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We just watched the last great golf story

“May you get what you wish for.”—The third Chinese curse When Rory McIlroy settled down in front of the media in the aftermath of his great, chaotic, cathartic victory at the Masters, he began his opening statement with a joke: “What are we all going to talk about next year?” It landed. Everyone laughed, and […]

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2 months ago

April 14, 2025

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We just watched the last great golf story

“May you get what you wish for.”
—The third Chinese curse

When Rory McIlroy settled down in front of the media in the aftermath of his great, chaotic, cathartic victory at the Masters, he began his opening statement with a joke: “What are we all going to talk about next year?”

It landed. Everyone laughed, and he laughed, too. As far as I could tell, his tone was congenial, and McIlroy of all people—subject of unbearable scrutiny here and at every other major for a decade and more—had earned the good-natured dig. Behind it, though, as the night went on and I tossed the words around, I detected some deeper, more uncomfortable truth. And the truth felt ominous, and it kept me awake.

Because, actually…what are we going to talk about?

Don’t mistake me—I don’t regret McIlroy’s win. Not even a little.

There’s a rule in sketch comedy that within a scene, you never, ever solve the problem. The comedy comes from tension, so you play the problem, you prolong the conflict, and when you’ve extracted all the humor you can, you bail out. Resolution is not funny—it cuts the tension, and it’s unsatisfying for the audience. Take the famous SNL cowbell sketch as an example. Imagine if, after a minute, one of the band members had successfully stopped Will Ferrell from playing the cowbell. Party’s over, right? The two critical ingredients of that sketch are that one, the bandmates must want him to stop playing the cowbell, and two, he must never stop playing the cowbell. Whatever it takes, including the intervention of Christopher Walken’s weirdo producer, that conflict must be preserved. Extrapolate from there to the narratives of professional golf, and you could argue that McIlroy needed to keep losing majors in order to heighten the tension and prolong the action. Resolution, in the form of him winning a major, meant we would lose the story for good.

But sketch comedy is called “short form” for a reason, and in longform drama (or whatever combination of drama and comedy real life represents), delaying the resolution eventually hits a point of diminishing returns. This weekend at Augusta, that time had come; there was only one satisfying end to the long saga of Rory McIlroy’s 11-year sojourn in the desert of major championship golf:

Victory had been deferred as long as possible, and, admittedly, to great dramatic effect. Just when you thought we had run out of ways to see his heart break in the most public forum possible, fate delivered: he blew the fairytale ending at the Home of Golf, he missed the unmissable putt at Pinehurst, twice. Each loss, importantly, was an escalation on the one that came before, a dramatic heightening, and that itself is a key ingredient of a great story.

To lose at Augusta, as he threatened to do at least half a dozen times on Sunday, would have been just as unbearable, but—critical difference—it would have been unbearable in a way that undermined the journey. Pinehurst had been the absolute limit of a decade of escalations; at this point, he had been hurt a little too much. Heartbreak at Augusta would look less like an interesting setback, and more like celestial sadism.

“There’s something cruel in this,” my friend Chris said to me as we watched McIlroy dump his undumpable pitch into the water on 13. He put the words to what we all felt, and that’s when the epiphany hit: there was no longer anything interesting about Rory blowing a major. It would be a dark farce, but also a tedious one, a gratuitous one, and it would pay off emotionally only for those who enjoyed suffering for its own sake.

Whoever is writing the Rory saga seemed to get it. A decade of losses got us to where we are today, but one more loss would, paradoxically, undermine the carefully built tension. The win that transpired, on the other hand, unleashed a staggering catharsis, emphasizing the incredible competitive resilience of the “eternal optimist” whose greatness was a static fact and whose ultimate triumph came from a heroic refusal to stop trying. He was Odysseus, hellbent on getting home no matter how the gods tried to break him, until even the gods began to love him again.

McIlroy became great with the early wins, but he became heroic through his failures, and he became larger than life through his suffering. If you wanted him to win on Sunday, as I did, it wasn’t because of his real-life personal qualities, or the deficiencies of his opponents, but because you couldn’t bear to see this kind of extended suffering go unrewarded. Whatever you think of him, whatever complications you see in his actions, hadn’t he earned this? Didn’t he deserve it?

There was no better ending than Augusta. No better ending than a thousand obstacles at the threshold, convincing you he might be eternally cursed. No better ending than unbearable tension and agonizing delays right until the very end, until finally, can you ****ing believe it, victory. He’s the greatest story in sports, and I am in awe of the author who stuck the landing.

