Sports

PANORAMA: Elite beach volleyball coming to Newport Beach; Acura to support U.S. Bobsled; official laundry service for fencing?

Published

5 months ago

July 16, 2025

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● The Paris 2024 Endowment Fund announced Tuesday a series of programs to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the successful Olympic and Paralympic Games, using a portion of the €76 million (about $88.6 million U.S. today) organizing committee surplus.

Events will mark the anniversary of the Olympic opening on 26 July, Paralympic Day on 6 September and National Sports Day on 14 September. The 26 July program includes the unveiling of the “Monument of Champions” – supported by the City of Paris as well – listing the names of the Paris 2024 medal winners. Also, the opening ceremony statues of the 10 “illustrious women” will be inaugurated on the Rue de la Chapelle. An allocation of €6.36 million has been made for these projects.

The “Parc des Jeux” program with sports and cultural activities will also be re-activated at the Parc Georges Valbron, with a special concert on 26 July.

● Beach Volleyball ● In another sign of the wide impact of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Volleyball World announced a 12th Elite 16 event for 2025, to be held in Newport Beach, California, from 7-11 October.

The tour will be in Brazil for tournaments in Joao Pessoa from 17-21 September and Rio de Janeiro from 24-28 September, before coming north. Elite 16 events carry prize money of $300,000, split evenly between men and women; it’s the first Elite16-level tournament in the U.S. since October 2018, in Las Vegas. A follow-on 4×4 tournament for men and women on 12 October will have a $250,000 prize purse.

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● “USA Bobsled/Skeleton today announced a multi-year Official Premier Technology and Official Automotive Partnership with American Honda, strengthening support for the organization’s world-class athletes through 2030. The collaboration brings together the elite performance of USA Bobsled and Skeleton athletes with the advanced engineering capabilities of the U.S.-based research and development (R&D) teams at Honda.”

Tuesday’s announcement confirmed that the Honda Auto Development Center in Raymond, Ohio will assist with sled development and performance efficiency, and wind-tunnel testing is already being done at Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio (HALO), in East Liberty, Ohio.

The partnership is branded for Acura, Honda’s “premium performance division,” and is a welcome assist for USABS, for the Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina in 2026 and French Alps 2030.

● Cycling ● No change in the leaderboard at the 112th Tour de France after Wednesday’s 11th stage, a hilly, 156.8 km route in and around Toulouse, with Jonas Abrahamsen (NOR) winning the final sprint with Mauro Schmid (SUI), both in 3:15:56.

Race leader Ben Healy (IRL) was 24th, in a large pack that finished 3:28 back, including nos. 2-3-4 Tadej Pogacar (SLO: +0:29, who survived a small crash), Remco Evenepoel (+1:29) and Jonas Vingegaard (DEN: 1:46).

Expect fireworks on Thursday with a brutal, 180.6 km double climb, finishing with a climb from 456 m to 1,519 m at the Hautacam ski resort in the Pyrenees! An uphill Individual Time Trial follows on Friday.

● Fencing ● USA Fencing announced Poplin as the “Official Laundry Service” of the federation. How is that supposed to help? Here’s the pitch:

“The service’s convenient app lets you schedule a pickup, hand off your sweaty gear to a trusted Poplin Pro, and get it back fresh and folded as soon as the next day. Translation: you can schedule a pickup from your hotel during a NAC [North American Cup], snag a mid-trip ‘laundry refresh,’ and still fly home Monday morning with clothes that smell sweet, not sour. It’s also a great option for officials and coaches who spend long stretches away from home and need a quick clothes reset.”

Now, that’s service that geared to the needs of your customers!

● Freestyle Skiing ● Sad news from Norway, where Audun Groenvold, 49, who won a 2005 Worlds bronze in Ski Cross and a 2010 Olympic Winter Games bronze, died Tuesday night after being hit by lightning on 12 July (Saturday).

Following his skiing career, he had been involved in coaching, selling sports equipment and as a television analyst. He is survived by his wife Kristin, and three children.

● Swimming ● Familiar faces topped the podium at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, with the men’s and women’s 10 km open-water races both finally held at a water quality delay, but in hot conditions of about 85 F or even a little higher on Wednesday afternoon.

The men’s race saw Tokyo Olympic 10 km winner Florian Wellbrock (GER) was at or near the lead for most of the race and had teammate Oliver Klemet for company on the final lap, with Kyle Lee (AUS) and Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) following.

