By: Hunter McKay

EUGENE, Ore. –  Chance Cross competed on day two of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Wednesday at Hayward Field.
  
In the 100m semifinal, Cross ran a time of 10.17 seconds to finish in 11th place. That time ranks fifth in program history. That finish earned him Second Team All-American honors. Cross finished his junior season with five of the fastest record times in program history.
 
Quotables
Director of Track and Field Cale McDaniel
 “Chance is the fastest man to wear the Owl uniform, and he is one the best human beings as well! Such an outstanding person and competitor, we are all so proud of him and the season he has had. Chance Cross is one of a kind.” 
 
Assistant Coach Paris Williams
“I couldn’t have asked more from Chance this year. Coming off of injuries the last two seasons and trusting in me my first year to do our best to get us to the NCAA Championships. He’s extremely coachable and always does the little things right. Anybody would be blessed to have him as their athlete, I’m so glad I get to do so. This is only the beginning!”
 
Next Up
Kali Terza (hammer throw) and Emma Sullivan (800m) will compete on Thursday at the NCAA Oudoor Track and Field Championships. 

EUGENE, Ore. — Grand Canyon senior hurdler Cam Wilmington concluded his season in the semifinal round of the men’s 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Wednesday evening at Hayward Field.

With the event narrowed down to just 24 competitors, the top nine finishers in Wednesday’s preliminary round advance to Friday’s final. Wilmington finished in 20th with a time of 51.57 seconds. Although he does not advance further into the meet, Wilmington earned All-American honorable-mention recognition for his finish in the nation’s top 24.

Under two weeks ago at the NCAA West First Round in College Station, Texas, Wilmington logged a personal best in the event with a time of 50.04. Days later, he ran a 50.12 to punch his ticket to Eugene. Either of those marks would have qualified for a top-nine finish. However, conditions in Eugene led to slower times across the board as only two of the event’s 24 entrants improved on their first-round marks.

Baylor’s Nathan Ezekiel cruised to the top time of the semifinal round with a mark of 47.86 that was over 1.2 seconds faster than the nearest competitor.

Wilmington ended a successful outdoor season that saw him make GCU history as the program’s first NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships qualifier in a men’s track event and 16th qualifier overall. He also was a WAC champion in the event.

 

EUGENE, Ore. – The 2025 Track and Field season came to a close for the Titans after sending two events to the semifinal round at the NCAA DI National Championship on Wednesday evening. 

Joshua Hornsby, who punched his ticket to Eugene in the men’s 110m hurdles at the NCAA West First Rounds (May 28-31), ran a 13.53 in the event’s semifinal round. This placed him 14th out of the 22 finishers overall. Hornsby finishes the season holding the top four fastest times in Titan history (13.51, 13.53, 13.58, 13.61), all of which he set this season. 

The men’s 4×100 relay team composed of John Clifford, Isaiah Emerson, Dominic Gates and Ian Dossman placed 22nd place in the semifinal round with a time of 39.48. The athletes, who ran a combined time of 39.26, punched their ticket to the semifinal round on May 30 at the West First Round hosted on the campus of Texas A&M. 

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Sarasota County has produced some of the state’s best volleyball over the past decade.

Cardinal Mooney, Riverview and Venice high schools have each made it to the final four in the past 10 years, with the Cougars (one) and Indians (two) bringing home state championships. 

Sarasota High, however, could not tap into that local success. The Sailors haven’t made it to the regional round of postseason play since 2015 and have never played in a regional final. 

New Sarasota volleyball Head Coach Emma Thrift hopes to change that. 

Thrift knows Sarasota volleyball better than most. 

She played both indoor and beach volleyball at Riverview and has coached with Sarasota Volleyball Club — an AAU and travel organization — since she was a senior in high school. 

After routinely beating the Sailors in her high school days, the challenge of going to the rival excites Thrift. 

