Venice sweeps its way past Taft for girls’ beach volleyball title
Having finished atop a field of 73 duos to win the City Section pairs title three days earlier, Samantha Lortie and Savannah Rozell were seeking an even bigger prize Friday afternoon in Santa Monica. The Gondoliers’ No. 1 tandem swept its four matches to punctuate a perfect season and lead Venice to its first girls’ […]
Having finished atop a field of 73 duos to win the City Section pairs title three days earlier, Samantha Lortie and Savannah Rozell were seeking an even bigger prize Friday afternoon in Santa Monica.
The Gondoliers’ No. 1 tandem swept its four matches to punctuate a perfect season and lead Venice to its first girls’ beach volleyball team championship, one that was capped by a 3-0 shutout of Taft in the finals.
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Lortie and Rozell are also outside hitters on Venice’s indoor squad, which fell in a five-set thriller to Taft in the City Open Division title match last fall, though both acknowledge they like the beach game more.
“We had a drive to win pairs since we were runner-up last year, but winning this is equal because we love our teammates and we get to share this one with them,” said Rozell, a senior who started playing recreationally on the beach in 10th grade and did not take up indoor volleyball until her junior year.
“We only lost twice all last year, once in league to Palisades and in the pairs finals [to El Camino Real sisters Audrey and Addison Choi],” added Lortie, a junior who has played indoor since she was 10 and beach since she was 13.
Lortie and Rozell beat another El Camino Real duo, Aja Najar and Mackenzie Hazelton 28-20 in the pairs final Tuesday after escaping Taft’s Eva Velarde and Laila Braimah 28-24 in the semifinal round. On Friday, they found themselves facing Velarde and Braimah again with the team crown on the line and prevailed 21-18, 21-10. Lortie and Rozell did not drop a set all season.
Savannah Rozell (left) and Samantha Lortie won the City Section pairs tournament and three days later led Venice to its first girls’ beach volleyball team title. (Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
“This is only our second year having a school beach team,” Lortie said. “We’d thought about playing together and when we tried out our coach [Charlie Styrbicki] agreed we’d be a good fit.”
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Lortie clinched her team’s championship with a spike on match point moments after Venice’s No. 2 tandem of Catherine Campbell and Adelaide Groff completed their 21-10, 21-18 victory over Taft’s Francine Baltazar-Shine and Ionna Relorcasa one court over. Venice’s Kailyn Appling and Natalie Boothby beat Taft’s Jasmine Orellana and Nikita Luniv 21-15, 21-14 at the No. 3 position.
“For the first set we were adjusting to the wind,” Rozell said. “I kept getting aced on one side and depending on which end we served from we had to either put more on the ball or take a little off it.”
“By the second set we’d figured out what to do,” Lortie added.
Venice and Taft had split two regular-season meetings, both by 2-1 scores, so the Gondoliers’ No. 1 pair felt the pressure to set the tone for their team with the City title at stake.
Venice’s Samantha Lortie goes on the attack in the City beach volleyball team finals against Taft on Friday. (Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
“Savannah has insane hustle and her ball placement is incredible,” Lortie said of her partner. “Whenever I think the ball’s going down, she somehow always gets it.”
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“Samantha’s consistent, she’s always positive and she has a great swing,” Rozell reciprocated. “We complement each other well, we have good communication and we get along off the court too.”
Venice, seeded first in the 16-team bracket, eliminated No. 16 Simon Tech, No. 8 Grant and No. 5 Birmingham on its way to the final while the third-seeded Toreadors beat No. 14 Westchester, No. 6 El Camino Real and No. 2 Chatsworth.
Braimah’s block on championship point lifted Taft to the title over Venice in November and she and Velarde keyed Taft’s 2-1 semifinal upset on the sand Friday by besting the Chancellors’ top tandem of Samantha Sikorski and Laila Velu, 21-10, 21-14. Chatsworth had beaten Taft twice during the season.
“Third time’s the charm,” Toreadors coach Rene Lopez said.
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Four El Dorado track and field athletes signed to compete at the collegiate level Friday afternoon at Wildcat Arena. Zyron Brock signed with Ouachita Baptist University. Brianna Ferrell signed with UA-Pine Bluff. Asia Caver and Zachary McMillon both signed with Southern Arkansas University. “We are very proud of the accomplishments of all four of those […]
Four El Dorado track and field athletes signed to compete at the collegiate level Friday afternoon at Wildcat Arena. Zyron Brock signed with Ouachita Baptist University. Brianna Ferrell signed with UA-Pine Bluff. Asia Caver and Zachary McMillon both signed with Southern Arkansas University.