The Italian moved up to second, but was never able to challenge Wellbrock, who won his third Worlds 10 km gold (also in 2019 and 2023) in 1:59:55.5, with Paltrinieri, the 2022 World Champion, second in 1:59:59.2, his eighth career Worlds open-water medal (2-5-1).

Lee outlasted Klemet for third, 2:00:10.3 to 2:00:10.4; Joey Tepper was the top American, in 12th at 2:01:53.8. Of the 78 starters, 16 did not finish or were lapped.

The women’s race was all about Australia’s Moesha Johnson, the Paris Olympic silver winner. She had the lead by the third of six laps and maintained a steady lead over Italy’s Ginerva Taddeucci and Monaco’s surprising Lisa Pou, who separated from the rest of the chasers on the final lap. At the touch, Johnson won by 2:07:51.3 to 2:07:55.7 to 2:07:57.5. It’s Johnson’s first individual Worlds medal; Taddecci moved up one position from her Paris Olympic bronze last year, while Pou got her first career Worlds medal.

Mariah Denigan was the top American, finishing 14th in 2:11:54.1; 16 of the 69 starters did not finish.

● Table Tennis ● As a follow-up to hosting its first United States Smash in Las Vegas last week, the International Table Tennis Federation and its commercial arm, World Table Tennis, announced Tuesday that a combined business and training center will be launched in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.

This is part of a grow-the-game effort in the U.S. and the Pan American region by the ITTF, with the commercial and federation activities opening by the end of 2025 and the WTT Global Training Center in the second quarter of 2026.

● Water Polo ● Group play in the men’s tournament at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore concluded on Wednesday, with Italy, Spain, the U.S. and defending champ Croatia all finishing at 3-0.

The play-in games to the quarterfinals will be held on Friday (18th) and the quarters on the 20th (Sunday), with the U.S. facing the winner of Paris Olympic champ Serbia (2-1) and Japan (1-2).

● Wrestling ● USA Wrestling confirmed a dual meet of younger national men’s Freestyle team members against Russia on Monday (21 July) in Budapest (HUN), in coordination with the Professional Wrestling League:

“The teams are meeting in a neutral site in Budapest due to the logistical convenience for both federations. Some of the U.S. athletes in the dual meet also will compete in the Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial UWW Ranking Series Event in Budapest, July 17-18. Based upon the success of PWL 9, there is hope that more dual meets can be organized, including a return to matches in Russia and the United States.”

United World Wrestling allows Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as “neutrals” under the UWW flag; those who have shown support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are considered ineligible.

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For our updated, 699-event International Sports Calendar for 2025, 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

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Sports

Ugolini Named AVCA All-Region – America East Conference

Published

13 minutes ago

December 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

<br /> Ugolini Named AVCA All-Region – America East Conference <br />

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BOSTON – After claiming America East Player of the Year honors, Bryant’s Arianna Ugolini has been named Honorable Mention All-Region by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Ugolini led the conference in kills (419), service aces (43), and points (476.5) while helping Bryant claim a share of its first-ever regular season title. She is Bryant’s first-ever Player of the Year in volleyball and was a First-Team All-Conference selection.

ABOUT AMERICA EAST

Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference and its social media channels, @AmericaEast.

– America East Conference – Where Champions Rise –

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Behrend sprinter wins at Houghton December Classic

Published

29 minutes ago

December 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

ERIE, Pa. — Penn State Behrend runner Carter Tobin won the 60-meter dash at the Houghton December Classic. He finished in 6.85 seconds — a qualifying time for the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference.

Tobin, a sophomore from Irwin, placed third in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 22.22 seconds.

Lee Qualk, a freshman from Coal Center, placed third in the triple jump, clearing a distance of 7.13 meters.

In the women’s events, the 4×200 relay team — Anna Buck, Caroline McDevitt, Abigail Falk and Ruby Lormejuste — placed third, finishing in 1:54.41.

Behrend’s basketball, swimming and diving and wrestling teams also were in action last week. Here are the scores and highlights:

Men’s basketball

Penn State Behrend 69, Carlow 53
Penn State Behrend 75, La Roche 71

Jacob Dunkle, a freshman from Washington, scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds against La Roche. Dolan Waldo, a senior from Pittsburgh, scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Women’s basketball

Penn State Behrend 94, Carlow 38
La Roche 68, Penn State Behrend 64

Alaina Fabin, a sophomore from Indiana, scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against La Roche. Emma Marsteller, a sophomore from Sandy Lake, scored 21 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds against Carlow.

