Outgoing seniors shared heartfelt stories — tied to current hot button issues — before they walked across the stage with nearly 500 other graduates to accept their diplomas Friday, June 6, at Menlo-Atherton High School. The ceremony, held on Coach Parks Field, marked the Atherton high school’s 74th commencement. 

One student speaker, Rose Klingsporn, talked about their personal growth from freshman to senior year, including coming out as transgender. 

“I didn’t really know anything about myself, and with the turbulent political and social climate around trans people at the time, I tended to keep to myself,” said the graduate. “I allowed myself to morph from a scared freshman to one of the cool seniors I had so admired. This year, I was the drummer for the spring musical, ‘Hadestown,’ and I made real, tangible connections to other students at every grade level.”

Another graduate, Wilder Perez Sanchez, detailed his 26-day journey to East Palo Alto from Guatemala at age 16 to pursue a better education. He also spoke about working 48 hours between two restaurant jobs while in high school to support his family. He said he never imagined graduating from high school in the U.S. 

“When I had to learn English, I wasn’t really sure if I was smart,” he said. “I didn’t know if I could actually learn a different language. But I did it with a lot of practice, effort and support. If you have come to this country recently and you still feel lonely, my advice is to ask for help. This friendly M-A community will support you. Be kind to others, especially while you’re getting used to your life here.”

During the ceremony, Principal Karl Losekoot presented an honorary diploma to the sister of Dylan Scirpo. Dylan, 17, was an M-A student and water polo player who died shortly before the start of his senior year in 2024. Losekoot also presented the family with Dylan’s framed water polo cap.

Losekoot encouraged students to “dream of a problem you want to solve, or dream of something you want to learn.” 

“Perhaps you want to learn how to use artificial intelligence, or figure out how artificial intelligence can improve education. Perhaps you want to learn how to write, or use your writing to help people. Our world needs big dreams now,” he said.

Graduates Isabel Zohar and William Knox performed “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson.

Superintendent Crystal Leach and Sathvik Nori, president of the Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees, were also in attendance. 

Check out this year’s list of Menlo-Atherton High School graduates and read our interview with Yandel Hernandez, one of the graduating seniors.

For all of our graduation coverage, go to our central graduation page.

Watch a video of the ceremony here:

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BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic women’s basketball Head Coach LeAnn Freeland added another skilled guard to the 2025-26 squad on Friday with the addition of Michiyah Simmons from South Alabama.
 
Simmons, from Pompano Beach, Florida, arrives in Paradise after three seasons at South Alabama.
 
“Michiyah is coming home to South Florida,” expressed Coach Freeland. “She was a highly successful player at Blanche Ely High School and Somerset Prep, winning three state titles during her prep career. She’s a dynamic guard who can play the point or shooting guard and is a high-energy defender on the ball. With her three years of experience on the court at South Alabama and her competitive spirit, we expect her to have a high impact on our program. Our coaching staff is excited to announce Michiyah is an Owl!”
 
This past season, Simmons played in 28 contests, making three starts for the Jaguars. The junior averaged 7.5 points per game and collected 2.8 rebounds per contest, in addition to 37 assists and 21 steals. Simmons recorded 10 double-figure scoring performances, scoring a career-best 22 points, including a career-high nine made field goals at Charleston Southern. Defensively, she tied a career-best eight boards vs. Faulkner and tied a career-high three steals at Georgia State.
 
In 2023-24, Simmons appeared in all 32 contests and made 19 starts during her sophomore season for the Jaguars. She averaged 9.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 23.8 minutes per contest, in addition to adding 67 assists and 25 steals. Simmons posted 15 double-figure performances with a pair of 20-point games, including a season-high 21 points, with a trio of 3-pointers and eight free throws vs. Troy. She also tallied a career-high six assists vs. Texas State and knocked down a season-best eight field goals against Coastal Carolina during the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
 
During her freshman season, Simmons made 25 appearances and eight starts for the Jaguars. She recorded 5.8 points and 2.7 boards per contest and added 33 assists and 13 steals. Simmons posted five double-digit performances, recording a season-high 18 points at Southern Miss and against ULM. Defensively, Simmons collected a career-best eight rebounds in her second collegiate game at Auburn.
 
