A member of the ­current GBHS beach volleyball ­dynasty took third in a ­prestigious ­tournament in California ­recently, while a pair looking to keep GBHS at that level won a ­tournament in Gulf Shores. Estelle Reese, a key ­member of GBHS’ back-to-back state and national championship teams, as well as their state ­runner up ­finish in this past ­season’s ­indoor […]

Sophia Sanders, the CIF San Diego Section girls water polo player of the year while at Bishop’s, won her second NCAA Championship after Stanford beat USC 11-7 in the NCAA title game in Indianapolis on May 11.

A driver, she finished the season with 20 goals with four multi-goal games and 14 assists while playing in all 26 games for the 25-1 Cardinal.

In the NCAA tournament, Sanders scored a goal against Hawaii and one against Wagner. Last season, Sanders had 44 goals and 19 assists with 15 multi-goal games.

Stanford’s only loss came in a 12-11 setback to USC. The Cardinal then won 10 games in a row, all against ranked teams.

Record setter

Riley Hull (Helix) broke the Villanova freshman women ‘s water polo scoring record with 81 goals. She also had 36 assists and finished with 117 points, including a season-high 10 in a match against VMI.

Hull, who also played field hockey at Helix, was the MAAC rookie of the year as well as honorable mention All-American. An NCAA Division I program,  Villanova was 21-12 this season, losing to Marist in the semifinals of the conference tournament. After one season, Hull ranks third in team history in goals and fifth in points.

More water polo

Maggie Johnson (Bishop’s) was one of USC’s captains this season, finishing the season with 23 goals and 58 assists. Isabel Zimmerman (Cathedral Catholic) played in all 34 games for the 29-5 Trojans with 20 goals and 15 assists.

• Julia Bonaguido (Bishop’s) helped Cal to a 19-5 record and a spot in the NCAA Championships with 36 goals.

• Freshman attacker Jenna Human (Santana) had nine goals for UCLA, which went to the eight-team NCAA Championships and finished 20-6. Camille Greenlee (Bishop’s) redshirted for the Bruins this season.

• Lisbon Zeigler (Bishop’s) scored the game-winning goal as Pomona-Pitzer beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 9-8 to capture its fourth straight NCAA Division III championship. She finished the season with 27 goals and 15 assists. The Sagehens finished the season 25-10 while playing Division I teams like USC and UCLA.

Baseball

Right-hander Cody Delvecchio (Mission Hills) was the only local player in the College World Series. He started for UCLA against Arkansas, going four innings, allowing seven hits and three runs over four innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three. Delvecchio finished his junior season with a 1-4 record. He made eight starts, working 27 innings with 12 walks and 39 strikeouts.

• Ryan Lovato (Madison/Grossmont College) was a student manager and bullpen catcher for College World Series champion LSU. An outfielder, Lovato started his college playing career at Cal State San Bernardino before transferring to Grossmont College and on to LSU.

• Zach Daubet (Clairemont) and Ryan Fenn (Granite Hills) helped lead Cal Poly to a 43-19 record and berh in the NCAA Regionals. Daubet, who was a first-team All-Big West selection, hit .360 with nine homers, 29 RBIs and scored 53 runs.

Fenn hit a team-leading .365 with a pair of homers, 42 RBIs and a team-leading 54 runs. He drove in two against Oregon and three hits against Utah Valley. Arizona beat Cal Poly twice to win the regional.

• Left-hander Jackson Betancourt (Mira Mesa) led NCAA Division II Montana State Billings to its first playoff win. He finished the season 5-3 with a 3.61 ERA. A senior, he is the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s all-time leader in starts. Catcher Jason Wright (Westview) played in 18 games for the Yellowjackets with two homers and 11 RBIs.

Softball

Indiana Langford (Poway) was Michigan’s top hitter, batting .406. A junior second baseman, she raised her average 77 points from last season, had 20 multi-hit games and had a 20-game on-base streak. She was named first-team All-Big Ten as well as All-Big Ten Tournament. She registered a hit and scored two runs in both games against Texas and Central Florida in the NCAA regionals. Michigan finished the season 39-21.

Basketball

Sophomore guard Shea Fitzgerald (Cathedral Catholic), playing at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, was named Liberty League player of the year and all-region and was NCAA Division III third-team All-American. He is the first player in school history to garner All-American honors. He averaged 19.7 points a game with a team-leading 75 assists while playing a team-leading 31.7 minutes a game. He scored 20 or more points in 12 games and had a career high 34 points against Middlebury and Cortland.

