14 kills. Stowers had 16, including nine on .750 hitting in the marathon first set.

Stowers notched two kills among the clinching 3-0 run for the Aggies after Pitt took a 27-26 lead on a kill by Olivia Babcock, the reigning AVCA player of the year, in that tone-setting first set.

So, how was Stowers feeling?

“Every time someone asks me, genuinely, I have no idea,” the sophomore transfer from Baylor said. “I have no idea. Pure gratitude. This is crazy. This is an absolutely crazy experience. We have had faith in ourselves all year. From the first game of the season, we knew we were capable of this.

“Now living it, it’s like, ‘Wow, this is insane.’ It’s really cool.”

The Aggies split two matches this season against Texas, a No. 1 regional seed. Another top seed, Kentucky, beat Texas A&M in their only matchup. Morrison has encouraged the Aggies simply to be themselves on the big stage.

They’ve had practice.

“The more we’re in it,” he said, “the more we get comfortable (and) the more we’re used to being ourselves.”

It works.

“Just be us,” Cos-Okpalla said. “Not only just us as a team, us as individuals.”

Morrison, 45, took over the Aggies in 2023 after he spent much of his coaching career as an assistant with the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams.

He directed A&M to the NCAA Tournament in his first year, then to the Sweet 16 last season.

It’s in position to win a national championship, Morrison said, because his players bought into what he teaches.

They didn’t pick A&M for the promise of name, image and likeness riches. In addition to Cos-Okpalla, Stowers and Lednicky received second-team All-America recognition this week. Setter Maddie Waak was a third-team selection.

“These girls came here for nothing,” said Morrison, named Wednesday as the AVCA coach of the year. “Really, they came here because they love the school, they love the institution. They wanted to be developed.”

Before this fifth semifinal loss in five years, Pitt lost twice in this round against ACC rival Louisville and twice against Nebraska.

The Panthers mounted an 8-0 run in the second set to take a 15-11 lead before A&M responded with a 9-2 run. In the third set, the Aggies scored the final 4 points after the last of Babcock’s match-high 22 kills brought Pitt to within 1 point.

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State athletics department recognized 29 student-athletes who have earned their degrees from the school.

Also recognized were 25 spring graduates from the softball and track and field programs, who because of their athletic schedules will likely be unable to attend next semester’s event.

The group was recognized at the fall graduation ceremony Friday afternoon at the Sukup End Zone Club.

Congratulations to the 2025 Cyclone student-athlete fall graduates.

2025 Fall Graduates

Reagan Bartholomew, Softball

Rocco Becht, Football

Kai Black, Football

Cannon Butler, Football

Drew Clausen, Football

Kiersten Fisher, Track and Field

Jace T. Gilbert, Football

Kailynn Gubbels, Track and Field

Eli Green, Football

Deylin Hasert, Football

Caleb Helgeson, Wrestling

Amiree Hendricks-Walker, Volleyball

Jenna James, Track and Field

Rachel Joseph, Track and Field

Lauren Kimball, Swimming and Diving

Kaia Holtkamp, Track and Field/Cross Country

Paula Krzeslak, Volleyball

Zachary Lovett, Football

Tyler Maro, Football

Tamatoa McDonough, Football

Will McLaughlin, Football

Tyler Moore, Football=

James Neal, Football

Domonique Orange, Football

Ana Irene Palacios, Gymnastics

Tyler Perkins, Football

Kaylee Tobaben, Track and Field/Cross Country

Xavier Townsend, Football

Sydney Willits, Track and Field

2026 Spring and Summer Graduates

McKenna Andrews, Softball

Hannah Baier, Track and Field

Riley Beach, Track and Field/Cross Country

Jadan Brumbaugh, Track and Field

Kinsey Christianson, Track and Field

Ava Cinnamo, Track and Field

Makayla Clark, Track and Field

Emanuel Galdino, Track and Field/Cross Country

Bella Heikes, Track and Field/Cross Country

Tatum Johnson, Softball

Ashlyn Keeney, Track and Field/Cross Country

Sydney Malott, Softball

Sanele Masondo, Track and Field/Cross Country

Ashley Minor, Softball

Paige Nakashima, Softball

Brooke Naughton, Track and Field

Quinton Orr, Track and Field/Cross Country

Tiana Poole, Softball

Maelle Porcher, Track and Field/Cross Country

Jaiden Ralston, Softball

Daniel Romary, Track and Field

Rodgers Rotich, Track and Field/Cross Country

Riley Simpson, Track and Field/Cross Country

Mya Trober, Track and Field/Cross Country

Ryan Watts, Track and Field/Cross Country

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pittsburgh volleyball coach Dan Fisher said he’s to blame after the Panthers lost in the NCAA tournament semifinals for a record fifth straight season Thursday night.

Top-seeded Pitt was swept by No. 3 Texas A&M 29-27, 25-21, 25-20 and failed to advance to the program’s first national championship game.

The Aggies finished the three sets with a .382 hitting percentage and 52 kills; the Panthers hit .344 with 45 kills.

In Sunday’s championship match, Texas A&M will face Kentucky, a five-set winner over Wisconsin in the other semifinal.

“I guess the main story from a coaching standpoint is, we hit for a high-enough percentage, that’s for sure,” said Fisher, the 13th-year Panthers coach. “If you would have told me we would hit .350, I would have been pretty pleased with that.

“We were nowhere near as good as we needed to be defensively. … I thought we were ready. It’s on me and on us as coaches. We just weren’t good enough defensively.”

Pitt was eliminated in the national semifinals by Nebraska in 2021 and 2023, and by Louisville in 2022 and 2024.

“I’m proud of being consistently good and consistently in the hunt. But I’m pretty pissed off about it right now,” Fisher said.

On Thursday, Pitt junior and 2024 American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock had a game-high 22 kills. The 6-foot-4 right-side hitter, who is a finalist for the prestigious award again, fought back tears after the loss.

“Obviously, losing sucks, but I don’t think there’s anything shameful or bad about losing in a final four,” Babcock said. “I mean only four teams got to play today. We were grateful enough to be one of them. Losing is always hard.”

She echoed Fisher’s comments on the defensive play.

“Offensively, we were great the entire night,” she said. “Normally, we’re better at getting block touches and we are making more digs. Today, I feel that we just weren’t up to our standard.”

Pitt beat Purdue in the regional finals to become the first team since Texas (2012-16) to make five straight final four appearances. The Longhorns won the national championship in 2012 and were the runners-up in 2015 and 2016.