So despite a certain melancholy attached to passing time, I’m not upset that the story had to end. The string had played out. After Pinehurst, another journalist told me that golf would get a lot less interesting if McIlroy ever actually won, and I took his point, but yesterday the alternative looked even less appetizing. It was time for a series finale.

But now, to attempt to answer that original question, what are we going to talk about next?

If McIlroy’s journey had a heroic quality to it—and again, the comparison to Odysseus is too obvious not to reuse—the conclusion to that journey leaves me with a certain cynicism about what comes next. Look around, and what you see seems less like a clean slate and more like a vacuum.

What if Rory wins more majors? He might—he probably will—but none will carry the same weight. Not even close.

What if other players emerge and go on great runs? They have, and they will, but do any of them connect like McIlroy, for good and bad? Each passing generation becomes more media-trained, more single-minded, and—outside of the golf course but perhaps on it too—so much less interesting. How can they inspire anything close to the same strong feelings?

What about stories off the course? Sure, there will be plenty of those, but have you enjoyed what you’ve seen lately? Are you excited for more years of the endless PGA Tour-LIV power struggle, or the hyper-injections of money that steadily rob professional golf of it soul? Is that what we have to look forward to?

What about Jordan Spieth? OK, fair point.

Aside from a few flickering torches, though, it’s a dark landscape, and while people like me will always find something worth spending words on, what will tug on the heartstrings of the average fan?

In 1992, in the years immediately after the end of the Cold War, Francis Fukayama wrote a book called ‘The End of History and the Last Man,’ in which he argued that, to quote the simplified summary on Wikipedia, we had reached “the end-point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” Fukayama is often mocked for being very wrong about this, and the implication of my argument, that we have seen the last of professional golf’s great heroic epics, may look equally short-sighted with time. I may be a victim of the moment, influenced by a certain fatigue with the world in 2025. I’m not afraid to tell you it has happened before.

But it feels like professional golf had two great, mythic cards to play in the last decade, and it played both cards to perfection at the most mythic battlefield in the sport, Augusta National, in 2019 and 2025. What remains in the wake feels faint and ineffectual, just a shadow of the spectacle we were lucky enough to witness on Sunday.

To answer McIlroy’s question literally, there will be plenty to talk about. There always is. But to stare into the abyss of the subtext, I’m not sure it will be quite like this ever again. Even as the players get better, the stories get worse, and I can’t shake the feeling we are in the twilight of the gods.

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College Sports Roundup: Paige hasn’t slowed down, exceling at North Carolina | Sports

After an indoor season for the ages, former Tewksbury High track and field star Makayla Paige continued to raise the bar in the spring. Earlier this month, the University of North Carolina senior claimed silver at the NCAA Championships with a blazing time of 1:58.97 in the 800. That mark was good for the fifth-best […]

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June 28, 2025

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After an indoor season for the ages, former Tewksbury High track and field star Makayla Paige continued to raise the bar in the spring.

Earlier this month, the University of North Carolina senior claimed silver at the NCAA Championships with a blazing time of 1:58.97 in the 800. That mark was good for the fifth-best in NCAA history. Just this season alone, Paige has dropped her school record in the event a staggering four times.

Paige collected first-team All-America recognition this season. In the indoor campaign, Paige turned heads at the national championships with a first-place finish in the 800 to take gold.

At Merrimack College, junior Maci Chapman completed a memorable season for the Warriors. Highlighted by a first-place finish in the 3000-meter run (10:22.35) at the Crimson Open, the former Tewksbury High runner also placed 13th in the 5000-meter run at the MAAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in a personal-best time of 18:11.68.

Over in Lowell, Jayani Santos completed a successful season with the River Hawks, capped off by a third-place finish in the 400 (55.94) at the MIT Final Qualifier last month.

The sophomore impressed at the America East Outdoor Track and Field Championship, placing second in the 200-meter dash (24.23). Earlier in the season, Santos won the event (24.41) at the Ken O’Brien Pre-Conference Meet.

Baseball

Tewksbury’s Jack Menard (Tabor Academy) recently wrapped up a senior season at Saint Michael’s. The left-handed pitcher made four appearances out of the bullpen this spring as the Purple Knights turned in an 8-29 season. Ahead of this season, Menard was a six-time recipient of the NE10 Academic Honor Roll.

