WORCESTER, Mass. – The Army West Point men’s and Boston University’s women’s teams lead their respective fields after the first day at the 2025 Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hart Track, hosted by the College of the Holy Cross.  

Colgate’s Cole Blair became the first Patriot League student-athlete to secure four-consecutive titles in the long jump since the League began sponsoring track and field in 1991. Meanwhile, Navy sophomore Helen Emerick set a Patriot League Women’s Outdoor Track and Field record in the pole vault, clearing 4.07m (13’ 4”).

Boston University’s Peace Omonzane established a Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field record in the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.44 meters. To close out the day’s track events, Boston University women’s 4×800-meter relay team of Lily Borin, Olivia Dodds, Maura Woodland-Medenilla and Vera Sjöberg established a Patriot League Women’s Outdoor Championship record with a first-place time of 8:39.22.

The Army West Point men’s team totaled 68 points through the first day of the championship, while Navy sits in second with 56 points. Boston University (39), Bucknell (19) and Lehigh (18) rounded out the top five. Colgate (13), Lafayette (11), Holy Cross (10) and American (0) concluded the men’s scoring totals after day one.

Boston University compiled 59 points to lead the women’s field through day one, while Army West Point sits in second place with 49 points. Navy sits in third with 41 points, trailed by Bucknell with 37 points. Lehigh rounds out the top five with 21 points. Holy Cross (16), Lafayette (7), Colgate (2), Loyola Maryland (2) and American (0) round out the women’s field.

For results from today’s preliminary and semifinal races, please click here.

Patriot League on ESPN+ Coverage

Saturday is the final day of the 2025 Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Saturday’s track events for the 2025 Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be streamed on ESPN+. Due to anticipated weather on Saturday evening, all events have been moved up by one hour. For an updated schedule of tomorrow’s event start times, please click here.

 

WATCH DAY TWO ON ESPN+

DAY ONE TRACK EVENT RECAPS

10,000 METERS

Navy’s Murphy Smith won gold in 30:56.08 to earn first-team honors in the event’s opening race. Fellow Midshipman Alexander Kirkland (30:57.87) finished second, while Army West Point junior Anthony Diaz (31:02.90) claimed the bronze medal.

 

Army West Point junior Charlotte Richman repeated as the gold medalist in the women’s 10,000m with a winning time of 36:55.342. Teammate Louisa Diamond finished as the runner-up for the second consecutive season, finishing stride-for-stride with Richman at 36:55.349. Boston University’s Merem Gabriel-Rodriguez garnered a third-place finish in 37:12.55 to earn six points for the Terriers.

 

4X800-METER RELAY

Boston University won the men’s 4×800 with a time of 7:29.61 with the quartet of Thomas Cowan, Karsen Vesty, Shamiso Sikaneta and Parker Schneider. Army West Point’s relay team of Jordan Taylor, Ammon Smith, Adam Furman and Kasen Jeitz took home the silver medal with a time of 7:32.04, while Navy’s team of James Partlow, Carson Sloat, Matthew Newell and Luke Nester earned a third-place finish at 7:32.09.

 

The Boston University women’s 4×800-meter relay team of Lily Borin, Olivia Dodds, Maura Woodland-Medenilla and Vera Sjöberg established a Patriot League Women’s Outdoor Championship record with a first-place time of 8:39.22. Army West Point finished second at 8:39.91 behind strong efforts from Hannah Andrews, Alma Lazo Cazares, Cherokee Chambers and Mikayla Cheney. Lehigh’s quartet of Lauryn Heskin, Amber Barrios, Svea Wickelgren and Abby Klebe logged a third-place time of 8:46.01.

 

DAY ONE FIELD EVENT RECAPS

HAMMER THROW

Army West Point junior Robby Manse claimed the outdoor title in the hammer throw with a mark of 64.03m (210’ 1”) to win gold for the Black Knights. Bucknell’s Aiden Tucker secured a silver medal with a mark of 58.26 (191’ 2”) while Holy Cross’ Michael LaFlamme claimed a bronze medal finish on his home turf with a mark of 55.76m (182’ 11”).

 

In the women’s event, Boston University’s Ellie Roan finished first with a mark of 59.72m (195’ 11”). It was the second straight gold medal for Roan in the event. Kiana Emerson secured a silver medal for Army West Point with a 55.03m (180’ 6”) mark. Lehigh sophomore Avery Dowkus earned a bronze medal with a mark of 51.85m (170’ 1”).