“We are very proud of the accomplishments of all four of those kids. I was able to set out four state championship trophies for the signing that was representative of each kid,” said El Dorado coach John Koonce. “We have had a lot of success as a program these four years and it’s because of kids like Zyron, Brianna, Asia and Zach. They have made us proud throughout their entire high school career. And I believe that they will continue to make our program, the community of El Dorado and their families proud as they continue their academic and athletic careers in college. OBU, SAU and UAPB just got better.”
Brock, Ferrell and Caver led the Lady Wildcats to the 5A State Championship. They were all members of the Meet of Champs and state championship 4×100 relay. Brock won the triple jump at the Meet of Champs and the long jump at the state meet.
McMillon competed on the boys’ team. Also a cross country runner, he finished fourth in the 1,600 at the 5A South Championships.
Highlights from 2025 state track and field meet in La Crosse Track and field athletes from across Wisconsin gather in La Crosse to compete at the 2025 WIAA state meet. Michael Whitlow, Zac Bellman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The Arrowhead Warhawks girls track and field team won their second consecutive Division 1 state title. Junior […]
Highlights from 2025 state track and field meet in La Crosse
Track and field athletes from across Wisconsin gather in La Crosse to compete at the 2025 WIAA state meet.
Michael Whitlow, Zac Bellman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Arrowhead Warhawks girls track and field team won their second consecutive Division 1 state title.
Junior Avery Bott led the Warhawks with top-three finishes in the 100m, 200m, and 400m races.
Elise Schroeder, the defending pole vault champion, won her second straight state title.
LA CROSSE — For Arrowhead girls track and field coach Bradley Clark, it’s simple.
Put the names on the sheet. The girls will take care of the rest.
“It’s just nice to watch them work,” Clark said. “I mean, people asked me, they’ve told me congratulations and I’m like, ‘They do all the work.’ I just write their names down and helped them with workouts. They put in all the work they all had the competitive drive to do what they did.”
For the second straight season, the Warhawks won the Division 1 state team track title with 51 total points to fend off a pesky Neenah bunch in search of its first team title in program history.
Arrowhead’s second straight title marked the first time since 2017 (Milwaukee King) that a D1 girls program won back-to-back titles. Fellow Classic 8 Conference member Muskego also won titles in 2019 and 2021, but the 2020 meet was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s the best,” Clark said on the back-to-back team title run. “That’s why you get into coaching. Seeing them be happy is all I need.”
The Warhawks scored points in seven total events over the weekend with 34 of their team points coming from stars Avery Bott in her triple sprint title quest and defending pole vault state champion and current statewide record holder Elise Schroeder, who won the state title for the second straight season.
“It’s amazing,” Bott said on being a part of the Warhawks program. “The team is great. The environment around everyone is just amazing. Everyone’s really supportive. I have some really great friends on the team that I did relays with in the past and some individual events, but it’s amazing to be a part of.”
Bott worked her way up the podium with a third-place finish in the 100, a runner-up finish in the 400 and then finally stood on the top step after winning the 200 that clinched the team crown for the Warhawks with one running event to go.
Along with Bott’s three top-three finishes, junior Emily Corteen picked up a pair of key points with a seventh-place finish in the pole vault with Schroeder in a meet where the point differential between champion and runner-up was just five points.
“The depth,” Clark said on what made the 2025 version of the Warhawks stand out. “A lot of our coaches pointed out that we were the only team across the state that scored in every event at sectionals. I think the depth is just there and we got people that are good at everything. It makes coaching easy sometimes.”
Schroeder, Josie Bularz, Giselle Huggett and Payton Eicher stood second on the podium in the 4×100-meter relay final, coming just .19 seconds short of dethroning conference rival Mukwonago as state champion. Eicher also contributed early on Day 2 with five key points of her own thanks to a fourth-place finish in the long jump finals that was won by Neenah’s Celia Gentile.
“We have so many juniors, which, I mean, helps a lot,” Schroeder said with a laugh. “We’re all in classes together, supporting each other. The seniors are so supportive of us as well. We always help the younger classmen and I think every single person helps them, showing them around and they even know stuff that we just don’t even need to tell them. They know what to do.”
