Despite following shortly after indoor, the outdoor season can feel like a blank slate for student-athletes due to the shift in events, format and competition environment. 

For the Texas men’s track and field team, the switch was a much-needed reset. After placing 14th out of 15 at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in its conference meet opener, the Longhorns focused on changing the narrative and restoring the expected high level of performance. 

“We’re all irritated, we’re all pissed off,” junior Logan Popelka said earlier in the outdoor season. “We all want to go be great, and we want to show everybody that. Just because we had a bad performance indoors doesn’t mean we are a bad team.”

Popelka and his teammates knew they were capable of rebounding. 

And they have.

The Texas men have been in the Top 20 of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association team rankings throughout the outdoor season, entering the SEC Championships at No. 13. It marked a clear improvement from indoor, in which the Longhorns continuously fell in the rankings and finished outside of the Top 25. 

At the SEC Outdoor Championships, held on Kentucky’s campus in mid-May, the Texas men came in seventh. That development led to the NCAA First Round in College Station, where championship qualifying spots were on the line.

Nine Texas men across seven different events qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, this week. Sophomore Osawese Agbonkonkon (high jump), junior Kody Blackwood (400-meter hurdles, 4×400-meter relay), junior Chris Brinkley Jr. (4×400-meter relay), sophomore Xavier Butler (200-meter, 4×100-meter relays), senior Kelsey Daniel (triple jump), Popelka (4×400-meter relays), junior John Rutledge (4×100-meter relay, 4×400-meter relays), senior Almond Small (4×100-meter relay) and junior Kendrick Smallwood (110-meter hurdles, 4×100-meter relay) make up the group.

The first day of men’s events was held on Wednesday, with the remainder being completed on Friday. Women’s events take place on Thursday and will conclude on Saturday. Ten Texas women in six different events will compete in Eugene, making it 19 total for the Longhorns.

On Wednesday, four of five Texas events competing in track semifinals advanced to Friday’s finals. 

The headliner is Smallwood, who qualified for the 110-meter hurdle final with the second-best semifinal time. He has not lost a race in the event all season and now owns the top eight fastest times in Texas history. Smallwood has the chance to close a perfect outdoor season by becoming an NCAA champion on Friday. 

He will also take part in the 4×100-meter relay alongside Rutledge, Small and Butler. The squad finished third in their heat but had the eighth-best time overall, earning them qualification for Friday.

Butler finished second in his heat in the 200-meter, allowing him entry into the final. He will be making two finals appearances in his first NCAA Championships. 

Blackwood advanced to the 400-meter hurdle finals after running the third-fastest time in the semifinals. Expect him to be in the mix down the stretch, as he has been amongst the top competitors in the event all season. Agbonkonkon, debuting on the championship stage, and Daniel, in his fourth NCAA meet, will have their field events to round out Texas’s action. 

With six events on Friday, the Longhorns could return to Austin with podium finishes, confirming the success of their outdoor season bounce-back.

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary’s Beach Volleyball continues to build their 2025-26 squad in the Spring recruiting window, signing Isla Johnson out of Harbor High School in Santa Cruz. Standing at 5-8, Johnson played outside hitter for her school’s indoor team, while enjoying a benedettaandexler66@gmail.com
dominant career on the sand as well in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League.

Over four years playing for the Pirates of Harbor High School, Johnson led her squad to four straight SCCAL Titles in beach volleyball, and two consecutive SCCAL Titles in indoor volleyball. On the hardwood, Johnson was a four time All-League honoree, culminating her prep career with League MVP honors.

Eugene, Ore. – Lilly Urban competed at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Thursday, placing third in the first flight and 11th overall with a best throw of 55.27m. 

Urban continued her form this season of having her best throw on her first throw, hurling the javelin 55.27m, and did not improve on her next two throws. Urban’s 11th place finish earned her All-America Second Team honors, her first All-America honor of her two year Nevada career. Urban also notched the highest finish in the NCAA Championship javelin competition by a Nevada athlete. 

Urban set the Nevada all-time record for javelin and will look to break more records next season, in her Junior year. 

This concludes the Nevada Track and Field outdoor season, the Pack will be back for indoor season with home meets starting this December. 