Girls lacrosse

Erin McIntyre was a key cog in Bridgewater State’s best season since 2014 that yielded a trip to the MASCAC semifinals. In the 19-14 loss at Worcester State, McIntyre laced a goal and picked up two ground balls. This season, the senior recorded 41 goals and 16 points in 17 games to pace the Bears’ offense.

Elsewhere, Ashley Talbot wrapped up her junior season at Rivier, starting in all 14 games as a midfielder. She collected three points and caused 14 turnovers as the Raiders finished the season with an 8-6 record.

Talbot attended Shawsheen Tech.

Softball

A handful of former Tewksbury High standouts enjoyed successful seasons on the diamond.

At Bentley, freshman Becca Harris batted .288 with 30 hits, 13 RBI and six doubles in her debut season in the collegiate ranks. The Falcons made an appearance in the NCAA tournament after a 26-21 season.

At Clark, Avery Della Piana appeared in 25 games as a freshman while hitting .297 at the plate. The catcher recorded 22 hits and 22 RBI.

Sophomore Sam Ryan was tabbed to the NE10 Second Team after a solid season in the circle for Saint Anselm. She recorded 14th wins, the second-most in the conference, and led the team in innings (127), WHIP (1.20) and ERA (2.54).

Samantha Perkins started 35 games for Gordon College this spring, hitting .260 with 27 hits, 20 RBI, four doubles and two home runs.

Men’s track and field

On the track, UMass Lowell junior Derek Munroe, known for his gravitas in the decathlon, netted a second-place finish in the event at the America East Outdoor Championship last month.

Munroe totaled 6,801 points, ruling the discus for first place (37.82m) before placing second in the pole vault (4.30m) and javelin (50.58m). Munroe then slashed his personal record in the javelin at the MIT Final Qualifier, mustering a mark of 4.70m to place second. Munroe holds the school record in the decathlon (6,655 points), which he set last season.

At URI, Alex Arbogast turned in another solid season at the Division 1 level. Most recently, the sophomore sprinter placed fifth (21.25) in the 200 at the Princeton Elite Invitational. He also netted a fifth-place bid in the 100 (10.47) at the New England Championship.

Arbogast took third at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the 200, netting a time of 21.30 seconds as the Rams finished in second place overall.

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Transfers Love the Talent and Depth UK Volleyball Has

Lizzie Carr, left, believes every UK player is good enough to start. (Vicky Graff Photo) Kentucky volleyball will open what it hopes can be a special season in just over two months and two transfers off NCAA Tournament teams – Molly Berezowitz of Marquette and Lizzie Carr of Purdue — love the overall talent that […]

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June 28, 2025

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Lizzie Carr, left, believes every UK player is good enough to start. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky volleyball will open what it hopes can be a special season in just over two months and two transfers off NCAA Tournament teams – Molly Berezowitz of Marquette and Lizzie Carr of Purdue — love the overall talent that coach Craig Skinner has on his team.

Carr, the younger sister of former UK basketball player Andrew Carr, averaged 1.52 kills per match last season for 27-7 Purdue. The 6-foot-6 Carr had 87 kills in her two years at Purdue.

“It’s cool to see how hard we can compete and how good you can make the people around you,” said Carr, a middle blocker. “Everyone is constantly pushing you to be the best version of yourself as a leader, a person, a teammate and player.

Carr has always believed a team can only be as good as its backup players are because “they are the ones competing against you every day.” She says Skinner mixes up players on Blue and White teams in practice and they consistently beat each other.

“Every single person is good enough to have a starting spot. It’s cool to see how each person is pushing others to be better and kind of make you uncomfortable in a good way because you have to figure out how to compete at the high test level every day in practice and that makes for a great team,” Carr said. “We’re just so deep and have so much stuff that we are really going to have a good team.”

Berezowitz, a libero, had a season-high 21 digs in Marquette’s NCAA Tournament win over Utah and hit double digit digs in 10 matches last season. Her older sister, Maddie, was on UK’s 2020 national championship team.

“I played for a high level team at Marquette, and when I got here, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is better than I ever imagined.’ I thought I was playing at the best level that I could be at and then getting here, these people just make you so much better,” Berezowitz, a junior, said. I think that it starts off the court. This is just such a good group of girls.”

Kentucky had all 14 players, including three true freshmen, on this year’s team on campus the second semester to give the Cats a huge head start on this season.

