BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced its 18 Community Service honorees Wednesday morning. Among those were two Little Rock student-athletes. Senior women’s golfer Katja Mueller and men’s cross country/track and field athlete Joel Allen were both honored.

The awards, first bestowed in 2022-23, are based on activities that took place during the 2024-25 academic year and recognize outstanding student-athletes for the contributions they make away from athletics, both on campus and in the community. OVC member institutions who competed in the league during the 2024-25 academic year were able to select a maximum of one male and one female student-athlete from their institution to be honored.

 “The OVC has always been about a sense of community,” said OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche. “We are delighted to continue to bestow these awards to these outstanding student-athletes who are giving back to their communities.”

Mueller, who graduated in May with a degree in Business Administration Management, was an active volunteer around campus and in the community. The Rhineland-Platinate, Germany native volunteered at Little Rock volleyball, swimming and soccer events. She also worked at the inaugural Simmons Bank Championship at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock and volunteered at five other golf tournaments. She served at the Little Rock Animal Village and contributed a total of 69 volunteer hours during the 2024-25 school year.

Mueller, a 2024 WGCA All-American Scholar, was a four-year letter-winner for the Trojans and finished 15^th in the OVC Tournament this spring. The Trojans finished second in the OVC Tournament as a team and won the event last spring.

Allen, a native of Youngsville, La., served Little Rock SAAC as a Community Engagement Officer for a year and also helped lead Little Rock DEI Week student engagement initiatives. During his Little Rock career, Allen medaled once in the Men’s 10,000 meters and won gold in the Men’s 3,000 Steeplechase, including winning the event the last two years during the Little Rock Invitational.

He coordinated volunteers at Little Rock athletic events for two years and was active volunteering at on-campus events for his four-year stint on campus. Allen also led student-athlete volunteers at the Little Rock Marathon and totaled 29 volunteer hours this school year.

 

 

ATASCADERO — Earlier this June, Atascadero High School held a “Parade of Champions” to celebrate the achievements of standout student-athletes. Honorees included Lucas Pulse, Elizabeth Wagster, Kaden Pryor, Cole Loney, Kieran Dolan, Charlotte Grant, the 220 Yard Medley Relay Team — Evangeline Brown, Aleah King, Carly Spann, and Katie Strohl — and the Varsity Girls Swim Team. Congratulations to all!

Photos by Rick Evans/ATN

Related

The NCAA Track and Field Championships kick off Wednesday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

The Florida men’s team looks to defend its outdoor title. The men have dominated the NCAA in recent years, winning three consecutive championships. Meanwhile, the women look to earn their first team title since 2022. Both the men’s and women’s teams previously won the team titles in 2022, making Florida the first school to sweep the team titles since 2015.

Florida qualified for 19 overall entries in the championships following its performances in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field East preliminaries.

That time of year again.

: NCAA Outdoor T&F Championships
: Hayward Field
: Eugene, Ore.
: https://t.co/KaiixOrlIh
: https://t.co/LUolCFh9t5#GoGators pic.twitter.com/EDrNgRCCBR

— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) June 11, 2025

Day 1

Wednesday is day one of the men’s competition. Florida will be represented by 14 athletes in eight events. The men’s team is currently No. 15 in the NCAA Men’s team rankings, with 112.25 points.

The men will compete in four semifinals Wednesday: the 4x100m relay, the 110m hurdles, the 110m hurdles, 400m, and the 4x400m relay. Gator athletes will also appear in the javelin throw final and the long jump final.

Florida has five returning All-Americans on the men’s side. Of these five, Malcolm Clemons, Jenoah McKiver, and Reheem Hayles qualified for the championship and will compete in various events.

Holloway’s Impact

Florida has become a track and field powerhouse under Mike Holloway. Holloway was named head coach of both teams since 2007. In his time as coach, he has led Florida to 14 NCAA championships, in both outdoor and indoor track and field. He has won 12 championships on the men’s side since 2010.

No other Division 1 program has won as many championships as Holloway has since 2010. He is one of only six coaches to win at least ten titles. His victory in 2022 made him one of just two coaches in any Division 1 sport to win ten team titles.

Trained all year for this moment. Now it’s time to deliver.#NCAATF pic.twitter.com/BlOMfYqfQo

— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 11, 2025

The men’s team will begin competing today at 7:05 p.m. Day 2 of the men’s championships will be on Friday. The women will compete on Thursday and Saturday.

EUGENE, OR – Maryland’s Chioma Njoku will compete in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by the University of Oregon on Thursday afternoon as she takes part in the hammer throw. Njoku is slated to begin competition at 4:30 PM ET (1:30 PM PT) with the competition streamed live on ESPN+.

She is slated to be the fourth thrower in the second flight of competitors. Her personal-best mark of 65.60 meters (215′ 3″) was set at the NCAA East First Round meet in Jacksonville, FL where she finished sixth to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Njoku ranks ninth among all hammer throwers in the NCAA East and is 27th nationally. She holds the program record at Maryland for the event and is second all-time in the indoor weight throw. In addition to her NCAA East First Round performance, Njoku also placed fifth this spring at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships which were also held at Hayward Field.

For her career, Njoku, who began her career at Delaware, has also been honored as a USTFCCA All-Academic Honoree as well as a CSC Academic All-District selection. She has also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.

This will mark the third consecutive year Maryland has been represented by a thrower at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In 2023, Jeff Kline earned honorable mention All-America honors in the shot put, while last spring, Kayla Thorpe was a second team All-America in the javelin.