Nevada Results

Javelin

11. Lilly Urban – 55.27m 

IS EIGHT ENOUGH?: The Southern Regional boys volleyball team gathers around the NJSIAA Group 3 championship trophy and banner after defeating Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 on June 12 in South Brunswick. (Photos by David Biggy)

Two years ago when the Southern Regional boys volleyball team defeated Bridgewater-Raritan for the NJSIAA Group 4 championship, Yeferson Figueroa had a chance to hold the trophy, but he didn’t have much of a part in the Rams’ success other than being a rah-rah guy from the sideline.

This season, as a senior, he finally occupied a roster position and actually played at various points of 12 sets. On June 12, he didn’t get into the Group 3 championship match against Scotch Plains-Fanwood, but he didn’t care.

“My mentality has always been that if I can’t be on the court, I have to help my people somehow, some way, whether that’s by being the loudest on the bench or encouraging them wherever they are,” Figueroa said after the Rams captured the title with a grueling, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 victory in South Brunswick. “I love these guys, and I’d do anything for them. I told them before the match, ‘We’ve had so many great experiences, so why not end it all with one great note?’ And it feels amazing. It’s been a pleasure playing with all these guys.”

The Rams (30-1) didn’t play amazing volleyball against the Raiders – at times, they were downright sloppy – but they scored points when they mattered most.

SECURED: Southern Regional junior Van Miller delivers the winning kill in the third game of the Rams’ grueling title victory over Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

“We didn’t play well, but this, tonight, went way beyond volleyball,” said head coach Eric Maxwell, whose Rams now have won 11 state titles, including eight with the boys. “It was about toughness, sticking together, just keep fighting. A lot of it wasn’t pretty, but they just kept battling. Our guys know how to play volleyball, but the fight is what mattered tonight.”

With the first game tied 4-4, junior David Bruther delivered an ace to help set off a 7-1 spurt that gave Southern an 11-5 lead that SPF eventually trimmed to a point, 18-17. But after an Aiden Krinic kill to make it 19-17, Scotch Plains-Fanwood mixed in several points with several errors to remain behind by two, 21-19.

Southern middleman Van Miller hammered down a shot to make it 22-19 before the Rams closed out the set with kills from Jonah Krinic, Miller and Aiden Krinic.

The Raiders took a 5-1 lead in the second game, but it became more of a back-and-forth mess of mistakes by both squads. After Jonah Krinic scored on a block to tie the set at 22-22, Scotch Plains-Fanwood grabbed the lead with a kill, only to make a passing error that again knotted the set. SPF regained the lead on the next play; then Southern’s Jack Malandro hit a ball out of bounds to seal the second set for the Raiders.

SET IT UP: Southern Regional junior David Bruther winds up for a serve that dropped for an ace to give the Rams match point.

The third game was even more of a back-and-forth grind than the first two sets, with neither team going up by more than a point or two. After a net encroachment was called on Southern to give the Raiders (27-5) a 17-16 lead, Aiden Krinic bashed one of his 17 kills to tie the game, and the two teams traded punches from there.

Another net encroachment infraction by the Rams made it 22-21 in favor of Scotch Plains-Fanwood, but a passing error on the Raiders again created a deadlock before Aiden Krinic scored on another kill to push the Rams out in front to stay.

Then Bruther dropped the bomb – the delivery of a top-spin serve that fell between several Raiders, giving the Rams match point.

“I was nervous, so bad. I just wanted to get that ball in,” Bruther said. “I knew we could handle the stuff on our side, but I wanted to make them do something big to make a play on us. When that ball hit the floor, I was so joyful. All glory to God, but it was 100% the best ace of my life.”

Bruther served the next ball into the net to make it 24-23, but Miller hammered down a kill, his 12th of the contest, to the left side to secure the championship – the first in Group 3 after winning seven Group 4 crowns.

FIRED UP: Southern senior Brody Reynolds clutches the trophy as the Rams celebrate.

“This one is especially different because it puts us ahead of Bridgewater-Raritan for the most state titles ever,” Aiden Krinic said. “There was so much tension. I played against Old Bridge in the sectional final last year, and this had more tension than that. The crowd wasn’t heckling me, but I felt it.”

Jonah Krinic finished with four kills, 11 digs and an ace, while Jack Malandro added six kills, Brody Reynolds tallied 19 digs, and Logan Homme ended with 41 assists to go with 11 digs.