“We all got to train and compete all spring and we didn’t want to take that opportunity for granted that we had with everyone here,” the Marquette transfer said. “Usually teams get six months to be together but we will have almost a whole year and teams don’t get that very often.

“I really see something different in this team. It really starts with how we act together off the court, and that just really transitions on the court. Obviously it helps just having so many talented players. It’s fun getting in the gym every single day and you’re battling every single day. I think that if we have that mindset in every single game, we’re going be hard to beat this season with the talent we have.”

The team’s leader will be junior All-American Brooklyn DeLeye, one of the nation’s top four players last season when UK reached the Elite Eight. Berezowitz played against her in club volleyball in high school but didn’t pay a lot of attention to her the last two years even though her Marquette teammates did.

“My teammates at Marquette would talk about BK (DeLeye) is. I don’t know how to really explain it, but you can just rely on her to get it done. She is super relatable,” Berezowitz said. “She just has that presence where we all trust her. It’s also cool because we also have (Purdue transfer) Eva Hudson on the pin, so it’s like having that combo out there that we can rely on to finish points. But I love playing with her (DeLeye) and she certainly has lived up to that All-American standard.”

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Collegiate Athletes Of The Year — Ishmael Kipkurui & Savannah Sutherland

Frosh Kipkurui won the NCAA 10,000 title and in March lowered the event’s CR to 26:50.21. Senior Sutherland pounded the 400H CR down to 52.46 as she raced to her second NCAA crown. (photos: KIRBY LEE/IMAGE OF SPORT & ERROL ANDERSON/THE SPORTING IMAGE) A PAIR OF NEW SCHOOLS etched their names on the lists as […]

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June 28, 2025

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**Frosh Kipkurui won the NCAA 10,000 title and in March lowered the event’s CR to 26:50.21. Senior Sutherland pounded the 400H CR down to 52.46 as she raced to her second NCAA crown.** (photos: KIRBY LEE/IMAGE OF SPORT & ERROL ANDERSON/THE SPORTING IMAGE)

A PAIR OF NEW SCHOOLS etched their names on the lists as our Collegiate Outdoor Athlete Of The Year awards went to Ishmael Kipkurui of New Mexico and Savannah Sutherland of Michigan.

Kipkurui, a 20-year-old Kenyan, set a new Collegiate Record in the 10,000 at the end of March, and as of the end of June the mark still had him atop the yearly world list. He also moved to No. 8 on the all-time collegiate list in the 5000 and wrapped up his collegiate season with the national 10K crown.

Honorable mention to a pair of NCAA hurdling champions who moved high on the all-time lists: Ja’Kobe Tharp of Auburn and Nathaniel Ezekiel of Baylor. Cal’s Mykolas Alekna had unique credential for the top spot, setting a pair of World Records in the discus, but his shocking NCAA loss restricted him to HM status. HM to Alekna’s conqueror, Ralford Mullings of Oklahoma.

In a year in which women’s CR-setters were rare, new claimants 400 hurdler Sutherland and Alabama steepler Doris Lemngole waged a tough war. Lemngole had a pair of CRs to Sutherland’s single, but the 21-year-old Canadian was given the edge for moving to No. 9 on the all-time world list compared to the Kenyan’s No. 11.

HMs to Lemngole and a pair of national champs who claimed high places on the all-time collegiate list: Aaliyah Butler (Georgia) in the 400, Roisin Willis (Stanford) in the 800.

The all-time winners, since we began this award in ’95 (women are listed with the last name they were using at the time):