SEASON TICKET PACKAGES
Season tickets are now available for $80 and can be purchased here. For courtside season ticket seating, join the 2025-26 waitlist here. Season ticket renewals are also live, current women’s basketball season ticket holders can renew today by clicking here or calling the Florida Atlantic ticket office at 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
 
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For updates, follow @FAUWBB_Hoops on X and @FAUWBB on Instagram, or like Florida Atlantic Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
 

Universities are now allowed to begin paying their student-athletes directly, altering the current collegiate landscape and marking the beginning of a new era in college athletics.

On Friday night, 75-year-old California Northern District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the deal between the NCAA, its Power 4 conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC) and lawyers representing all Division I athletes. The House v. NCAA settlement ends three separate federal antitrust lawsuits, which all claimed the NCAA was illegally limiting the earning power of college athletes.

“Despite some compromises, the settlement agreement nevertheless will result in extraordinary relief for members of the settlement classes. If approved, it would permit levels and types of student-athlete compensation that have never been permitted in the history of college sports while also very generously compensating Division I student-athletes who suffered past harms,” Wilken said as part of the 76-page opinion.

The House settlement will pay thousands of former athletes who played from 2016 to 2024 $2.8 billion in back pay for lost name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation.

Although paychecks can begin to be distributed from schools to athletes on July 1, the official start of the settlement implementation takes effect immediately.

“This is new terrain for everyone…Opportunities to drive transformative change don’t come often to organizations like ours. It’s important we make the most of this one,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement released Friday night. “We have accomplished a lot over the last several months, from new health and wellness and academic requirements to a stronger financial footing. Together, we can use this new beginning to launch college sports into the future, too.”

Every school is permitted, but not required, to share up to a certain amount of revenue annually with its athletes. According to the settlement agreement, this cap is calculated by taking 22% of the average of certain power school revenues — most notably ticket sales, television earnings and sponsorships.

The cap in the first year — July 2025 through June 2026 — is projected to be $20.5 million.

While the 22% cap will remain the same throughout the 10-year settlement agreement, the cap money figure will rise based on built-in escalators, with a 4% increase in the second and third years, scheduled recalculation after each third year and additional cash flows into athletic departments.

A new non-NCAA enforcement entity, an LLC mainly managed by the power conferences, will oversee and enforce rules related to the revenue-share concept.

The company, College Sports Commission, will be headed by a CEO and a head investigator for enforcement matters. The organization announced the hiring of MLB executive Bryan Seeley as its CEO on Friday night.

The commission will be required to ensure that schools remain under the cap and that third-party NIL deals with athletes are not booster-backed deals that have been prevalent over recent years. An enforcement staff is also expected to be hired to investigate and enforce rules related to cap circumvention, tampering and other subjects and will be required to levy stiff penalties.

Another aspect of the agreement is a Deloitte-run NIL clearinghouse that will have to approve all third-party NIL deals of at least $600 in value. The “NIL Go” clearinghouse will use a fair market value algorithm to create compensation ranges for third-party deals.

Head Coach Tim Dunsbee, alongside Assistant Coach Ian MacCullum and Team Manager Terri Halstead, have selected a group mixed with experience, skill and promising young talent that will be looking to secure their spot at next year’s Championships.

The squad contains five of the players that helped the team to tenth at the World Cup Water Polo World Cup in December, including Kameron Powell, Jordan Elliot and Tom Manley.

Drawn in Group A – one of four groups in the qualification phase – Great Britain will face the Netherlands, Poland, Czechia, and hosts Slovenia over three days in the countries third-largest city.

A top-two finish is required to advance to the finals, with the leading teams from each group forming Division Two of the European Championships, set to take place in Serbia in January 2026.

Success in Slovenia would see the men’s team join the women’s squad at the major event, following their historic qualification in 2024.

Despite a challenging group, the squad has been training intensively to prepare for the task ahead. A 13-11 victory over Sweden in an international friendly during an overseas training camp was followed up with testing fixtures against Ukraine (8-20 loss), Slovakia (7-20 loss), Slovenia (8-16 loss) and Israel (8-14 loss) at the Danube Cup in Slovakia as part of their final preparations.

