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Sports
Track & Field’s Cole Piotrowski Wins SEC Start-Up Competition – Ole Miss Athletics
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Ole Miss track & field alum Cole Piotrowski was named the winner of the SEC Start-Up business competition, earning a $10,000 investment as revealed on an hour-long SEC Network special for the conference’s second edition of the student-athlete pitch competition. Piotrowski’s winning idea Godors is a spray that eliminates sport-specific odors […]

Piotrowski’s winning idea Godors is a spray that eliminates sport-specific odors at their root – rather than covering them up – while also using clean ingredients.
Piotrowski recently wrapped up his four-year career with Ole Miss track & field as a middle-distance specialist. Piotrowski, a native of Queens, ran in 34 total meets for the Rebels across his four full seasons with career-bests of 1:50.12 in the 800-meter, 2:25.63 in the 1000-meter and 3:50.22 in the 1500 while also running on several 4×400-meter relays during his career.
Bringing together innovative minds and entrepreneurial spirits from across the Southeastern Conference, SEC Start Up is an academic competition in partnership with Regions, the official bank of the SEC, in support of the entrepreneurial ventures of student-athletes.
Participants had the chance to pitch their business ideas to a panel of esteemed judges, which included Regions Bank Executive Vice President of Community Affairs Leroy Abrahams, former Auburn men’s basketball player and businessman Daymeon Fishback, content creator and HSN/QVC host Emily Loftiss, and CEO of BIOLYTE Jesslyn Rollins.
The new initiative expands business and innovation programming in place at the Conference, including its annual SEC Student Pitch Competition and SEC MBA Case Competition. Since 2011, the SEC has supported the teaching, research and service mission of its member universities through a variety of programs and activities. Learn more at SECAcademics.com.
Sports
Broderick Selected in 14th Round of MLB Draft by Colorado Rockies – University of Nebraska
Nebraska junior Luke Broderick was selected in the 14th round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Colorado Rockies with the No. 407 pick overall in the draft on Monday afternoon. Broderick becomes the eighth Husker pitcher under head coach Will Bolt to be drafted after Mason McConnaughey was selected by the Texas Rangers […]
Sports
Water Polo Hall of Famer, former UCSD coach, reflects on the sport’s ‘wild west’ era
Former UCSD Water Polo Coach Denny Harper huddles with his team. (Courtesy of UCSD Athletics) Denny Harper, the UC San Diego men’s water polo coach from 1980 to 2021 and a member of the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame’s 2025 class, said he began coaching when he was in high school. Growing up in […]


Denny Harper, the UC San Diego men’s water polo coach from 1980 to 2021 and a member of the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame’s 2025 class, said he began coaching when he was in high school.
Growing up in Orange County in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Harper was a “classic” football and basketball kid who spent his summers surfing off the coast of Newport Beach.
But during his freshman year at Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove, Harper said he developed Osgood-Schlatter’s Disease — an overuse injury common in growing teens — which caused pain in his knees.
“I couldn’t play football,” Harper said. “Which was at the time the most devastating thing that had probably happened in my life — I cried for about a week or so, and then I got a visit from a guy named Tom Moore.”
Moore was the captain of the high school water polo and swimming teams, and he asked Harper to try out for both.
Harper said he still wanted to play football and wasn’t thrilled about Moore’s proposal.
According to Harper, water polo was a competitive sport in Orange County in the early 1970s — but it had not yet exploded in popularity, as it would over the next two decades.
But he gave the sport a shot.
“I stuck it out and things kind of kicked in for me my sophomore year,” Harper said.
Then, during his junior year, a group of girls who wanted to start a water polo team asked him to be their coach.
According to Harper, he wasn’t sure why they asked him, although he was the captain of the boys water polo team — and a captain of every team he’d played on growing up, regardless of the sport.

There were only a few high schools near Garden Grove with girls water polo teams at the time, Harper said, but he began scheduling games using his family’s rotary phone.
Harper said that after the initial shock of being in charge of his peers and friends, he found himself taking the role of managing the team pretty seriously.
“We wanted to get better,” Harper said. “We wanted to win.”
After high school, Harper played water polo for two years at Santa Barbara City College, where he met his best friend, Russ Hafferkamp, a fellow member of the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.