In the pros

Tyler Nevin (Poway), who played 68 games in the major leagues across four seasons with the Orioles, Tigers and Athletics, batting .204 with 12 homers and 49 RBIs, has signed a two-year contract extension with the Seibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific League.

Nevin, a 28-year-old corner infielder/outfielder, is hitting .269 with five homers and 32 RBIs in 68 games. The Lions are 37-31 and in fourth place in the Pacific League, trailing the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Orix Blue Whales and Softbank Hawks.

• Infielder Hannah Flippen (Bonita Vista/Utah), catcher Sharlize Palacios (Eastlake/UCLA) and pitcher Megan Faraimo (Cathedral Catholic/UCLA) are playing for the Talons in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League. Flippen is hitting .410 with two homers and 13 RBIs. Palacios is hitting .268 with a pair of homers and five RBIs. Faraimo is 1-0 in seven appearances. The Talons are 9-3 and tied for first with the Bandits. The league is based in Wichita.

• Erika Piancastelli (Carlsbad/McNeese State) is playing for the Volts in the AUSL.

John Maffei’s Alumni Report appears during the college season. Readers are encouraged to send items on local athletes to john.maffei@sduniontribune.com. 

Originally Published: June 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM PDT

To be eligible for the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must earn a 3.20 grade point average (GPA) in the spring semester and participate in one of the Patriot League’s spring championship sports. 

Of Bucknell’s 69 Honor Roll members, 57 also made the Bucknell Dean’s List with a GPA of 3.50 or better, and 13 women’s track and field student-athletes earned perfect 4.0s: Alexa Andron, Noel Fullman, Ainsley Danilson, Lauren Joyce, Keeley Misutka, Brenna Paxton, Sarah Policano, Laura Posh, Karly Renn, Caryn Rippey, Kaitlyn Segreti, Aidan Smith, and Brylee Tereska. 

Evelyn Bliss and Kaitlyn Segreti earned Patriot League All-Academic Honors and Brylee Tereska made the CSC (College Sports Communicators) Academic All-District list. 

Below are the Bucknell women’s track and field members of the 2025 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll:

 

By: Ryan Klinkner, SJU Director of Athletic Communications

MIAC Release

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Thirty-four Saint John’s University track and field student-athletes earned 2024-25 Winter and Spring Academic All-MIAC honors on Thursday, June 26.

For the fifth-straight academic year, SJU led the MIAC in male honorees with a total of 173 in 2024-25, followed by Gustavus Adolphus (149), Macalester (134), St. Olaf (133) and Carleton (110). The Johnnies had 85 fall honorees in cross country, football and soccer.

Those honored (listed alphabetically) include:

-Senior Andrew Adams (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata), a finance major (pre-law emphasis) with a 3.96 GPA;

-Senior Tommy Allen (Woodbury, Minn./St. Paul Academy), a biochemistry major (pre-medicine emphasis) with a 4.0 GPA;

-Junior Jacob Becker (Lincoln, Neb./Mount Michael Benedictine), a computer science and mathematics double-major with a 3.78 GPA;

-Sophomore Noah Besemann (New Brighton, Minn./Irondale), a biology and environmental studies double-major with a 4.0 GPA;

-Sophomore Connor Brynteson (Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper), a computer science major with 3.94 GPA;

-Senior Eamon Cavanaugh (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest), a history (secondary education) major with a 3.88 GPA;

-Senior Ryan Conzemius (La Crosse, Wis./Aquinas), a biology major with a 3.90 GPA;

-Junior Mitchell Degen (Brainerd, Minn.), a global business leadership major with a 3.85 GPA;

-Sophomore Aaron Freier (Red Wing, Minn.), an art major with a 3.91 GPA;

-Senior Jaeden Frost (Omro, Wis.), a nutrition major with a 3.59 GPA;

-Senior Joe Gathje (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson), an economics major with a 4.0 GPA;

-Junior Kole Guth (St. Peter, Minn.), an exercise and health science major with a 3.55 GPA;

-Sophomore Matt Hansen (Longmont, Colo./Niwot), a global business leadership major with a 3.69 GPA;

-Sophomore Jack Johnston (Maple Grove, Minn.), a biochemistry major with a 3.77 GPA;

-Sophomore Vincent Kaluza (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori), a physics major with a 3.78 GPA;

-Junior Aiden Langheim (Jordan, Minn.), a finance major with a 3.79 GPA;