Year	Men’s AOY	Women’s AOY
2025	Ishmael Kipkurui (New Mexico)	Savannah Sutherland (Michigan)
2024	Leo Neugebauer (Texas)	Parker Valby (Florida)
2023	Jaydon Hibbert (Arkansas)	Julien Alfred (Texas)
2022	Trey Cunningham (Florida State)	Abby Steiner (Kentucky)
2021	JuVaughn Harrison (LSU)	Athing Mu (Texas A&M)
2020 (none)
2019	Grant Holloway (Florida)	Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU)
2018	Michael Norman (USC)	Maggie Ewen (Arizona State)
2017	Fred Kerley (Texas A&M)	Raevyn Rogers (Oregon)
2016	Jarrion Lawson (Arkansas)	Courtney Okolo (Texas)
2015	Shawn Barber (Akron)	Jenna Prandini (Oregon)
2014	Trayvon Bromell (Baylor)	Courtney Okolo (Texas)
2013	Derek Drouin (Indiana)	Brianna Rollins (Clemson)
2012	Cam Levins (Southern Utah)	Brianne Theisen (Oregon)
2011	Ngoni Makusha (Florida State)	Sheila Reid (Villanova)
2010	Ryan Whiting (Arizona State)	Queen Harrison (Virginia Tech)
2009	Galen Rupp (Oregon)	Jenny Barringer (Colorado)
2008	Richard Thompson (LSU)	Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech)
2007	Walter Dix (Florida State)	Natasha Hastings (South Carolina)
2006	Xavier Carter (LSU)	Ginnie Powell (USC)
2005	Kerron Clement (Florida)	Monique Henderson (UCLA)
2004	Alistair Cragg (Arkansas)	Sheena Johnson (UCLA)
2003	Daniel Lincoln (Arkansas)	Sanya Richards (Texas)
2002	Justin Gatlin (Tennessee)	Lashinda Demus (South Carolina)
2001	Janus Robberts (SMU)	Brianna Glenn (Arizona)
2000	Gábor Máté (Auburn)	Seilala Sua (UCLA)
1999	Terrence Trammell (South Carolina)	Suziann Reid (Texas)
1998	Angelo Taylor (Georgia Tech)	Amy Skieresz (Arizona)
1997	Robert Howard (Arkansas)	Tiffany Lott-Hogan (BYU)
1996	Ato Boldon (UCLA)	Tonya Williams (Illinois)
1995	John Godina (UCLA)	Diane Guthrie-Gresham (George Mason)

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College Sports Roundup: Kulis shines for Holy Cross track and field | Sports

Wilmington native Celia Kulis enjoyed a record-breaking season at Holy Cross this spring. She set two school records. Competing at the NEICAAA Outdoor Championship last month at UMass Amherst, the junior eclipsed the 100-meter hurdles school record (13.66) to take second place at the event. And after another school record performance — Kulis broke her […]

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30 minutes ago

June 28, 2025

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Wilmington native Celia Kulis enjoyed a record-breaking season at Holy Cross this spring. She set two school records.

Competing at the NEICAAA Outdoor Championship last month at UMass Amherst, the junior eclipsed the 100-meter hurdles school record (13.66) to take second place at the event.

And after another school record performance — Kulis broke her own school record in the heptathlon at the Patriot League Outdoor Championship by 353 points — she was named to the Second Team All-Patriot League team.

Kulis placed second, posting 5,006 points.

Baseball

Senior Tristan Ciampa made six appearances for UMass Boston (25-17) this spring, tossing 28.2 innings and recording a 3.45 ERA. Posting a 2-1 record, perhaps his best outing came in an eight-strikeout gem against Plymouth State, where he scattered five hits in 7.1 innings en route to the win. Ciampa held the opposition to a mere .214 batting average this season.

At Franklin Pierce, freshman Jacob Roque played in 19 games in his rookie campaign.

He hit .178, driving in five runs while stealing four bases. The Ravens finished the spring 35-22, advancing all the way to the NCAA Super Regional.

Men’s lacrosse

At Seton Hill, junior Gavin Erickson notched 31 points on 17 goals and 14 assists as the Griffins turned in an 18-2 season. Erickson tallied a helper in Seton Hill’s 9-8 loss to Saint Anselm in the NCAA tournament after winning the G-MAC title.

In his freshman season at Franklin Pierce, Michael Lawler posted four goals and eight assists for 12 points. In a 13-8 win over American International on March 26, Lawler erupted for two goals and two assists.

Bobby Cyr scored a goal for Embry-Riddle in his rookie season, starting in all 16 games.

Women’s lacrosse

Senior Shannon Murphy capped off a storied four-year career at Colorado Mesa University between the pipes.

In four seasons, she appeared in 54 games and made 312 saves while boasting a 31-19 record. She made 15 saves in four games this season and entered this spring ranked second in program history in goalie wins.

Men’s track and field

Senior Patrick O’Mahony competed in one outdoor meet for Bryant this season, posting a 4:24.89 in the 1,500m at the Black and Gold Invitational. In the indoor season, he netted a personal best 4:30.32 in the mile at the America East Championships.

At Assumption, junior Colby Medeiros finished fourth in the 800 (1:55.22) at the Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Championships last month. Assumption placed fourth as a team. At the Jack Maloney/Jim Barber Invitational, he netted a 1:55.08 in the event for first place.