In 1976, Harper transferred to San Diego State University, where he played for the men’s varsity team.
While playing for the men’s team, Harper was approached by a former player of his from high school, who asked him if he would coach the school’s fledgling women’s club team.
Harper agreed, and ended up coaching the women’s club team at SDSU for six years, from 1977 to 1983.
Harper said his SDSU women’s teams went 130-18, winning exhibition games over the US National Team and the Hungarian National Team, which was one of the world’s best at the time.
“We won a lot of tournaments,” Harper said of his years at SDSU. “We were pretty much the top dog.”
In 1980, while Harper was coaching the SDSU women’s team — and teaching at Horton Elementary School near Lincoln Park — Hafferkamp approached him and asked if he’d want to coach the UCSD men’s team as well. His friend, the UCSD men’s head coach, was leaving for another job.
Harper agreed.
He said he still has his $800 contract for coaching the UCSD men during the 1980 season — his first paycheck as a coach.
In 1983, UCSD asked Harper to coach the women’s varsity team as well.
He said his two or so years as the UCSD women’s coach were a little awkward because his athletes remembered his success at SDSU.
“They hated me because I always beat them when I was at San Diego State,” Harper said. “So they were like, ‘Why is he here?’”
But his loyalties had flipped. Harper said that as the UCSD women’s coach, his teams never lost to SDSU.
When USA Water Polo began sponsoring a women’s collegiate national championship in 1985, UCSD won the first three tournaments.

Harper said that women’s water polo in the 1980s was like the “wild, wild west.”
“I love that era of coaching women’s water polo,” Harper said. “Because everything was on a par. Nobody had any real money, it wasn’t really funded by any [athletic] departments. Coaches weren’t getting paid — it was for the love of the sport.”
After the UCSD women’s championship run from 1985 to 1987, they would win two more national championships under Harper, who stepped down following the 1999 season to focus on the men’s program.
As the UCSD men’s coach, Harper won 697 games and earned 15 national championship berths, placing second in the country in 2000 and third in 1995, 1998 and 2006.
Because water polo competed in an open division — rather than teams being classed as Division I, II or III — Harper said UCSD games were well attended.
According to Harper, the UCSD team improved when he became their coach because he gave his players an offseason conditioning program, moved their practices in 1981 from the indoor, shallow end pool at UCSD to the 50-meter pool at what was then Miramar Naval Air Station, and scheduled games that year against Cal and UCLA, two of the country’s best programs.
In Harper’s second season as the UCSD men’s coach, the program was ranked 10th nationally, which he said was unheard of.
“We were the first team at UCSD to prove you can play up,” Harper said, referring to his squad’s matches against USC, a DI powerhouse, while other programs at UCSD competed at the DIII level.
According to Buc Buchanan, a captain of the UCSD team in 1982, they placed 10th nationally in 1981 despite one player contracting meningitis and another being injured in a bike accident.
In an email, Buchanan said that when Harper arrived as the team’s new coach, “he came across as a confident man, a coach with a plan and a leader with a vision.”
Harper said that the COVID pandemic and an increasing number of administrative tasks influenced his decision to retire.
According to Harper, NIL deals will not become a big thing at UCSD.
“I just don’t see it happening,” Harper said. “It will deter from a long-standing philosophy that kids will still come, because they always have, to UCSD and they’re going to overachieve. Because they overachieve in the classroom … they overachieve in their sports.”
In his retirement, Harper still coaches the San Francisco Olympic Club master’s team during international competitions.
It wasn’t all about accomplishment during his UCSD days, according to Harper.
“If there were shenanigans happening in the ’80s at UCSD, I was the one who was called by [the UCSD athletic director] to somehow keep the boys from going to prison,” he said.
How does he describe those teams now? “A cross between Bad News Bears and the LA Raiders,” he said, “at their peak of Raider-ness.”
Sports
Volleyball to Host Exhibition Match Against South Carolina at Enmarket Arena
Story Links STATESBORO, Ga.– The Georgia Southern volleyball team will host South Carolina in an exhibition match at 4 p.m. on Aug. 23 at Enmarket Arena, hosted in coordination with the Savannah Sports Council. Tickets can be purchased at www.enmarketarena.com. “We’re incredibly grateful for the opportunity to compete at Enmarket Arena and be […]