 

POLE VAULT

Senior Brian McSweeney cleared 5.26m (17’ 3”) to earn 10 points for the Black Knights and earn gold in the event. Navy teammates Brian Schloeder (5.21m | 17’ 1”) and Gunnar Kimball (5.06m | 16’ 7.25”) rounded out the podium, finishing in second and third, respectively.

 

Navy sophomore Helen Emerick set a Patriot League Women’s Outdoor Track and Field record in the pole vault clearing, 4.07m (13’ 4”). Holy Cross senior Maura Switzer and Boston University’s Alli Lofquist rounded out the podium, both clearing 3.97m (13’ 0.25”).

 

LONG JUMP

Colgate junior Cole Blair claimed a fourth-straight gold medal in the men’s outdoor long jump with a 7.60m (24’ 11.25”) leap. Blair is the first student-athlete to win four consecutive titles in the long jump in Patriot League history. Boston University seniors Samuel Roszak (7.53m | 24’ 8.5”) and Ryan Rosenberger (7.51m | 24’ 7.75”) earned silver and bronze, respectively, to earn 14 total points for the Terrier men.

 

Boston University swept the event for the second consecutive season, led by junior Peace Omonzane who established a new Patriot League Women’s Outdoor Track and Field record with a 6.44m (21’ 1.5”) en route to her gold medal. Teammates Asia Hamilton (6.10m | 20’ 0.25”) and Emma Lawrence (6.07m | 19’ 11”) rounded out the podium in second and third.

 

JAVELIN

Owen Faula earned the first-ever men’s javelin gold medal at the Patriot League Championships in Boston University history. The junior logged a toss of 64.00m (210’) to win the event. Army West Point freshman Collin Torres finished second with a 63.22m (207’ 5”) mark, while Navy senior Caleb Walker finished third with a toss of 62.22m (204’ 1”).

 

Bucknell’s Evelyn Bliss repeated as the gold medalist with a toss of 53.77m (176’ 5”). The 2024 All-American won the event by nearly 20 feet. Teammate Brylee Tereska earned a silver medal with a toss of 47.92m (157’ 3”) for the Bison, while Navy’s Renny Murphy logged a bronze medal to round out her senior campaign with a mark of 44.98 (147’ 7”).

 

DAY ONE MULTIS UPDATE

HEPTATHLON

Holy Cross’ Celia Kulis leads the heptathlon after five events. The junior leads the field with 3,181 points, paced by a victory in the 100-meter hurdles. Army West Point senior Zoe Eggleston holds second-place honors after day one with 3,045 points, led by her victory in the 200m. Boston University’s Olivia Hughes won the high jump and ended the day in third place with 3,002 points.

 

DECATHLON

Steven Franco of Boston University leads the decathlon after winning the 400m and long jump on day one. The senior totaled 3,880 points across five events. Navy’s Thomas Christie won the high jump to pace his 3,631-point total to sit in second, while fellow Midshipman Nicolas Simmons logged a 100m win and 3,609 points, ending the day in third-place position.

 

Events at Hart Track continue tomorrow to close out the 2025 Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Due to anticipated weather on Saturday evening, all events have been moved up by one hour. For an updated schedule of tomorrow’s event start times, please click here.

 

ABOUT THE PATRIOT LEAGUE

The Patriot League is in its fourth decade of academic and athletic achievement, continually demonstrating that student-athletes can excel at both academics and athletics without sacrificing high standards. The Patriot League’s athletic success is achieved while its member institutions remain committed to its founding principle of admitting and graduating student-athletes who are academically representative of their class. Participation in athletics at Patriot League institutions is viewed as an important component of a well-rounded education.

  

 

IRVINE, Calif. –    Sophomore Bridget Miller earns a spot on the All-Big West Second Team, while sophomore Chelsea Johnson, redshirt junior Gianna Nocetti, sophomore Sadie Henry, and senior Kelly Hungerford pick up the honorable mention titles.
 
After the 2024 season, Johnson and Miller were named to the All-Big West Freshman squad, while Nocetti has a repeat offense with the honorable mention title; making it the second year in a row that the trio earns conference nods. This is Hungerford’s first award after her knockout curtain closing season, and Henry’s first title as well.
 
The center from Ladera Ranch, California put up some impressive stats for the Aggies, posing as a consistent threat in the water to the other teams. Miller led the team in goals with 47 on the season, and added 8 assists, 15 steals, and drew a whopping 57 exclusions. She totaled up fifteen multi-goal games of the 28 played, scoring 4 against Cal Baptist, UC Merced, and Cal State Fullerton. A marksman in her craft, Miller has maintained a perfect shooting rate in the game five times this season as well.
 
