Zagreb, Croatia – June 20 – The USA Men’s Junior National Team came through with an exciting 18-16 win over Hungary in semifinal action at the World Aquatics U20 World Championship earlier today. Ryder Dodd starred again with six goals to lead the way while Landon Akerstrom and Peter Castillo scored three each. Team USA will now face off against Spain in the gold medal match on Saturday at 2:30pm et/11:30am pt. All matches are scheduled to stream live on the World Aquatics YouTube. Live statistics will be available for every match from MicroPlus Timing Services.

Hungary began the game with two quick goals from Csongor Lugosi and the captain Oliver Leinweber before Bode Brinkema floated in Team USA’s first score. Martin Toth pushed the lead back to two and then Benjamin Liechty cut the deficit right back to one. From there, Leinweber and Adam Peocz scored for Hungary but Castillo and William Schneider answered to close the quarter for the United States trailing 5-4. In the second period, the Hungarian side opened with three goals from Botond Balogh, Vince Varga, and Leinweber before Gavin Appledorn found the back of the net for the Americans. Zsombor Porge tacked on one more but Akerstrom (2) and Dodd quickly brought Team USA within one. Mor Benedek and Akerstrom traded scores to close the half with Hungary holding a 10-9 lead.

Brinkema won the opening sprint to start the second half which allowed Liechty to find Castillo for a game-tying goal. One minute later, Dodd rang the register from six meters to give Team USA its first lead of the day. Varga would have an answer for Hungary and then the captains would weigh in. Dodd converted a penalty shot to regain the lead before Leinweber hit from six meters twice in the final few minutes to give the Hungarians a 13-12 edge after three. The United States would step up its game in the final frame to close things out. Dodd (2), Castillo, and Ryan Ohl came out firing to put the Americans ahead by three before Hungary could respond. They would turn to their captain Leinweber for another pair of goals to cut the deficit down to one with 2:38 remaining. On the ensuing possession, Liechty found Brinkema for a beautiful cross cage goal from long distance. Hungary would bring the ball up the pool needing a score and they earned an exclusion but Marton Zeman was denied by Charles Mills who quickly flipped the ball out of harm’s way to Castillo. Castillo found Dodd with no Hungarian goalkeeper to beat and Dodd skipped home the dagger from half tank. Varga would score a meaningless goal late for Hungary to set the final score at 18-16 for Team USA.

Team USA went 6/16 on power plays and 3/3 on penalties in regulation while Hungary went 4/7 on power plays and 4/4 on penalties. 

Scoring – Stats

USA 18 (4, 5, 3, 6) R. Dodd 6, L. Akerstrom 3, P. Castillo 3, B. Brinkema 2, G. Appledorn 1, B. Liecthy 1, R. Ohl 1, W. Schneider 1

HUN 16 (5, 5, 3, 3) O. Leinweber 7, V. Varga 3, B. Balogh 1, M. Benedek 1, C. Lugosi 1, A. Peocz 1, Z. Porge 1, M. Toth 1

Saves – USA – C. Mills 4 – HUN – G. Szabo 4, D. Szitas 3

6×5 – USA – 6/16 – HUN – 4/7

Penalties – USA – 3/3 – HUN – 4/4

 

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Senior Savannah Sutherland and assistant coach Steven Rajewsky of the University of Michigan women’s track and field team have earned United States Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Regional Awards, as announced Friday (June 20).

Sutherland was named Great Lakes Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, while Rajewsky was named the Great Lakes Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year.

A vote of USTFCCCA member coaches determined

Award winners following the conclusion of the 2025 NCAA DI Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Performances from both the NCAA Championships and the regular season were considered.

Sutherland captured her second national title in the 400-meter hurdles and her third straight top-two finish at the NCAA Championships on June 14. She ran a personal-best 52.46 seconds to finish 2.20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, set five records — the NCAA record, the NCAA Championship meet record, the Big Ten record, the Michigan program record and the Canadian national record — and earned first team All-America honors.