The Arrowhead boys fell two points short of a fifth straight team title, but it’s clear Arrowhead’s dominance is stretching beyond boys coach Chris Herriot’s program. Each of the individual scorers for the Warhawks in their team title triumph are juniors, including the 4×100-meter relay quartet that won runner-up medals on Day 2.
“It’s unreal,” Schroeder said. “It’s like almost bittersweet because it’s junior year, you know, only one more year, hoping to maybe end it with another.”
When asked about a potential three-peat in 2026, Schroeder shot a smile, a laugh and simply said, “Maybe.”
Track and Field: Area athletes litter Class 1A and Class 2A – Brainerd Dispatch
ST. MICHAEL — Pequot Lakes knows how to jump. The Patriots will send five different athletes in field events to the Class 2A State Track and Field meet June 11-12 at St. Michael-Albertville High School. Oliver McKenna, Bode Eggena and Becker Lipke all qualified for the high jump. McKenna won the section title by clearing […]
The Patriots will send five different athletes in field events to the Class 2A State Track and Field meet June 11-12 at St. Michael-Albertville High School.
Oliver McKenna, Bode Eggena and Becker Lipke all qualified for the high jump. McKenna won the section title by clearing 6-foot-3, while Eggena and Lipke cleared the state standard of 6-1.
Senior Reese Laposky returns to state in the long jump and adds the high jump to her list this year. Laposky cleared a state standard of 5-1 in the high jump and a state standard of 16-7.25 in the long jump. He placed 21st at state last year with a 16-2.25.
Grace Knutson also cleared the state standard of 5-1 in the high jump.
“Five out of our six high jumpers are going to the state track meet, which is pretty cool,” Pequot coach Brian Homan said. “Oliver is a young freshman who broke the section record and then Bode and Becker are both returning. Reese is another high jumper and also returns in the long jump. The trick for her will be managing her time as they both go on at the same time.”
On the track, Pequot’s Brooklin Hansen qualified for the 100-meter hurdles and three girls’ relay teams made it, too.
Chelby Wothe
“Grace is a seventh grader, so she comes with very little experience,” Pequot coach Jeff Brever said. “We moved her up from junior high halfway through the year and she blossomed. Brooklin is a ninth grader and it’s the same concept, just try to get into the finals.”
Ashley Slaybaugh, Josie Taylor, Lila Nordby and Ava Merta make up the 4×100 relay team. Slaybaugh, Taylor and Merta and joined by Chelby Wothe for the 4×200 relay team. While Slaybaugh, Taylor and Wothe team with Carlie Eggert in the 4×400 relay.
“We have a lot of the same girls back and we are bringing the experience to state,” Brever said. “We need to touch up some things, but right now we are the third best in the state and we want to make the finals for our relays.”
Malin Youngberg
The Little Falls Flyers will send five to state in Noah Cameron (300 hurdles), Elise Ballou (pole vault), Madeline Chisholm (high jump), Kobi Cameron (pole vault) and Malin Youngberg (3200 run).
Youngberg won the section title in the 3200 in 11:09.32.
Pierz’s Aiden Jones highlights the multiple area athletes in the Class 1A State Track and Field meet June 10-11 at St. Michael-Albertville High School.
Jones will compete in three events. He won the Section 5-1A title in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and teamed with Brayden Foust, Paul Nieman and Kyle Stangl to qualify in the 4×100.
Foust placed second in the 100 dash to reach state, while Kaleb Poser (300 hurdles) and Wyatt Betsinger (1600 run) also qualified.
Aitkin’s Isaiah Baker will compete in two events after winning the Section 7-1A title in the triple and high jumps.
Pillager’s Violette Metz advanced in three events by winning the Section 6-1A title in the 200 dash, 300 hurdles and teaming with Veronica Metz, Sophie Schlosser and McKenna Camacho in the 4×100 relay. Camacho qualified in the triple jump.
Audrey Brownell
submitted photo
Staples-Motley’s Audrey Brownell is one of the favorites in the 1600 and 3200 runs at state.
“She’s going to be ready,” S-M head coach Bruce Fuhrman said. “I think she has a good chance. The one she really wants is the two-mile and she seems like she’s at full strength.”