Image courtesy of Emma Thrift

“It’s exciting to be on the other side,” Thrift said. “It fuels the fire a little bit more. It feels like I have something to prove.”

In the Sailors’ 10-11 season, Riverview eliminated Sarasota in its first district tournament game. 

That leaves plenty of room for improvement, but Thrift is focusing more on the intangibles than the record.

“Success for me this season would be building a solid culture and foundation,” Thrift said. “It’s not about winning, winning, winning. It’s about having them grow. Even if they lose, I want it to be five sets, close games, extra points every time. I don’t want it to be a 3-0 sweep. I would still count that as a win. Set wins are wins to me. When we see that growth in the season, that will set us up really well in the long term.”

Thrift, 23, graduated from Florida State University in 2024, but isn’t inexperienced in coaching. 

She has coached with Sarasota Volleyball Club, SRQ Beach Volleyball and The Classical Academy of Sarasota.

However, she is well aware she will be one of the youngest head varsity coaches in the state this season, and she’s planning on using that to her advantage. 

“I try to relate to them a little more because they’re still in high school,” Thrift said. “They’re going through the hardest part of their life right now. I feel like a lot of coaches as they get older kind of dismiss that, whereas I was more recently in their shoes. They want to feel respected and feel like they’re being heard, and I feel like I’m able to communicate that with them.” 

Despite Sarasota’s record and postseason result last year, Thrift should have some talent to work with this fall. 

Kills leader Liza Collier, a rising junior, is set to enter her junior season while Braelynn Rebholz, third in kills, will be a senior. 

Blocks leader Gemma Mulhollen is entering her junior season and ace leader Rylan Miller will be a senior. 

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The work for next season has already begun.

Thrift held her first summer workout on June 9 at the school, and said roughly 50 players — including freshman, junior varsity and varsity — showed up, with more expected to come later in the summer. 

June will focus on building stamina and mental strength. Thrift intends on the Sailors playing deep into matches, which will require fortitude. That means cardio work on the track, high-repetition weightlifting and time on the court. 

Perhaps more important than strength and conditioning will be creating a team-first culture. Thrift said she can’t remember the players who were on the freshman and junior varsity teams when she was a varsity player. 

Instead, she wants an all-inclusive environment to encourage players to stay with the team through graduation. 

“What I really want to build right now is good culture,” Thrift said. “I want this team to be one unit. I don’t want freshman, JV, varsity. I want Sarasota volleyball. I feel like it didn’t really build a positive culture, and I want longevity.

“I know they can be great. I just need them to understand that they can be great as well.”

On day one of the four-day championship meet, Joe Licata also made the Second Team All-America in the shot put. 

In the semifinal events, Harrison Witt and Sam Rodman advanced to the finals of the 1500m and the 800m, respectively, with Rodman setting a new program record in the 800m. 

Foster secured First Team All-American status by taking seventh place with a jump of 7.80m/25-7¼”. The competition marked the junior’s third NCAA Championship appearance and first All-America distinction. 

Licata made his NCAA debut in the shot put, finishing 13th with a mark of 18.93m/62-1¼” to earn him Second Team All-America honors. 

Rodman, making his fifth trip to NCAAs, qualified for Friday’s 800m final running a new personal best time of 1:46.27. The mark broke his own school record in the event for the second time this season, as Rodman smashed his own 2022 record just weeks ago with a time of 1:46.85 at the Princeton Elite. 

In the 1500m, Witt cruised into Friday’s final with a 3:41.98 finish for third place in semifinal two. His time was also third overall. With the performance, Witt, a 2025 indoor Second Team All-America honoree in the mile, made his third NCAA Championship appearance this academic year and fourth all-time. 

Up Next

The Tigers will look ahead to Friday as Witt and Rodman compete in their respective finals, and Casey Helm competes in the discus championship. Helm will kick off the action for the Tigers at 2:15 p.m. PST, with Witt and Rodman’s races taking place at 5:12 p.m. and 6:14 p.m.