Hungerford, originally rooted from Santa Ana, California, led the team in assists with 47 on the season; also breaking the Davis career assist record, now crowned at the top with 154. She has also put up 20 goals, 45 steals, 14 drawn kickouts, and 14 field blocks. Hungerford had a monumental game versus UC Irvine, where she found the back of the net five times and added two assists to her stat line in the one game alone. She aided her teammates’ offense and made five assists on two separate occasions: versus Pacific and Cal State Monterey and has had five multi-goal games this season.
 
From Carmichael, California, Nocetti is notorious for her sprint winning and relentless attacker for the Aggies. With 38 goals on the season, she balanced that with 29 assists, 30 steals, 10 drawn exclusions, and five field blocks. She won 72 sprints for the Aggies, with an 86% success rate to begin the quarters off with a victory. She registered multi-goal game streaks on three separate occasions for the team and put up a season-high of four goals against Loyola Marymount.
 
Henry, the San Diego native is second behind Miller in goals with 44 to her name. The feisty attacker has also generated the wheel of offense for the Aggies with 9 assists, 51 drawn ejections, and has added 13 steals and 7 field blocks. She has logged five hat tricks on the season, four of which are coupled up in back-to-back matches. She has had 11 multi-goal games on the season, and has scored a career-high of five against Loyola Marymount. Most notably at the Triton Invite, she netted 14 goals across the four games the Aggies competed in.
 
Finally, from Brisbane, Australia, Johnson was the starting defender for the Ags, trusted to lead the team in minutes played with 582. Elevating her game beyond the defensive end, she has made 26 goals, 32 assists, 42 steals, 35 drawn ejections, and five field blocks. She tallied up tow hat tricks, one against Loyola Marymount and one against Stanford. She made a season’s best of four steals versus USC, showing off her ability to play both ends of the pool.
 
Miller is the 17th in Aggie history to make the second team’s roster, while the quartet of honorable mentions total the count up to 28.
 

NBC News wants to play a game that has not always interested the nation’s biggest purveyors of TV news.

As NBC Sports prepares its coverage for this weekend’s Kentucky Derby, NBC News’ digital outlet, NBCNews.com, will feature a hub that offers content from NBC Sports, access to NBC Sports’ free ad-supported streaming channel and sports coverage from a team NBC News has been building to cover sports. Also on hand: sports explainers from Steve Kornacki. The new sports hub will also surface in NBC News’ mobile app.

There is more to come, says Rebecca Blumenstein, president of editorial for NBC News. “We are combining NBC Sports’ deep expertise and exclusive content with the editorial strengths and wide reach of NBC News to establish a destination on NBCNews.com for smart, accessible sports coverage for a broad audience. Sports has a growing influence on American culture, and this collaboration comes as interest in major leagues, events, moments and athletes are greater than ever.”

At TV companies, sports coverage has often been the province of a network’s sports division. While local stations always feature a regular anchor for sports news, there’s rarely a break from David Muir on, say, “World News Tonight” for the scores of the day. Offering that, of course, could dissuade a viewer from wandering over to ESPN – like ABC News, part of Walt Disney — and watching an hour of “Sports Center.”

Nor have cable-news outlets devoted much time to sports coverage in recent years. CNN once made sports a staple of its lineup, with a nightly show anchored by Nick Charles called “Sports Tonight.” In a different era, CNN even launched a sports-news network, CNN/SI. And Fox News Media has tested sports concepts, launching a documentary about the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide in February for its Fox Nation streaming service.

There may be more reasons now to open a new playbook. Sports programming has become increasingly important to the economics of traditional media outlets — particularly NBC. The network already devotes Sunday nights to NFL football games, and will, thanks to the debut of a new rights deal with the NBA, add basketball as many as two nights per week (and a third on the Peacock streaming hub). Indeed, next February, NBC will feature hours of Winter Olympics coverage as well as a Super Bowl.

Other NBC News outlets have tried to follow the ball. At “Today,” co-anchors Craig Melvin and Savannah Guthrie have described an effort aimed at weaving more sports into the program, reflecting NBC’s ties to the NFL and the NBA.  Melvin has also taken part in Olympics coverage and is expected to do so again for next year’s Winter Olympics in Milan.