Commenting on the team’s European Aquatics Qualification Round preparations following the Danube Cub, Head Coach Tim Dunsbee said: “It’s been a tough tournament with some hard-fought games, but we’ve seen clear improvement with each match. This is a young squad still finding its feet and the progress so far is encouraging. We’re building something and looking forward to taking the next step in Slovenia next week.”

Live streaming of matches is reported to be available through EuroAquaticsTV.com, with the full schedule and results available on the Microplus website.

Union sprinter Levi Hadachek, right, competes in the finals of the Class 2A boys 100-meter dash at the 2025 Iowa High School Track & Field Championships in Des Moines on Saturday, May 24. After being seeded 18th, Hadachek took seventh with a time of 11.10 seconds. PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

DES MOINES – After qualifying a bumper crop of 19 events for this year’s Iowa High School Track & Field Championships which took place May 22-24 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, three Union track and field athletes made it all the way to the Class 2A podium (top-8) including senior Amilia Condon, junior Levi Hadachek, and senior Justice Luke.

Luke took fifth in the boys high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 3 inches – setting a personal record and defying his 13th seeding. After clearing the starting height (5 feet, 11 inches) on his first attempt, Luke then cleared the next height (6 feet, 1 inch) on his second try. With the bar subsequently moved up to 6 feet, 3 inches, Luke again managed to clear on his second attempt before failing all three attempts at 6 feet, 5 inches.

The 2A high jump champion this year was Camanche senior Tyson Seeser who cleared 6 feet, 8 inches on his first attempt.

Hadachek also medaled for the Knights after finishing seventh in the boys 100-meter dash with a time of 11.10 seconds. Hadachek was seeded 18th ahead of the event. In the preliminaries, he also finished seventh with a time of 11.02 seconds. The 2A boys 100 champion was No. 22 seed Brandon Pedersen of West Branch who captured gold with a time of 10.73 seconds.

Rounding out the Knights medals this year was senior distance runner Condon who crossed the finish in eighth place during the girls 3,000-meter run with a time of 10 minutes, 38.80 seconds, setting a personal record. Condon, a senior seeded No. 3 in the event, was part of a record-setting race which saw six new Iowa High School Outdoor Rankings set along with three new U.S. High School Outdoor Rankings including the champion Noelle Steines of Tipton whose 9:53.95 finish set the new No. 3 for Iowa and No. 32 for the U.S.

Union’s Luke Winkelpleck (right) hands off the baton to anchor Levi Hadachek during the Class 2A boys 4X200 relay during the state track meet in Des Moines on Friday, May 23. Union finished 13th out of 24 teams in the event. PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Condon also competed individually in the girls 1,500-meter run, crossing the finish 13th with a time of 4:57.68 – beating her 2024 finish of 5:07.99.

Union’s 2025 state track and field finishes also included:

9 – Boys 4×100 relay (Evan Hanus, Trevor Clark, Garrett Kaalberg, Levi Hadachek): 43.38 (new school record)

12 – Boys 4×800 relay (Brayden Bohnsack, Cooper Davis, Jackson Youngblut, Sawyer Spence): 8:14.67 (personal record)

13 – Boys 4×200 relay (Evan Hanus, Trevor Clark, Luke Winkelpleck, Levi Hadachek): 1:31.10

Union senior Kate Carlson runs the second leg of the girls 4×800 meter relay at the 2025 Iowa High School Track & Field Championships on Drake University’s Blue Oval in Des Moines. PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

13 – Justice Luke, boys 110-meter hurdles: 15.65 (personal record)

14 – Girls 4X800 relay (Brynn Albertsen, Kate Carlson, Lily Lorenzen, Amilia Condon): 10:07.65

15 – Ethan Winnike, boys high jump: 5 feet, 11 inches

17 – Eric Neipert, boys discus throw: 138 feet, 9 inches

18 – Boys distance medley relay (Garrett Kaalberg, Luke Winkelpleck, Caden Sorensen, Sawyer Spence): 3:39.17

Union’s Cooper Davis takes off after receiving the handoff from teammate Brayden Bohnsack (left) during the Class 2A boys 4×800 meter relay at the state track meet on Thursday, May 22, in Des Moines. The Knights set a personal record during the event, finishing 12th with a time of 8:14.67. PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