“We have a very special bond on our team,” Jonah Krinic said. “Every moment we’re on the court, we’re together, and yesterday in practice we talked about this. Maxwell said that no matter what happens, we’re a family and we deserve to win it. We stay close, and that’s the way we win these big matches.”

— David Biggy

biggy@thesandpaper.net

While the event will be straight ‘shoot-out’ for the medals, the two best World Cup scores attained by an individual, duet or national team, will be combined with that attained in the Super Final, to determine the seasonal prize money standings.

Following three high-class World Cup legs – which have taken place across Europe (Paris, France), Africa (Somabay, Egypt) and North America (Markham, Canada), the 2025 series will conclude with a fourth different continent stop – Asia.

The setting, which will see the top 12-ranked nations in each discipline battle it out for highly sought-after Super Final honours, is also apt, with China having made history by claiming both the Team and Duet Olympic titles for the first time at last year’s Games.

They will again be among the major contenders across the 11 medal contests, which consist of Open Team, Women’s Duet, Mixed Duet, Men’s and Women’s Solo events.

Another nation expected to push for the top of the podium, across multiple disciplines, is Spain, with their new head coach – four-time Olympic medallist Andrea Fuentes – insisting they have arrived in China with a “winning mindset.”

“We thank World Aquatics for this cultural wealth (with four events across four continents) and honestly it’s been really cool,” says Fuentes, who guided her nation to medals in each of the 11 disciplines at the European Championships, which concluded just last week.

“I’m proud of the team’s mindset and as Paula (Ramirez) has said, we treat the Europeans as the ‘World semi-finals’ and here for the finals, it also prepares us for what comes in a month’s time, in Singapore (2025 World Aquatics Championships).”

Here, World Aquatics takes a look at some of the leading contenders in each of the disciplines ahead of the World Cup Super Final in China.

The clashes between Olympic silver medallists USA and Paris 2024 third-place finishers Spain, have been some of the most highly-anticipated and ultimately spectacular showings of the season so far and further ‘fireworks’ are predicted in China.

While the hosts have generally fielded younger athletes during the regular World Cup season, in preparation for the World Championships in July, several of those who helped the nation claim Olympic gold last year will now return to their line-up.

Paris 2024 champions Chang Hao, Feng Yu, Xiang Binxuan and Zhang Yayi bring medal-winning experience to the line-up and while the overall title is likely out of reach, they will be expected to push for the podium places with Spain and USA.

Heading into the Super Final Spain, as previously referenced, hold a strong lead in the overall rankings after consistently strong performances.

After contesting only the Team Technical discipline in Paris, which they won with a dazzling delivery of their routine to the Backstreet Boy’s ‘backstreet’s back’ track, they added they added the complete line-up to their programme in Somabay and Markham.

They have so far won each of the Technical finals and both of the Free contests and placed third at the European Championships in Funchal, Madeira, last week after debuting their new Acrobatic routine.

That will give other nation’s hope, with the USA as well as regular World Cup medallists Japan, the rapidly improving Italians, France – who were fourth at Paris 2024 – and the emerging young Ukrainian talents, each possessing strong podium potential.

With the Olympic Duet medal winners from each of the three nations – China, Great Britain and the Netherlands – yet to return to the discipline after post-Games breaks from the sport, the 2025 campaign has seen given new talents the opportunity to showcase their potential.

Spaniard’s Txell Ferre Gaset and Lilou Lluis Valette currently lead the overall standings, having placed first in Paris and second in Markham in the Tech discipline, but Lluis Vallette’s partnership with Iris Tio Casas in the Free event, might represent a better chance of gold.

They won in Markham last time out, and were second to the Italians – who will not compete in China – at the Europeans last week.

Japan too will be strong across both disciplines, with Tomoka Sato regularly claiming Free discipline honours with Uta Kobayashi and Tech honours, alongside Moe Higa, this season.

The challenge posed by China’s duet; Lin sisters Yanhan and Yanjun, can also not be overlooked, with the siblings placing second in Markham and the pair keen to put down a marker ahead of the World Championships where they aim to continue their nation’s winning run at major events, following the Wang sister’s Olympic success last year.

The athletes in this field may have experienced the recent blow of learning the mixed duet discipline will not feature as part of the LA 2028 Olympic Games programme, but that has seemingly only provided further ‘fuel to the flame’.