CNBC has in recent months also put a new focus on sports. The business-news outlet now operates a vertical devoted to the business of sports ,and its offering includes a weekly newsletter, events, data and even documentaries. The venture is a separate one from NBC News, and will likely remain so. CNBC is among the properties slated to be spun off into a new publicly traded company by the end of the year.

NBC News has launched an editorial team devoted to sports. Editor Greg Rosenstein joined from The Athletic, while Rohan Nadkarni came from Sports Illustrated. Andrew Greif, a former sports reporter for the Los Angeles Times, also contributes.

NBC News will next tackle the Preakness Stakes on May 17. “We’re excited to continue to build on this,” says Blumenstein.

Gulf Shores is the headquarters for the NCAA national championship tournament for beach volleyball. The Alabama beach town has hosted the tourney since its inception in 2016.

This year, the 16-team tourney is going on now through Sunday. Schedule, details and tickets are available here.

The tourney was not supposed to return to Gulf Shores this year. For the first time, it was slated for Huntington Beach, Calif. However, the Good Lord and the California fires of 2024 did not cooperate with that site, and the tourney unexpectedly returned to its Gulf Shores home.

Two SEC teams made the national tourney this year, LSU and Texas.

In the nine years of the tourney, one team has been dominant: the University of Southern California. The Lady Trojans have won six of the nine national championships, including the past four. This year, USC is back in Gulf Shores trying for a five-peat.

The games played are single elimination and involve 16 colleges that earned selection after the regular season. The final game to determine the national champion will be played on Sunday.

Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler writes about Alabama’s people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths.  He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected].

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HONOLULU — After claiming the conference regular season and championship titles, the University of Hawai’i women’s water polo team swept the Big West’s major awards and a total of seven members of the program received postseason recognition from the conference.
 
The Big West announced its 2025 awards on Friday and Bernadette Doyle’s all-around performance earned the senior conference Player of the Year honors in voting of the league’s coaches. Ema Vernoux, the team’s leading goal scorer, was named the Freshman of the Year, and James Robinson was voted Coach of the Year in his first season leading the Rainbow Wahine.
 
Doyle and Vernoux, both attackers, also made the All-Big West First Team along with goalkeeper Daisy Logtens. Senior utility Jordan Wedderburn was a second-team selection and junior attacker Roni Perlman earned honorable mention recognition. Vernoux and attacker Gabrielle Doyle also made the All-Freshman team.
 
Bernadette Doyle became the fifth UH student-athlete to be voted Big West Player of the Year and the Rainbow Wahine program claimed the honor for the seventh time in 12 years of conference membership. The left-hander from New Zealand has served as a catalyst for the ‘Bows on both ends of the pool, ranking second on the team with 91 total points with 53 goals and a team-high 38 assists. She’s also tied for the Big West lead with 51 steals and is second on the team with 13 field blocks. In Big West regular-season play, she led the conference with 37 points (19 goals, 18 assists) and tied for second with 14 steals. She has 12 hat tricks this season and posted a career game in the Big West Championship semifinals on April 26 when she tied her previous best with five goals and set a new high with eight steals in an 11-9 win over UC San Diego. She also became just the second player in program history to post at least 100 goals, assists and steals in a career.
 
Coming off an appearance in the Paris Olympics in her home country, Vernoux made an instant impact in Mānoa, becoming the sixth UH player to be named Big West Freshman of the Year. Her total of 75 goals is the fourth highest single-season total in program history and she is on pace to become just the third UH player to average at least 3.0 goals per match in a season. She’s led the UH attack in volume and efficiency with a team-high 16 hat tricks and a .556 shooting percentage.
 
Logtens made the All-Big West first-team for the second consecutive season and leads the conference with a 9.02 goals-against average and ranks fourth with 193 saves in her sophomore season. She was named the Most Valuable Player of the Big West Championship after posting 14 saves in UH’s 8-6 win over Long Beach State to capture the ‘Bows’ second straight title.
 
Wedderburn earned All-Big West honors for the first time in her career while anchoring the middle of the UH attack. She’s second on the team 65 goals, tied for UH’s eighth highest single-season total, and created power-play opportunities with a team-high 69 drawn exclusions. The senior from South Africa has 14 hat tricks this season and scored a career-high seven goals in a win over UC Irvine on Feb. 2 in the Triton Invitational. In Big West matches, she led the team and ranked second in the conference with 22 goals. She tied program records with three Big West Player of the Week awards this season and four in her career. Wedderburn also earned the UH athletic department’s highest honor on Wednesday as a recipient of the Jack Bonham Award.
 