STATESBORO, Ga.– The Georgia Southern volleyball team will host South Carolina in an exhibition match at 4 p.m. on Aug. 23 at Enmarket Arena, hosted in coordination with the Savannah Sports Council. Tickets can be purchased at www.enmarketarena.com.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the opportunity to compete at Enmarket Arena and be the first-ever volleyball match to be played in this great venue,” head coach Chad Willis said. “This will be an exciting day of volleyball showcasing two great programs; we’re appreciative of all the work behind the scenes in putting this together, and we’re looking forward to seeing all of Eagle Nation join us in Savannah on August 23rd.”
The two teams will meet for the first time since the 2017 season, where the Gamecocks took down the Eagles in straight sets in a neutral site at Clemson on 9/15/17. The Gamecocks have won all three meetings in the series’ history.
Georgia Southern, led by sixth-year head coach Willis and returning All-Sun Belt players Reagan Barth and Kirsten Barrett, posted a 22-7 record last year, its second consecutive season participating in the NIVC postseason tournament.
South Carolina, which was 16-12 last year, will be led by first-year head coach Sarah Rumely Noble, previously of App State. The Eagles split six meetings against App State during her time as head coach of the Mountaineers.
This will be the first collegiate volleyball match hosted at Enmarket Arena ahead of the 2025 SEC Volleyball Championships in November.
“We are excited to host this family-friendly match between these two highly respected institutions. We continue to work to bring elite sporting events to Savannah and we can’t wait to experience some of the best in collegiate volleyball right here in Enmarket Arena,” said Joseph Marinelli, President and CEO of Visit Savannah and the Savannah Sports Council.
For more information on the match, please visit www.enmarketarena.com.
Sports
Meet Santa Barbara’s New Beach Volleyball Phenom
Ford Harman | Credit: Courtesy Santa Barbara has enjoyed a long list of beach volleyball legends over the decades, and Ford Harman is next in line to make his mark on the world stage. As a 19-year-old professional on the AVP circuit, Harman is on a trajectory for a memorable career on the sand. He […]


Santa Barbara has enjoyed a long list of beach volleyball legends over the decades, and Ford Harman is next in line to make his mark on the world stage.
As a 19-year-old professional on the AVP circuit, Harman is on a trajectory for a memorable career on the sand.
He made his professional debut as an 18-year-old competing in the AVP Denver Open last year. He was the youngest player to make a main draw appearance on the men’s side of the 2024 AVP tour.
“It’s definitely cool to be the young gun, because I feel like everyone is still kind of rooting for me,” Harman said. “I don’t feel like there’s a target on my back or anything.”
This year, Harman’s international profile has continued to grow as he was one of 31 men and women selected to the 2025 Beach Collegiate/U26 national team, where he earned the opportunity to participate in a 10-day training block in Hermosa Beach with other top competitors.
“I just love the chance to represent the U.S.A., and playing with some of the best players in my age group is really fun,” Harman said.
From the time he was a youngster, Harman wanted to hone his skills and maximize his potential. Competing professionally is a longtime goal, and every milestone he reaches motivates him to push harder.