Women’s track and field

At Springfield, junior Madison Mulas placed fifth in the 100-meter dash (13.49) at the SC Outdoor Classic to have a hand in Springfield’s team title at the event in April. At the NEWMAC Championships, Mulas played a role in a third-place finish in the 4×100-meter relay (49.52).

A pair of Wilmington runners made splashes at UVM. Junior Shea Cushing posted a fifth-place finish at the UMass Pre-Conference Meet in the 5000, while junior Carmella Thompson came in third in discus at the George Davis Invitational.

At Stonehill, freshman Mollie Osgood placed sixth in the high jump (1.57m) to claim points for the Skyhawks at the Northeast Conference Outdoor Championships. At the Ken O’Brien Pre-Conference Meet, Osgood came in fifth (1.53m). She set her personal best outdoor score (1.58m) earlier in the season at the Merrimack College Alumni Classic.

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CSUN Announces 2025 Women’s Soccer Schedule

Story Links NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN Women’s Soccer head coach Gina Brewer as announced the 2025 schedule featuring nine home matches at Matador Soccer Field and three NCAA Tournament teams on the docket. “We are excited for the 2025 season,” said Brewer. “We’ve scheduled some opponents who we know will be challenging and […]

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31 minutes ago

June 28, 2025

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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN Women’s Soccer head coach Gina Brewer as announced the 2025 schedule featuring nine home matches at Matador Soccer Field and three NCAA Tournament teams on the docket.

“We are excited for the 2025 season,” said Brewer. “We’ve scheduled some opponents who we know will be challenging and prepare us for the Big West. Saint Mary’s, Grand Canyon, California Baptist and Portland will all be extremely competitive games and we look forward to being tested, so we are ready to go when conference games start.”

Prior to the start of the regular season. The Matadors will host an exhibition match with Trinity Western University on Thursday, Aug. 7.

The 2025 season officially opens on Thursday, Aug. 14 with a road match at Saint Mary’s before CSUN heads to San Jose State on Aug. 17.

CSUN opens a three-match homestand beginning Thursday, Aug. 21 against Grand Canyon in the 2025 home opener. Three days later, the Matadors continue their homestand with a matchup with a California Baptist team that won the WAC championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2024. CSUN then wraps up the home stretch with Utah Tech on Aug. 28.

The Matadors make the trip to the San Diego on Aug. 31 to take on the Toreros before traveling up north the following week for road tilts at Portland State (Sept. 4) and Portland (Sept. 7). CSUN’s last non-conference matchup is set with future Big West team Sacramento State on Thursday, Sept. 11. The Hornets also played in the NCAA Tournament a season ago after winning the Big Sky Tournament.

Big West play kicks off on Sunday, Sept. 21 when the Matadors visit Cal State Fullerton. A week later, CSUN hosts its first two conference matches against UC Irvine (Sept. 25) and UC Riverside (Sept. 28).

The month of October kicks off with a road contest at UC San Diego (Oct. 5) while CSUN returns home for meeting with Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 12. From there, the Matadors make the trek to Hawai’i on Oct. 16.

The second half of the Big West season includes a home meeting with UC Davis (Oct. 19) as well as a matchup with defending Big West champion UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 23. After a final road match at Cal Poly on Oct. 26, CSUN hosts Senior Night on Thursday, Oct. 30 against Long Beach State.

The 2025 Big West Women’s Soccer Championship kicks off on Sunday, Nov. 2 while semifinal matches will be held on Nov. 6 and the championship match is scheduled for Nov. 9.

#GoMatadors

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Chinese sprinter gets leading gaokao marks on second go, earning a shot at top universities

A Chinese track and field sprinter has scored a staggering 462 in the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, earning her a place in the country’s top universities. Liu Xiajun, 19, took the gaokao for the second time earlier this month after her score last summer fell short of admission to the country’s best school, […]

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June 28, 2025

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A Chinese track and field sprinter has scored a staggering 462 in the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, earning her a place in the country’s top universities.

Liu Xiajun, 19, took the gaokao for the second time earlier this month after her score last summer fell short of admission to the country’s best school, Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Liu, who is from the city of Ziyang in southwest China’s Sichuan province, rejected an offer from the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai in 2024, considered China’s second best, to chase a spot at the institution in Beijing.

“I was very surprised [when I got my results] and asked my teacher: ‘Is there a mistake in the results?’,” Liu said.

“I believe that the most important factor in achieving such results before entering formal education is perseverance.