Perlman also earned conference honors for the first time after posting 32 assists to rank second on the team to go along with 15 goals.
 
Gabrielle Doyle joined the roster in January and ranks second on the team with 34 steals, trailing her older sister. She also has 14 goals and 10 assists.
 
Robinson ascended to head coach after two seasons as UH associate head coach under Maureen Cole and extended the ‘Bows’ Big West reign. After losing four of the team’s top five scorers following the 2024 season, UH was voted second in the Big West preseason poll. The ‘Bows went on to sweep through the conference’s regular-season schedule for the second straight year and retained the Big West Championship title. Robinson guided the ‘Bows to their third straight 20-win season and 12^th overall.
 
The Rainbow Wahine (21-4) are preparing for the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship in Indianapolis. UH is the fourth-seed in the bracket and will face California in a first-round match on May 9 at the IU Natatorium.
 

#WahineWP

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The American Volleyball Coaches Association released its annual list of Top Flight award winners today and the University of Tennessee at Martin racked up the honors. The Skyhawks placed three pairs (Kayla Bryant/Olivia O’Keefe, Lauren Mariscal/Jenna Vallée and Sydney Eckhardt/Reagan McGee) on the prestigious list, doubling the previous amount of winners the program had produced in the storied history of the award.
              
Today’s announcement marks the second career AVCA Top Flight award for both Vallée and McGee, joining Kayla Carrell as the only two-time honorees of this accolade. The six 2025 UT Martin winners join Carrell/McGee (2024), Haeleigh Paulino/Vallée (2023) and Carrell/Addison Conley (2022) as the program’s all-time recipients of this award.
              
Now in its seventh year, the AVCA Top Flight program recognizes beach pairs who compete in at least 15 matches together at a specific flight and win at least 75 percent of their matches prior to the NCAA Tournament. This year, just 88 pairs representing 45 schools from all three NCAA divisions, NAIA, and two-year colleges earned Top Flight status.
              
The Skyhawks were one of just eight NCAA Division I schools to boast at least three pairs on this year’s Top Flight list. Overall, 51 Division I pairs made the cut – including only a dozen recipients out of the No. 2 position in the lineup and nine apiece in both the No. 3 and No. 4 spots. UT Martin is responsible for three of the seven Ohio Valley Conference pairs on the 2025 AVCA Top Flight list.
              
An All-OVC first team duo, Bryant/O’Keefe become the first Skyhawks to win an AVCA Top Flight award out of the No. 2 slot in the lineup. That pair reeled off a 25-7 overall record this spring, which ranks as the most pair victories in school history. The duo actually qualified for the Top Flight award in both the No. 2 (12-3, .800 winning percentage) and No. 3 (13-4, .765) positions, going 9-1 against OVC competition. They reeled off two different winning streaks of at least nine matches in 2025, including a stretch of 20 victories in 21 decisions (with 11 wins in a row at one point) from March 14 through April 19. The tandem set a school record with three separate OVC Pair of the Week honors this spring, winning that award on March 5, March 25 and April 15.
              
Mariscal/Vallée are the first-ever UT Martin pair at No. 3 to claim the AVCA Top Flight award. This pair did not team up together until March 22 but went on a torrid stretch thereafter – going 13-3 (.813 winning percentage) overall with a 5-1 mark against league foes. Mariscal, the 2025 OVC Freshman of the Year, and two-time All-OVC honoree Vallée won six of their first seven matchups and eight of their last nine decisions, capping off a spectacular season with OVC Championship All-Tournament medallions.
              
Fresh off a selection on the All-OVC second team, Eckhardt/McGee also earned a spot on the OVC Championship All-Tournament squad. Joining forces for the first time on March 7, this pair went 25-4 overall – equaling Bryant/O’Keefe for the most single-season wins in school history – and solidified its Top Flight status at the No. 4 slot with a 24-2 mark, easily setting the school record for highest career winning percentage (.923) at that position. They won their first 14 matchups together – not suffering a loss until March 29 – and ended the season with 11 wins in their last 12 tries.
              
These six helped the Skyhawks finish the 2025 campaign with a 24-10 record, trailing only the 2023 squad’s 27 wins as the most in school history. UT Martin advanced to the OVC Championship finals for the fourth time in the five-year history of the tournament but narrowly fell by a 3-2 margin at Chattanooga.