Men’s swimming and diving

Penn State Behrend 129, Allegheny 70

Behrend’s 200 medley relay team — Nevin Rutherford, Evan Tritt, Nicolin Pierce and Michael Kali — won, finishing in 1:45.52. Isaac Stoeckle, a sophomore from Pittsburgh, won the 1,000 freestyle, finishing in 10:57.86. Kyle Malec, a freshman from Edinboro, won the diving events; he earned 198.35 points in the 1-meter event and 195.25 points in the 3-meter event.

Women’s swimming and diving

Penn State Behrend 154, Allegheny 106

Kaitlyn True, a freshman from Denton, Texas, won the 100 freestyle (59.42) and the 100 breaststroke (1:14.31). Izzy Sheridan, a senior from Orefield, won the 100 backstroke, finishing in 1:07.79. Rylee Ondrejko, a freshman from Washington, won the diving events; she earned 139.80 points in the 1-meter event and 150.20 points in the 3-meter event.

Wrestling

Fifth (of 14 teams) at the RIT Invitational

Mason Savitz, a freshman from Corry, won the 165-pound weight class. He finished the tournament 5-0, with one fall and two major decisions.

Scores, updates and video links for Penn State Behrend athletics are posted at psblions.com.

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Big West Trio Lands on AVCA All-Pacific Region Listings

Published

29 minutes ago

December 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Representing three member-institutions, a trio of Big West women’s volleyball players have been announced as American Volleyball Coaches’ Association (AVCA) All-Pacific Region honorable mention student-athletes.

Big West Player of the Year Jade Light helped UC Davis to their first regular-season Big West title while pacing the Aggies and the conference in both kills (4.01) and points (4.52) per set in 2025. Posting consecutive seasons of 400+ kills, the outside hitter from Sloughhouse, Calif., has tallied 1,162 career strikes and is just the 13th UC Davis player to reach the four-digit plateau. Light stands as the first – and only – Aggie to earn Player of the Year honors in UC Davis’ last season of league membership while also earning first-team All-Big West distinction.

UC Santa Barbara redshirt sophomore Eva Travis claimed a first career All-Region distinction after trailing only Light in both kills (3.93) and points (4.42) per set to lead the Gauchos back to The Big West postseason finishing the year tied for second in the conference standings. The product of Aliso Viejo, Calif., finished the year with six 20-point games reaching double-figures in all 28 matches played and started, earning All-Big West second-team honors.

Finally, Cal Poly middle blocker and Big West Championship Most Valuable Player Chloe Leluge made the listings after a stellar sophomore campaign. The powerful net play provided by the Bend, Ore., native has resulted in 126 total blocks, or 1.02 per set, along with 2.30 kills per set while sporting an efficient .383 hitting percentage for The Big West champions. Leluge and the Mustangs upended No. 5 seed BYU and knocked off host and No. 4 seed USC last weekend to advance to the regional semifinals of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. Cal Poly is set to square off with No. 1 seed Kentucky in the Round of 16 on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. PT.

Last year, the AVCA instituted a new 10-region alignment based upon state lines rather than conference alignment. In the new configuration, the Pacific Region consists of the states of California, Hawai’i and Arizona.

Regardless of various regional changes throughout the years, The Big West has enjoyed at least one All-Region/All-District selection every season, since 1986. Dating back to the 2015 season, this marks the ninth set of All-Region listings to include at least three Big West performers.

AVCA All-Pacific Region

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Frantzich and Nemecek land MIAC Athlete of the Week accolades

Published

45 minutes ago

December 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – First year Svea Frantzich and senior Lance Nemecek of the St. Olaf College women’s and men’s track and field teams were named one of the two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Athletes of the Week in their respective sports on Tuesday.

Frantzich was chosen as the MIAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week, while Nemecek collected MIAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors, with both Oles landing the first MIAC Athlete of the Week accolades of their careers.

Frantzich recorded the fifth-highest pentathlon score in NCAA Division III this season with 3,005 points in her collegiate debut at the M City Classic on Friday. Frantzich posted top-10 all-time performances on St. Olaf’s indoor list in the 60-meter hurdles (9.47) and long jump (5.44m) on her way to compiling the No. 8 pentathlon score on the Oles’ all-time performers’ list.

Nemecek ran the second-fastest 800-meter time in NCAA Division III this season with a meet record time of 1:54.02 at the M City Classic on Friday. Nemecek’s time ranks third on both St. Olaf’s all-time performers’ and performances lists. He also led off the first-place 4×400-meter relay that won the event in a meet-record time of 3:21.77, which ranks fifth nationally and second on both St. Olaf lists.