“I always wanted to play at the highest level that I could, but I never knew where that would take me,” Harman said. “It’s cool to really see it happening.”
Harman graduated early from Santa Barbara High in 2024 and joined the star-studded Long Beach State indoor men’s volleyball program. He appeared in eight matches as a redshirt freshman, including a stint in the starting lineup early in the season before Long Beach State captured the National Championship.
The team went 30-3 overall and spent 14 weeks ranked No. 1 in a dominant season. However, Harman did experience a dose of individual adversity, despite the team’s success. He is looking for greener pastures at the collegiate level and has entered the transfer portal.
“I definitely wish I didn’t have to do that, but I think it’s a good experience to work through it,” Harman said. “To get to the top level, you have to be ready for the next opportunity.”
The transition back to beach after a long indoor season is a process that Harman has embraced. As a Libero at Long Beach State, he filled a defined role. On the sand, he must tap into his entire skill set.
Harman is the only collegiate player to be competing in the main draw of the professional AVP events.

“Indoor and beach are totally different sports,” Harman said. “It’s definitely a transition ― you have to get your sand legs back. It takes at least three weeks to a month to feel like you’re back.”
One major factor in Harman’s early achievement is the mentorship of his friend and partner, Taylor Crabb. The duo notched a fifth-place finish at the Denver Open over the Fourth of July weekend.
“From the day I met him and the first time I saw him play, all of his skills stood out to me,” Crabb said. “I think something that is important is his mental game and his desire to be not just good, but great.”
Crabb competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He is a two-time AVP MVP and six-time recipient of the AVP Best Defender award. His relationship with Harman away from volleyball has also contributed to their success.
“I think the biggest thing is the friendship that we’ve created,” Crabb said. “Our connection outside of volleyball and on the court helps him become the best version of himself.”
As perhaps the most highly decorated U21 beach volleyball player in the country, Harman is looking forward to the opportunity to qualify for the 2032 summer Olympics in Brisbane, Australia.
Sports
Elite runners balance missionary work, competition
Tyler Mathews is in the best shape of his life. Trips to the World Championships — maybe even the Olympics— are not out of the question for the Mesa Red Mountain alum. Yet Mathews, the Arizona high school state record holder in the 800 meters, who just wrapped up a wildly successful freshman season at […]
Tyler Mathews is in the best shape of his life. Trips to the World Championships — maybe even the Olympics— are not out of the question for the Mesa Red Mountain alum.
Yet Mathews, the Arizona high school state record holder in the 800 meters, who just wrapped up a wildly successful freshman season at Brigham Young University, is about to hit pause on his burgeoning track and field career for two years.
Mathews is serving a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission in Africa.
“Putting God first and my faith first will lead to me becoming a better athlete and a better person, a more disciplined athlete,” Mathews said.
Mathews is just one of many young athletes across the country, and the world, who put their athletic ambitions on hold to pursue their faith and work with the LDS Church. More than 80,000 missionaries are serving LDS missions at any one time, according to the Church.
For these athletes, while the decision to step aside from their sports at such a critical point in their development can be difficult, strengthening their faith is a vital component of their journeys, on and off the track.
The Arizona Republic spoke with three local track and field athletes at different points in their missionary work – two about to serve and one currently serving – about balancing their faith while being elite runners.
‘I see people doing the same thing’
Mathews is one of the best distance runners to come from Arizona. He was the first Arizona prep to run under 1:50 in the 800 when he did so in 2023, finishing the season top 10 in the country and earning a scholarship to BYU. He is a three-time AIA state champion in the 800.
At BYU, Mathews wasted little time establishing himself. In his second-ever race, Mathews broke the indoor school record for the 800 with a 1:46.62. He finished runner-up at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
Mathews built on his strong indoor season by running 1:46.19 at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, second all-time in BYU school history. He was named Big 12 Outstanding Freshman of the Year.
In other words, Mathews has never been faster. The possibility of making a future national team for a World Championship is on the table for Mathews. The Olympics are a goal of his.
The decision for Mathews was tough. Mathews already waited to start his mission by one year (most tend to serve right after graduating high school) to see what he could as a freshman on the track and field team. But with an age limit to serve the mission, Mathews filed his paperwork and waited to see where he was called.