S-M’s Avandre Brandt is back at state in the 200 dash and high jump. Sawyer Ferdon qualified in the triple and long jumps. Turner Beachy is a section champ in the pole vault, Noah Larson won the 110 hurdles and Adrian Gomez qualified in the shot put.
“I’m hoping Noah can make it out of the prelims,” Fuhrman said. “He should be in the hunt for a medal. If Turner can turn it up like he has, I think he has a chance of winning. Avandre’s best chance is going to be in the 200 and Sawyer has a chance to medal in the triple jump.”
Pillager’s Andrew Brown (100 dash) and Frank Brown (high jump) will compete along with the 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams of Dawson Weihandl, Dru Hutchinson, Tyson Becker and Frank Brown.
“Andrew had a great showing at sections,” Pillager head coach Jim Bentson said. “He’s been consistently under 11 seconds all year. That leads into the relay teams and he and Tyson are inseparable. We moved Dawson from the 400, 200 to the 100, 200, so we had him coming off the blocks, which helped. Frank has always been consistent for us and he knows that we’re starting at six feet and he’s been there.”
Wadena-Deer Creek’s Amber Collins won the section title in the 400 dash to return. WDC’s Grant Nelson returns in the 800 run. Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale’s Brady Rach qualified in the 800 and 1600 runs.
Callie Norman (triple jump) is the lone Pine River-Backus Tiger at state.
Crosby-Ironton’s AJ Westin made state in the 800 with a section title. C-I’s 4×100 relay of Evan Ryberg, Michael Anderson, Braylon Kannell and Jeremy Hanson placed second at sections to qualify.
Lucy Lewandowski
Lucy Lewandowski returns to state in the pole vault. C-I’s 4×400 relay (Margaret Ringhand, Sammie Hachey, Anna Westin, Maria Ringhand) and 4×800 relay (Maria Ringhand, Madeline Lacerte, Margaret Ringhand, Westin) teams also qualified.
Pierz’s Quinn Gruber (800 run), Beverly Rentz (shot put) and Payton Stangl (discus) reached state along with the 4×100 (Avery Gruber, Claire Gruber, Aurora Walberg, Lydia Prokott) and 4×800 (Chloe Lochner, Morgan Litke, Sophie Leidenfrost, Quinn Gruber) relay teams.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
Carlos Alcaraz hinted at plans for French Open prize money
Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz is set to face Jannik Sinner in the French Open final, with almost $3 million on the line. This would significantly increase his already substantial net worth. Despite being part of the sporting elite, Alcaraz leads a relatively modest lifestyle, often celebrating his victories with extravagant purchases in other areas. According […]
Despite being part of the sporting elite, Alcaraz leads a relatively modest lifestyle, often celebrating his victories with extravagant purchases in other areas.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, he has a net worth of $40 million and has already earned $41 million in career prize money across singles and doubles, raking in $3.8m this season alone before considering his earnings at Roland Garros.
If he triumphs over Sinner on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday, he will pocket another $2.8m, while the runner-up will also take home a cool $1.35m.
However, if Alcaraz secures his second French Open title in consecutive years, he’s more likely to treat himself to a new pair of shoes rather than splurging on a new house or flashy car like some of his athletic counterparts.
Alcaraz revealed to Tennis Channel that he likes to reward himself after significant wins, saying: “Maybe not after every big win, but for example at the Grand Slams, if I reach the semi-finals, I like to buy myself a new pair of sneakers.”
Another big spend is waiting at the end of the year if he reaches his goals. He added: “If I feel like I had a good season, at the end of the year I’ll buy myself a nice watch.”
Aside from his on-court earnings, Alcaraz is also making waves off the tennis court. Forbes estimates that he raked in $31.3m in the year ending August 2024, with exhibition matches reportedly paying him up to $1.9m just for showing up. He was the top-earning tennis player in 2024.
This is on top of his brand partnerships with high-profile names like Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Calvin Klein, BMW, and the Government of Murcia, which brought him around $17.2m in 2023. He also inked a $212m deal with Nike last year that extends until mid-next decade.
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His popularity, particularly in France, is set to skyrocket even further with another win on the Parisian clay against Sinner.
Alcaraz has already triumphed over players like Lorenzo Musetti, Tommy Paul, and Ben Shelton to reach the final and holds a 7-4 winning record against his Italian adversary.