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No. 3 Volleyball lands four on AVCA Southwest Region Team

Published

46 minutes ago

December 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

AUSTIN, Texas – No. 3 Texas Volleyball landed four on the AVCA Southwest All-Region Team, led by Torrey Stafford who was named AVCA Southwest Region Player of the Year.

Stafford became the fifth Longhorn to earn the award, which marked the seventh overall award joining Chiaka Ogbogu (’17), Micaya White (’18), Logan Eggleston (20-22) and Madisen Skinner (’23). Stafford leads the Longhorns with 488 kills, has totaled 4.74 kills per set, is hitting .359 and leads the team with 32 aces.

Stafford was also named to the All-Region Team along with freshman Cari Spears, sophomore Ayden Ames and senior Emma Halter.

Spears was also tabbed as the AVCA Southwest Region Freshman of the year. Texas has now won the award three-straight seasons following Ames and Ella Swindle.

Texas is set to host #15 Indiana on Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. CT at Gregory Gym in the Sweet 16.

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ACC Announces Week 1 Indoor Track & Field Performers of the Week

Published

1 hour ago

December 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – A pair of standouts from Louisville led the way for the Atlantic Coast Conference’s first Performers of the Week of the 2025-26 Indoor Track & Field season. Louisville’s Alba Cuns Iglesias was named the ACC Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week, while Elsingi Kipruto was tabbed the ACC Men’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Week. Virginia’s Gary Martin earned ACC Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week honors, while North Carolina’s Vera Sjöberg was named the ACC Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week. Virginia Tech’s Maddox Hamm was selected as the ACC Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week, while Clemson’s Kimeka Smith garnered ACC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Week honors.

ACC Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
Gary Martin, Virginia, Sr. (Warminster, Pa.)

Posted a 13:05.57 in the men’s 5,000-meter run at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston, Massachusetts.

Shattered his own school record in the 5,000-meter by more than 25 seconds.

Broke the ACC record, previously held by Florida State’s Adriaan Wildschutt since 2022.

Clocked the sixth-fastest time in NCAA history.

His time ranks first in the ACC and third nationally.

ACC Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week
Maddox Hamm, Virginia Tech, Jr. (Scottsboro, Ala.)

Finished first in the men’s pole vault at the Liberty Kickoff in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Posted a career-best 5.70m (18-8.25) in the event.

Broke the Virginia Tech program record.

His mark leads both the ACC and NCAA this season.

ACC Men’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Week
Elsingi Kipruto, Louisville, Fr. (Mosoriot, Kenya)

Opened his indoor career with a win in the men’s 5,000-meter open section on the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston.

Finished with a time of 13:29.37, breaking the Louisville program record.

His time ranks fourth in the ACC and 13th nationally.

His time is also the fastest 5K nationally by a freshman.

ACC Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
Vera Sjöberg, North Carolina, Fifth-Year (Stockholm, Sweden)

Posted a time of 8:43.06 in the women’s 3,000-meter run at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston.

Ran the eighth-fastest 5K time in NCAA history.

Broke a 22-year-old school record by 17 seconds.

Her time is the fastest in the ACC and second-best nationally.

ACC Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week
Alba Cuns Iglesias, Louisville, R-Jr. (Negreira, Spain)

Won the women’s triple jump at the Commonwealth College Opener in Louisville, Kentucky.

Her mark of 13.25m (43-5.75) leads both the ACC and NCAA and broke the program record.

Also posted a 5.87m (19-3.25) in the women’s long jump, which ranks sixth in the ACC this season.

ACC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Week
Kimeka Smith, Clemson, Fr. (St. Catherine, Jamaica)

Won the women’s shot put at the Clemson Opener in Clemson, South Carolina, with a mark of 15.06m (49-5).

Set the Clemson freshman record and ranks seventh on the Tigers’ all-time performance list.

Her mark leads the ACC and ranks 11th nationally.

ACC Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
Dec. 9 – Gary Martin, Virginia

ACC Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week
Dec. 9 – Maddox Hamm, Virginia Tech

ACC Men’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Week
Dec. 9 – Elsingi Kipruto, Louisville

ACC Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
Dec. 9 – Vera Sjöberg, North Carolina

ACC Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week
Dec. 9 – Alba Cuns Iglesias, Louisville

ACC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Week
Dec. 9 – Kimeka Smith, Clemson