The Borden, Saskatchewan, native is now just the second runner in NCAA history to break 53 seconds, with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone setting the previous collegiate record of 52.75 in 2018. The time comes in at No. 9 in the world on the all-time performance list and is tied for the second-fastest time in the world this season.

Sutherland also ran the second leg of the 4×400-meter relay at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, running 50.71 for the fastest second leg and second-fastest split of the race. The relay squad finished 19th overall with a time of 3:33.75 to be named All-America honorable mention.

The senior capped an impressive career in her final season for the Maize and Blue, winning her third straight Big Ten title in the 400-meter hurdles before setting the NCAA East First Round meet record (54.39) for the second consecutive year. She also helped set the program record in the 4×400-meter relay twice this season and earned a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships.

Rajewsky, in his 12th year as an assistant coach at Michigan, coached Sutherland to setting a collegiate record of 52.46 in winning the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships. His sprint/hurdle group also twice lowered the program record in the 4×400m relay and finished third at the Big Ten Championships.

• USTFCCCA Release

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Jadin O’Brien was named as the Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year for the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field season, as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Pewaukee, Wisconsin native finished as the runner-up in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships last weekend. She posted a personal-record and program-record score of 6256, which put her as No. 12 on the all-time collegiate scoring chart in the event. In May, she captured the ACC Outdoor Track & Field title in the heptathlon with a then-PR of 6220. O’Brien set a meet record in the event and became the first Notre Dame track and field athlete to win the ACC heptathlon crown.

O’Brien swept the 2025 USTFCCCA Region Field Athlete of the Year awards as she also earned the honor after the conclusion of the indoor track & field season.

The full list of USTFCCCA Regional Athletes and Coaches of the Year is available to read by following this link.

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Campers hold up their “Ls” for Lowndes during a group photo at the Lowndes Volleyball Camp.

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Lowndes head volleyball coach Jesi Thomas leads campers through a drill.

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Campers hone their skills in foundational volleyball skills through hands-on drills.

VALDOSTA — As the fall season approaches, Lowndes’ volleyball program is working hard to ensure that all levels of their program remain active during the summer and focused on the fundamentals.

This week, Head Coach Jesi Thomas and her staff welcomed a group of sixth,  seventh, and eighth graders for a developmental camp aimed at building both fundamental skills and a stronger future program. Next week, a younger group of elementary school kids will take the court for their own camp.

The camps, part of Lowndes’ multiple offseason efforts, focused on essential techniques like passing and serving—skills Thomas called “the only way you can start a point.” The players were divided by age across the gym and spent each day learning the structure of organized play, developing muscle control, and participating in guided drills. But beyond the technical training, the camp served a larger purpose: introducing younger athletes to the “Lowndes way” of volleyball.

Thomas said this year’s group has already shown something special.

“The group has really good chemistry this year,” she said during the camp. “Way more than we had at this point last year. That part is interesting—especially since they are younger.”

While the younger athletes learned the basics, they were guided by a lineup of familiar faces. Current JV and varsity players helped with the camp, while two recent graduates, former seniors who played key roles last season, returned to assist. Thomas discussed that the mix of experience levels created a positive environment where the younger campers could look up to players who had walked the same path. It also reinforced one of Thomas’ primary goals: creating continuity between middle and high school programs.

For Thomas, leading the Lowndes volleyball program has become more than a career move—it’s become a calling.

“I love it. It’s literally a dream job that I did not know was my dream job,” said Thomas. “I could not see myself doing anything outside of this. I love the girls.”

That passion translates into the culture Thomas continues to try to build within the team. As the season approaches, she’s focused on preparing a younger but eager group of athletes to step into the roles left by last year’s graduating class. 

Campers will also make an appearance at Crimson and White Night. Set for August 12, the event started last year and offers fans a chance to get an early look at the squad while celebrating the program’s growth. As for the season itself, Thomas said she hopes the community shows up the same way her players have—ready, energetic, and loud.

“Come out. Come out and support. We love having the environment that we have for volleyball,” she said. “It’s like almost a playoff-caliber game every single night.”

