Oklahoma’s Elle Mueller put on a SHOW every time she stepped on the floor during her freshman debut. Her musical interpretation, storytelling, larger-than-life choreography, and performance quality were stellar—creative, artistic, passionate—and it seems she’s got the college game very much in the palm of her hand. 

The choreography and the music, “You Don’t Own Me” performed by Harley Quinn, suited Mueller perfectly. And together with OU head coach KJ Kindler, who gave her the confidence to embrace every note of music and perform, Mueller, like many of us, isn’t quite ready to let this routine go. 

“I guess I need to start looking for new music!” she told us. 

The routine was the one she’s waited for her entire career so far to perform, she said. So it’s totally understandable that while she’s excited to top it, she’ll always remember it as very special, beginning with the first moments she worked with Kindler to create it and discovering a different side of herself as an artist.

“Going back to Twin City Twisters, we had a dance coach that we would work with two, three times a week, and she was super chill. She would just bring out different dances in us, have us work on our facial expressions,” Mueller said. “I think that opened me up to the artistry.

“You’ve always seen KJ’s floor routines, and you’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I want one of my own!’ Just seeing her embody that character and who she wanted me to be allowed me to perform it. I embodied Harley Quinn because that’s where my music is from. It’s a routine style I’ve always wanted to do, so I took the chance and ran with it.”

Having her teammates just feet away and living every step of the routine with her week after week brought Mueller joy and confidence. Along the way, she grew from rookie to veteran overnight. 

“It was incredible,” Mueller said of her teammates’ support during her routine and throughout the season. “It really allowed me to get into my routine more and just do it for them because those are the people that I’m doing it for. You no longer do it for yourself; you do it for your team. That just gave me a little reminder of just how much support I really have.”

Described by Aly Raisman on air as “breathtaking,” our photographer, Lloyd Smith, captured Mueller’s routine during Four On the Floor, where she once again captivated the audience—her teammates included. 

See below for more of our chat with Mueller following the NCAA Championships in April, where OU took its seventh national title.

Jun. 9—Austin Bruins forward Luc Malkhassian has committed to Middlebury College to further his academic and playing career.

Malkhassian dominated the ice with the Bruins this past season. The Toronto native began the season with an impressive nine points (two goals and seven assists) in the first two games of the year, notching a point in eight of his first ten games for a total of 15. “It means a lot to me to take this next step in my career and play at the collegiate level,” Malkhassian said. “I’m very excited for this next step in my journey.”

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He netted a total of 27 goals during the year, good for second on the Bruins and tied for 12th among NAHL skaters. Malkhassian consistently performed at a high level while remaining healthy all year long. The forward appeared in all 59 regular season games, the only Bruin to play in every single game this year.

“We are excited for Luc and his family,” Bruins head coach Steve Howard said. “He came to Austin for the exposure to colleges and performed at a high level all season long. We look forward to following his career as he joins a great Middlebury program.” Malkhassian, who was named to the NAHL All-Central Division team, credits his time in Austin for preparing him to take this next step.

“Austin prepared me to play a man’s game which is college hockey. It matured me and developed me into the player I am today,” Malkhassian said.

The first year Bruin made single season history, not once but twice throughout the season. On March 22, a two goal first period against Minot catapulted the forward to 71 points in a single season, passing the previous record set a season prior by Austin Salani. Malkhassian was the second Bruin to reach the mark as longtime teammate Alex Laurenza broke the record the previous week.

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However, Luc wasn’t done with just one record. In the second last game of the year, Malkhassian posted his 50th assist, breaking a 12-year single season record held previously by Brandon Wahlin. His 78 points to end the year placed him second in the Bruins record books and second overall in the NAHL this year.

The Middlebury Panthers hockey team is a Division III program that is a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The Panthers hold the Division III record for most national championships with eight.

The program finished the 2024-25 season with an overall record of 13-12-1 while posting an 8-9-1 conference record, good for seventh in the NESCAC.

“As someone who values academics, it was an offer I couldn’t pass up,” Malkhassian commented on why he chose Middlebury. “The school itself along with the direction the hockey program is heading felt like the perfect spot for me.”

Malkhassian becomes the fourth Bruin to make a commitment this season.

Today’s guest columnist is Russell Dinkins, executive director of the Tracksmith Foundation.