Mathews believes that his missionary work will ultimately serve him on the track.
“One of the most important things for me to do, while I’m also focusing on training, is everything on the spiritual side,” Mathews said. “Go to church, do everything that I’m supposed to, and then also just try to keep a strong relationship with God. I try to do all those things first, and I see the benefits afterwards in terms of my support.”
Mathews isn’t worried about losing his fitness or speed while on the mission. While he has a daily set of scheduled activities with a companion who must be by his side, Mathews is allowed some time in the morning to train. And, in what Mathews called a “blessing in disguise,” the country that Mathews was called to serve also happens to be filled with distance runners: Uganda.
In an act of coincidence, this is the same mission that BYU star Kenneth Rooks served. Rooks just made the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Mathews looks to the path of Rooks as a source of hope.
“I see people doing the same thing, and they’re coming back and becoming Olympians,” Mathews said. “That was a big confidence booster.”
Coupled with the fact that it is an English-speaking mission for Mathews, lessening the load of learning he would have to, he’s confident he’ll return to form in 2027. Mathews will have his true sophomore season at BYU, about 11 months in total, in the lead-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“I think that will be enough time to at least give myself a shot,” Mathews said. “I think all of those things came together to put away those worries of whether or not I’d be able to return as a good athlete. I’m super excited for my mission and super excited for that opportunity.”
‘I love the gospel’
Mesa Mountain View alum Daniel Judd became the 12th boy from Arizona this past season to run under 9:00 in the 3,200 this past season to win the AIA state title, also pulling off the sweep and winning the title in the 1,600.
Like Mathews, Judd is also waiting a year to do his mission.
The plan is to do a semester at Salt Lake Community College, where he will run cross-country in the fall. If his cross-country times are competitive enough, he will look to compete in the track and field season with the hopes of attracting the attention of a four-year college, like nearby Utah State University, before heading off on his mission.
“Giving up those two years, I feel like I will be more blessed when I get back,” Judd said. “And I love the gospel, what I believe in. So the sacrifice for me is big, but I want it.”
Complicating Judd’s decision is the fact that SLCC decided to cut track and field on June 20. Now, the future is in flux.
For Judd, running goes deeper than just putting on a pair of shoes and lacing them up.
“I feel that it is given to me with a purpose from God,” Judd said. “And I feel in return (running) is to show my gratitude and my thankfulness. Whenever I go out there to run, it’s like I’m running for my faith, in a way. And that really helps me find a balance with running. It’s like I’m doing something fulfilling, something that I feel is my calling.”
Life on a mission: Jesus and jump-ups
Zach Ripperdan, a Queen Creek alum who graduated in 2024, was in the same race that Mathews set his state record in 2023. Ripperdan ended up running 1:51.23 for the 800 as a senior and is No. 6 all-time in state history for the event.
He earned a track and field scholarship to Utah State, but deferred that for two years as he opted to serve a mission. Ripperdan is currently in Quito, Ecuador and is 10 months into his mission.
Ripperdan, despite not having stepped foot competitively on a track since July 28, 2024, feels “100%” that he has improved as a runner by strengthening his relationship with God.
“When I’m serving other people, I feel like I have more energy,” Ripperdan said. “I’m less worried about the little stresses of life that can affect your performance sometimes. For me, it’s easier to be consistent in the little things with training. That consistency and that discipline go hand in hand.”
Ripperdan is usually able to get a short run done in the morning before planning the day with his companion. With Quito at 9,000 feet of elevation, where the air is thinner, it doesn’t take long for Ripperdan to work up a sweat. Jump-ups have become a go-to for Ripperdan.
He has about 14 months left of his mission before returning to the United States and beginning his track and field career at Utah State.
“I’m just going to come back and be consistent and not try to cheat the grind,” Ripperdan said. “I am excited because I think some of that will be cool when I get back from my mission. Of course, it’ll be an adjustment in the first few months getting back into legit collegiate shape. I think I’ll be more appreciative of what it takes and the consistency to be at your best. And obviously carry over the things in my mission, my connection with God.”
Logan Stanley is a sports reporter with The Arizona Republic who primarily focuses on high school, college and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human-interest stories and other news, reach out to Stanley at logan.stanley@gannett.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LSscribe.
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