20 – Girls 4X100 shuttle hurdle relay (Ruby Parson, Caitlyn Schneider, Reese Andersen, Mara Tudor): 1:11.63

20 – Girls 4X400 relay (Kate Carlson, Brynn Albertsen, Chloe Sadler, Katie Jackson): 4:13.04 (season best)

21 – Kate Carlson, girls 400-meter dash: 1:01.83

21 – Lily Lorenzen, girls high jump: 4 feet, 10 inches

21 – Taylen Smith, girls long jump: 15 feet, 3 1/4 inches

PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

21 – Girls distance medley relay (Bianca Grimm, Ruby Parson, Chloe Sadler, Amilia Condon): 4:23.82 (season best)

24 – Boys 4X400 relay (Luke Winkelpleck, Caden Sorensen, Jase Loveless, Brayden Bohnsack): 3:34.69

PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Montana State University track and field will make program history in Eugene, Oregon, as the Bobcats are sending its first-ever relay team to compete in the women’s 4x400m at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

“We honestly didn’t know that we were the first team to make it,” MSU junior Peyton Garrison said. “Some of the pictures that were shown, we were jumping in excitement and we’re just so excited.”

But the manner in which the MSU relay team reached the championships required a little help from the rule book.

The team of Corvallis native and freshman Olivia Lewis, Garrison, junior Giula Gandolfi, and junior Caroline Hawkes finished with a time of 3:34.31, second-fastest in school history, to take 13th place at the NCAA West First Round in College Station, TX. The top 12 teams, top three from each heat and the next three fastest times, advanced to nationals, meaning the Bobcats were the first team out of the field.

However, those lows quickly turned to highs as a Northern Arizona team that made the top 12 from an earlier heat was disqualified. NAU protested the disqualification, and after waiting hours under the night sky and with the stadium empty, Montana State officially booked a ticket to Eugene.

“We were for sure sad, because we were the last team out, and then a couple of us girls looked up on the TV, and the TV had said that we had made it,” Garrison said.

“The relays are difficult, because it’s not just one person, you have to have four people, and they have to be at an incredibly high level,” MSU head track and field coach Lyle Weese said. “To get a relay into the NCAA Championships, it really signifies the level that the long sprints women’s program is at.”

For Garrison and Gandolfi, it wasn’t their first race in the NCAA West First Round. Both competed in individual events two days earlier with Garrison placing 42nd in the 200m and Gandolfi taking 27th in the 400m hurdles.

“We were a little nervous before the 4×4, of course you have to be, but I think it definitely helped having another race,” Garrison said. “We can get the energy out, the nervousness out, and I think that helped a lot.”

“I think it’s always a balance of competing, recovering from that, and going on to the next event in the meet,” Weese said. “I’m a big believer that if you have competed in an event at a meet, a lot of times it’s easier from the mental side and pressure side to compete in that second event.”

But it was Hawkes as the anchor leg that helped propel the Bobcats into nationals. After receiving the baton from Gandolfi, Hawkes moved the team from seventh to fourth in the heat, including beating out Oklahoma State by nine hundredths of a second for the final spot in nationals.

“It was amazing. Caroline always pulls through, Caroline is always the hardest worker out here, and that’s also another big reason why we are out here,” Garrison said.

“That was probably the best relay leg or the best 400m that Caroline has ever run,” Weese said. “The first 200m she was moving like crazy and making up a lot of ground, and she caught up to some of those individuals that she ended up passing them.”

MSU will look to take advantage of its opportunity on the highest stage as the Bobcat relay team shares a final race of the season together and represents a growing women’s program.

“We have a really close 4×4 team, and so all of us are best friends, we work together every single day. We show up to the track, we work together, we go out to eat together and we spend so much time,” Garrison said. “Being so close and being friendly, and we love each other so much, and that makes us work hard for each other. I think that’s why we made it.”

“It’s really built upon itself,” Weese said on the success of the MSU women. “It’s been that situation where they’ve raised each other’s ability level, but to see so many school records from every event group is really an exciting thing for our program, and also that so many of them will be back for future years.”

The Montana State relay team will compete in the semifinals of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene on Thursday at 7:36 p.m. PST. If they advance to the finals, the Bobcats will compete on Saturday, June 14 at 8:21 p.m. PST.