-Senior Max Lelwica (Brainerd, Minn.), a biochemistry major (pre-medicine emphasis) with a 3.68 GPA;

-Senior Ethan Leonard (Chaska, Minn.), an accounting major with a 3.78 GPA;

-Junior Jacob Malecha (Lonsdale, Minn./New Prague), a global business leadership major with a 3.67 GPA;

-Sophomore Peyton Martinek (Coon Rapids, Minn.), a physics major with a 3.69 GPA;

-Sophomore Max McCoy (Bennington, Neb./Mount Michael Benedictine), a biology major with a 3.69 GPA;

-Senior Jackson McDowell (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe), a global business leadership major with a 3.66 GPA;

-Sophomore Lars Molenkamp (Almere, Netherlands/Oostvaarders College), an economics major with a 4.0 GPA;

-Junior Owen Montreuil (Jordan, Minn.), a finance major with a 3.98 GPA;

-Junior Aidan Morey (Omaha, Neb./Creighton Prep), an accounting major with a 3.96 GPA;

-Senior Sam Rabaey (Hastings, Minn.), a mathematics and physics double-major with a 3.97 GPA;

-Senior Liam Sheeley (Edina, Minn./Holy Angels), an exercise and health science major with a 3.72 GPA;

-Sophomore Cooper Smith (Alvarado, Minn./East Grand Forks), an accounting major with a 4.0 GPA;

-Junior Nick St. Peter (Maple Grove, Minn.), a data science major with a 3.90 GPA;

-Sophomore Cole Stencel (Mapleton, Minn./Maple River), a physics major with a 3.82 GPA;

-Senior Aidan Thomas (Blaine, Minn./Totino-Grace), a computer science and mathematics double-major with a 4.0 GPA;

-Senior Anthony Thurk (St. Bonifacius, Minn./Waconia), an accounting major with a 3.51 GPA;

-Sophomore Andrew Withuski (Wahpeton, N.D.), a biology major (pre-dentistry emphasis) with a 3.57 GPA;

-Sophomore Wyatt Witschen (Monticello, Minn.), a finance major with a 3.68 GPA.

Student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior or senior with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.50 on a 4.00 scale to qualify for Academic All-MIAC recognition. Transfers, like freshmen, must complete a full academic year to be eligible the following season. 

Athletically, student-athletes must be a member of a MIAC-sponsored, varsity team and be academically and athletically eligible. The student-athlete must have utilized a season of participation (per NCAA and MIAC definitions) and have remained on the sports roster through the conclusion of the sports season.

The Academic All-MIAC honor is the fourth in track and field for Allen and the third for nine others: Adams, Cavanaugh, Conzemius, Frost, Gathje, Lelwica, Leonard, Sheeley and Thomas.

Degen, Lelwica, McDowell, Montreuil and Thurk were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team June 24.

SJU track and field finished second – by half a point, 207-206.5 – out of 11 teams at the 2025 MIAC Outdoor Championships and third at the MIAC indoor meet. SJU qualified six athletes in six events at the 2025 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships and finished fourth out of 73 teams. The Johnnies collected a program-record six top-eight finishes across the three-day meet and seven total All-America performances.

CALGARY, ALTA. – The Cougars return to the court again in mid-October to start off the 2024-25 season. This season looks a little different as the men will start their season off alone on October 17th as they take on Thompson Rivers University. The women will start their season the following week as both teams take on the University of Saskatchewan.
 
Last season was a year of retooling for the men’s volleyball team as they missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season. After graduating 7 players the year prior, the team had one of the youngest rosters in all of U SPORTS. Although the team didn’t make playoffs, this past season the team got stronger and bigger as players touched the floor for big minutes for the first time in their tenure. Head coach Shawn Sky looks to turn this team back around as he has many times in his career as they open up the season at 8 PM on October 17th against the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack.
 
Year one for Rhonda Schmuland was a great success after taking over the Cougars women’s volleyball team. In her first season, she brought the Cougars back to the playoffs after missing the year prior. Going into this season, the Cougars will need to stay hungry to make a return to the U SPORTS National Championship. Their home opener will take place on October 24 at 6 PM MT.
 
Their senior night will take place on February 7, 2026 in a Crowchild Classic matchup against the University of Calgary.
 
For fans looking to enjoy MRU live-streamed games, passes for Canada West TV will go on sale in August.
 
Men’s and Women’s Volleyball Schedule