Olympic sports in college are in danger. With Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) allowing college athletes to receive endorsement deals and pay via collectives, and a just-approved antitrust settlement that will result in colleges having to pay athletes directly, colleges are already making decisions about which sports to keep and which sports may need to be cut. 

And while the loss of any Olympic sport is concerning, the loss of track and field programs will be devastating, not only for the development of elite-level athletes, but also because of the sport’s accessibility and racial and socio-economic diversity. In the wake of the House settlement, and with the NCAA Division I track and field championships taking place this week in Oregon, now is the time to discuss these issues.

Track and field is America’s opportunity sport. It is the nation’s largest high school sport when you include both male and female participation, and it is the cheapest youth sport by far, meaning it’s the most accessible and affordable of all youth sports offerings.

It is also one of the few sports where teenage athletes can be recruited by colleges by simply participating on their high school’s team.

Today, youth sports are dominated by expensive club or travel teams that compete outside of  local scholastic programs. For many youth sports, an athlete essentially has to be on one of these club teams to be recruited. 

However, track and field athletes can get the attention of college coaches just from their local high school meets, because performances are measurable and objective. In fact, nearly all high-school track results are uploaded to a national database, democratizing the recruiting process. The likelihood that a low-income kid from small-town North Dakota, urban Baltimore or rural Texas can earn an opportunity to go to college via sport is far greater in track than in most other college sports.

The NCAA and colleges within their system have enjoyed the perception that the NCAA provides educational pathways to college for those who may otherwise not have that opportunity. For the most part, this perception is the result of clever marketing. However, there’s one sport that actually does a great job of keeping that school door open—track and field.

Collegiate track and field is the largest sport in the NCAA by participation. It is also the NCAA’s most diverse Olympic sport.

Nearly half of the NCAA’s Olympic sports athletes of color participate in track and field and cross country. No other Olympic sport in the NCAA comes close. And while nearly 70% of Olympic sports athletes in the NCAA are white, track and field stands apart, as over 40% of its athletes are athletes of color.

In addition, track and field provides great opportunities for both men and women. As the largest sport in high school for girls and the largest by participation for women in the NCAA, track and field provides the most opportunities for these athletes to not only experience the benefits of sport but to utilize it as a pathway to college.

For boys and young men, the sport’s role in providing a pathway to college is also significant in light of national trends that see significantly fewer young men attending college than women. Track represents one of the few remaining mechanisms that effectively and efficiently bring young men into college classrooms nationwide. And while it is an objective good that more women are going to college, we cannot, as a society, allow young men to fall by the wayside. 

The NCAA and universities writ large should be invested in ensuring that sport remains a viable pathway to an education, especially for under-resourced populations. Allowing college track to be diminished or eliminated works against that goal. Therefore, the NCAA ought to provide college track with special consideration or protected status due to the sport’s unique societal benefits.

The sport, however, can also make itself more valuable in the modern collegiate marketplace by enhancing its financial and cultural value.

Olympic sports such as women’s gymnastics, volleyball and softball have shown that producing a compelling television product and in-person experience can create value. Adjusting college track meets that take place within a TV-friendly two-hour window, with clear scoring that shows a clear team winner will be a tremendous step in the right direction. Someone should be able to see a quad meet between UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington on a bar TV and clearly tell who’s ahead and who the winner is at the end of the meet.

Most NCAA football and basketball teams, outside of the biggest Power Four teams, don’t make money but provide cultural value to their institutions and communities. Many colleges, for instance, organize their homecoming and alumni weekends around a football game. Moreover, with football and basketball being fall and winter sports respectively, there’s a potential economic void in the spring that track could capitalize on. Here’s a thought: Several big-time football schools have abandoned open spring football games, which used to be a sizable event attracting fans and alums to campus, to protect players from being scouted and poached in the transfer portal. Why not build an event around a major track meet instead?

Collegiate track should elevate the cultural value of the sport by educating the public on why it is of social benefit. If there’s a broad understanding of how and why the sport is truly “the opportunity sport,” the sport can display its worth and be considered as valuable as the unprofitable football and basketball teams.

Sport is often thought of as the great equalizer. Unfortunately, that ideal does not reflect how most sports operate in modern-day America. A truly accessible, merit-based, high school-to-college pipeline does not exist for a great many of the sports we see in the NCAA. Track, though, actually does a great job of providing such a route to an education. It would be a grave disservice to allow these opportunities to be taken away via sports cuts by college administrators who are looking at bottom lines and not the lives impacted by their decisions. The societal cost is too great to allow collegiate track and field, America’s opportunity sport, to wither away.