OMAHA, Neb. – When Coastal Carolina baseball takes the field at Charles Schwab Stadium on Saturday to compete for a national championship, it will carry the banner for the Sun Belt Conference, which has undergone a meteoric rise since expanding to its current 14-member configuration ahead of the 2022-23 season. 
 
The Chanticleers—proud members of the Sun Belt since the day after winning their baseball national championship in 2016—will be the second Sun Belt program to compete in an NCAA Division I national championship final during the 2024-25 season, following Marshall men’s soccer. With that appearance, the Sun Belt will join the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC as 1-of-5 conferences with multiple appearances in NCAA Division I national championship finals this season. 
 
The Sun Belt regular-season and tournament champion Chanticleers have not lost a game since April 22, including an unblemished run through postseason play. Coastal Carolina carried the longest-ever winning streak into the College World Series (23 games) and now into the College World Series national championship round (26 games)—snapping a 77-year-old record 18-game winning streak entering the national championship by USC in 1948 in the process. 
 
Sun Belt Coach of the Year Kevin Schnall summed up the Coastal Carolina run following Wednesday’s national semifinal by saying, “It’s incredible, but it’s not unbelievable.” 
 
That statement could just as easily have been describing the Sun Belt’s rise since the 2022-2023 season. The league has paced all non-autonomy conferences in Bowl Season representation in football for three-straight years—including leading the nation with 12 Bowl Season qualifiers in 2023—and established a conference record with 37 NCAA postseason and Bowl Season berths during the 2023-24 season—when it was a multi-bid league in women’s soccer, men’s soccer, volleyball, football, softball and baseball. 
 
The Sun Belt’s first-ever appearance in the College World Series final comes on the heels of a four-season span in which it has sent 14 teams to NCAA Baseball Regionals, 10 to NCAA Baseball Regional finals and two to NCAA Baseball Super Regionals. That grouping has included four regional hosts and national seeds—No. 13 Coastal Carolina (2025), No. 16 Southern Miss (2025), No. 10 Coastal Carolina (2023) and No. 16 Georgia Southern (2022). 
 
Historically one of the nation’s premier conferences in the diamond sports, the Sun Belt has been a multi-bid league in baseball in 30-of-36 seasons since 1989 and in softball in 11-of-15 seasons since 2010. The conference has produced seven Super Regional and two Men’s College World Series teams in baseball since the current tournament format was adopted in 1999 and eight Super Regional and three Women’s College World Series teams since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 2000. 
 
In the three seasons since reestablishing its men’s soccer conference in 2022, the Sun Belt has sent nine teams to the NCAA Tournament, with two advancing to the Men’s College Cup—Marshall (2024) and West Virginia (2023). That grouping has included five national seeds—No. 13 Marshall (2024), No. 1 Marshall (2023), No. 5 West Virginia (2023), No. 12 UCF (2023) and No. 1 Kentucky (2022)—and the No. 1 overall seeds in 2022 and 2023. 
 
In football, the Sun Belt’s .571 bowl winning percentage during the College Football Playoff era (2014-2024) trails only the SEC (.578), while its .545 all-time bowl winning percentage leads all non-autonomy conferences since the conference began sponsoring football in 2001. 
 
Building upon its own 2016 national championship and the Sun Belt’s sustained rise across a number of conference-sponsored sports, Coastal Carolina baseball will attempt to take the next step for the conference in the College World Series final this weekend. With a championship series victory, the Chanticleers would become the Sun Belt’s second-ever NCAA team national champion, joining Old Dominion women’s basketball (1985). 
 
Regardless of this weekend’s result, Schnall sums up the sentiment for Coastal Carolina baseball and the Sun Belt Conference by stating, “This is not a fluke. This is not a Cinderella deal…and we’re not going away.”  
 
With 14 universities in 10 contiguous states, the Sun Belt has established itself as a power player in NCAA Division I as 1-of-5 conferences with multiple appearances in NCAA Division I national championship finals this season and an opportunity to hoist a national championship trophy this weekend. 
 
The Sun Belt is rising. This is not a fluke. This is not a Cinderella deal…and we’re not going away.