The strength and creativity demonstrated in performances has only increased throughout the season and these will be among the major draws across the three days in Xi’an.

Jordi Caceres Iglesias of Spain may top the overall rankings, alongside Lazaro Cabaleiro Aurora, but he is only a reserve for this discipline. World champion Dennis Gonzalez Boneu is set to line-up with Iris Tio Casas (Free) and Mireia Hernandez Luna, after claiming European titles with each in Portugal last week.

They will be strong gold medal favourites again, but the chance to see individual star siblings Guo Muye and Sitong team up will offer a fascinating prospect for fans in venue and watching across the world.

Another fascinating recent pairing, who began their partnership with European silver earlier in the week, sees Olympic medallist Izzy Thorpe join Ranjuo Tomblin in each of the Mixed Duet disciplines.

Thorpe took time away from the sport following her history-making success, alongside Kate Shortman, at Paris 2024 and has joined Tomblin in a bid to create a possible World Championship medal-winning pair for Singapore 2025.

Tomblin himself has a growing reputation in the sport, having claimed maiden World Cup honours during 2025, including golds across Mixed Duet and Solo disciplines.

The subhead may suggest this is all about two men – and they are both strong contenders – but the men’s field possesses a host of seasoned performers who are capable of strong medal challenges across the Free and Tech disciplines.

With three victories so far this season, 17-year-old Guo Muye (CHN) leads the overall standings ahead of Spanish breakthrough star Jordi Canceres Iglesias and Britain’s Ranjuo Tomblin.

The latter underlined their strong form with a European title each last week, but Canceres Iglesias will only contest the Free event, as team-mate and icon Dennis Gonzalez Boneu takes on the Tech discipline.

With Gonzalez making history this season as part of the Spanish team line-up, he has devoted less time to solo events, but the World and European champion is likely to be a contender across this, as well as his team and Mixed Duet disciplines.

Gustavo Sanchez of Colombia is the most experienced athlete in the men’s field and a seasoned medal-winner, who along with Diego Villalobos Carrillo (MEX) and Viktor Druzin (KAZ), should have strong podium potential.

18-year-old Mari Alavidze of Georgia leads the overall standings despite only attaining one podium finish so far this season, with second place in the Women’s Solo Free in Markham.

Although a consistent performer, as is second-placed Rachel Thean of Singapore and Kazak swimmer Karina Magrupova, the major medal challenges are likely to be posed by other athletes in the field.

Germany’s Klara Bleyer has built on last season’s breakthrough campaign with a two solo titles on the World Cup circuit in 2025 and claimed a historic European title for her nation last week.

The progress of Olympic team bronze medal winning Spanish athlete Iris Tio Casas has been keenly watched this season, with the 22-year-old finally given the opportunity to showcase her individual talents and Tech success in Paris demonstrated her potential.

Vasilina Khandoshka may be sixth in the overall rankings, but that is largely owing to the fact she did not compete in Markham. Across the four events in the other two World Cup legs she placed on the podium in each, marking her out as a clear one-to-watch in China.

Doha 2024 World championship bronze medallist Xu Huiyan is the one many fans of the sport will be backing for success in her homeland though.

She won double gold in her solo debut at the Beijing leg of the 2024 World Cup and has placed no lower than second in her seven subsequent individual outings.

To find out where to watch the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Final in Xi’an, China, check out our Where to Watch Guide. 

For a full run-down of the event schedule, visit World Aquatics’ Xi’an 2025 event page.

Mya Lesnar is a national champion — again.

And this time, the CSU senior did it at Hayward Field to become the Rams’ first outdoor national champ in 20 years.

Lesnar, the NCAA indoor shot put national champion in 2024, won the same event at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships on Thursday in Eugene, Ore., with a throw of 19.01 meters.

She came into this week’s meet as the top seed in the shot put and didn’t disappoint.

The daughter of WWE star Brock Lesnar hit the winning mark on her very first throw and was the only competitor to top 19 meters in the event. The victory came a year after she placed fifth in the event at the outdoor meet and continued the Rams’ tradition of strong throwers.

The last Rams outdoor national champion, Loree Smith, won the hammer throw in 2005. And Lesnar was joined by two other throwers at this week’s meet: Kajsa Borrman was 21st in the hammer earlier Thursday and Klaire Kovatch will throw in the discus on Saturday.