Russell Dinkins is a national track and field advocate and executive director of the Tracksmith Foundation. An NCAA champion and six-time Ivy League champion while at Princeton, Dinkins’ advocacy has helped save four Division I track and field programs by leveraging media and historic applications of Title IX and other legal strategies to see the reinstatement of over 200 athletic opportunities.

How Mississippi State’s Embracing NIL Change originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

When the NCAA’s long-anticipated House v. NCAA settlement was finalized, ushering in a new era of direct revenue sharing in college athletics, many universities were left scrambling. Mississippi State wasn’t one of them.

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In fact, the Bulldogs have been quietly building their war chest for this moment.

Now that schools are permitted to share up to $20.5 million annually with student-athletes, Mississippi State is moving with purpose, poised to take full advantage of the new landscape.

Last fall, Mississippi State introduced the State Excellence Fund, a proactive initiative designed to support student-athletes both on and off the field. While it wasn’t publicly pitched as a revenue-sharing strategy, insiders now view it as a calculated move, and one that is laying the foundation for today’s game-changing NCAA reforms.

“This news allows us to move ahead in our pursuit of new heights,” said Athletic Director Zac Selmon. While Selmon didn’t provide specific figures, the tone suggests Mississippi State plans to distribute the full $20.5 million allowed.

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As with most Power Four programs, football and men’s basketball will see the lion’s share of funds. But MSU’s commitment to baseball stands out in a big way.

The hiring of championship-winning coach Brian O’Connor sent a clear message: Mississippi State baseball is a top-tier priority. Under the new rules, universities can fully fund scholarships for every player on a roster. This is a massive shift, especially for baseball, where partial scholarships have long been the norm.

Mississippi State isn’t wasting the opportunity.

Expect the Bulldogs to lead the way in scholarship spending and NIL support for baseball, giving them a competitive edge not just in the SEC, but nationally. The move is a potential game-changer for the Diamond Dawgs, already one of the most passionate and well-supported programs in college baseball.

Under the new model, all third-party NIL deals valued at $600 or more must pass through a national clearinghouse called “NIL Go.” The aim? To close loopholes and prevent schools from gaming the cap via outside collectives.

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But rather than see this as a hurdle, Mississippi State appears ready to adapt.

With strong university backing, private fundraising momentum, and a clear vision from its leadership, MSU is positioning itself as a forward-thinking contender in the rapidly evolving college sports economy.

This isn’t just a business move, it’s a cultural shift. Mississippi State is no longer reacting to change. It’s leading it.

And for Bulldog Nation, it means your teams, especially on the gridiron, the hardwood, and the diamond will have the resources, scholarships, and support needed to compete with the best.

The future of college sports is here. And Mississippi State is ready.

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Related: Mississippi State Baseball Transfer Exodus

Related: Mississippi State Baseball Reloads with Transfers, Returns

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.

Arizona has waited four years to get back to the College World Series. It won’t have to wait much longer to hit the field in Omaha.

The Wildcats’ opening game in the CWS against Coastal Carolina is set for an 11 a.m. PT start on Friday at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, with the game airing on ESPN. The other matchup on Arizona’s side of the bracket, between Louisville and Oregon State, is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT on Friday.

The other half of the bracket starts play Saturday, with UCLA taking on Murray State—the last team to qualify on Monday—at 11 a.m. PT and Arkansas facing LSU in an all-SEC battle at 4 p.m. PT.

Arizona (44-19) is making its 19^th appearance in the CWS, first since 2021, after winning the Chapel Hill Super Regional in three games over the weekend. That came after sweeping through the Eugene Regional on the heels of a Big 12 Tournament title.

Coastal Carolina (53-11) holds the nation’s longest active win streak at 23 games, having won the Sun Belt conference tourney and then sweeping through a home regional and a Super Regional at Auburn. This is the Chanticleers’ first trip to Omaha since 2016 when they beat the UA in three games for the national title.

The College World Series is a double-elimination format during bracket play, with Arizona guaranteed to play Sunday regardless of the first game’s result. Bracket finals are set for June 18-19, with the best-of-3 championship series starting June 21.