TXST TRACK AND FIELD

Five Bobcat track athletes punched their ticket to Eugene, Oregon to compete at the NCAA National Track Meet after qualifying at the NCAA West Regionals in Texas A&M.

The first Bobcat to qualify for the national track meet was junior Chris Preddie. Competing in the long jump after taking first place in conference, Preddie placed second at regionals with a jump 26-3 ½ and qualified for nationals.

However, Preddie’s week was not done yet. The junior later competed in the triple jump on Friday where he finished in 11th place with a jump of 52-3 ¼.

Preddie qualified for the NCAA National Outdoor Meet for the second time in his career after qualifying during his freshman season where he finished 14th. Preddie also became just the second ever male track athlete to advance to nationals in two different events and the first since Brian Veal in 2005 who also qualified for nationals in both the long jump and triple jump.

Joining Preddie is the throwing duo of sophomore Lara Roberts and junior Melanie Duron. Roberts, who took first place in the hammer throw at conference, placed fourth overall to advance towards nationals with a throw of 215-3. This is the second year in a row Roberts has qualified for the national meet, qualifying as a freshman where she placed 14th.

Duron, who took first place in the shot put at conference, placed ninth with a throw of 5411 and punched her ticket to nationals for the first time in outdoor. Duron had also qualified for the NCAA Indoor National Track Meet earlier this year.

Rounding out the week was the high jumping duo of senior Kason O’Riley and junior Aiden Hayes.

After finishing in 1st and 2nd place at the conference meet, O’Riley finished in a four-way tie for first place, jumping 7-1 ½. Hayes finished in fifth place, also jumping 7-1 ½ as both teammates qualified for nationals.

Hayes and O’Riley are the first Texas State male track athletes to both qualify for the national meet in the same event in the same season.

The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships are scheduled to start Wednesday, June 11 and will run through Saturday. The event will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPNU. cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc

Junior Chris Preddie qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Track & Field Championships in both the long jump and triple jump. Preddie is the first male Texas State track athlete since Brian Veal in 2005 to qualify for nationals in two different events in the same season. Photo submitted by Texas State Athletics

BOONE, N.C. – App State Volleyball head coach Chad Sutton on Wednesday announced the schedule for the 2025 season, his first in charge of the Mountaineers.
 
This fall’s slate will feature a nonconference tournament, a pair of nonconference midweek matches and eight home conference matchups. The Mountaineers’ nonconference slate will feature clashes with a trio of ACC opponents and a clash with Big 10 contender Michigan State. 
 
Season tickets are available to purchase and renew for $65. App State faculty and staff have the opportunity to redeem a discount for a $35 season ticket by calling the ticket office at 828-262-7733. Fans interested in courtside seats may also call the ticket office for availability. 
 
​​”I am really excited for this schedule,” Sutton said. “We have a strong non conference slate composed of P4’s and high RPI mid-major opponents. I believe this will be critical to our development and help prepare us to compete in the Sun Belt, while pursuing our goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament.”
 
The Mountaineers will open non conference play at the College of Charleston Classic. App State will take on Mercer in that event on Aug. 29 before challenging the College of Charleston and Eastern Kentucky on Aug. 30. 
 
The Black and Gold will open its home slate with a midweek clash against Elon on Sept. 2 in the Holmes Convocation Center. App State will take on VCU and Virginia in the Cavalier Classic in Charlottesville, Va. (Sept. 5-6) before heading down to Kennesaw, Ga., for the Kennesaw State Invitational (Sept. 12-13) to clash with Michigan State and Kennesaw State. On Sept. 16, App State will head to Chapel Hill for a midweek clash against North Carolina before hosting the Mountaineer Classic on Sept. 19-21 in Holmes. The tournament will feature a clash with Duke on Sept. 19 and a match against Davidson on Sept. 21. 
 
App State’s conference slate will feature eight home matches, beginning with a pair of matches against James Madison on Sept. 26 and 27. The Mountaineers will travel to Lafayette, La., to challenge Louisiana on Oct. 3 and 4 before returning to the High Country to host Old Dominion on Oct. 10 and 11. After stops in Statesboro, Ga., and Conway, S.C., to take on Georgia Southern (Oct. 16 and 17) and Coastal Carolina (Oct. 24 and 25), the Mountaineers will return to Boone to host Georgia State on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The regular season slate will wrap up with a pair of road matches against Marshall (Nov. 6 and 7) and a weekend in Boone against Troy (Nov. 14 and 15). 
 
The Sun Belt Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 20-23 in Foley, Ala. 
 
Season Ticket Information
Season Tickets: $65

Faculty & Staff Season Tickets: $35 (must call the Ticket Office at 828-262-7733)
Courtside Season Tickets: $125 (must call the Ticket Office at 828-262-7733)
Renew Your Season Tickets
Purchase Season Tickets
 
 

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — The final standings for the WCC Women’s All-Sports Award, Men’s All-Sports Award, and Commissioner’s Cup have been released this morning. Saint Mary’s finished second in the Men’s All-Sports Award race, while finishing fifth in the Women’s All-Sports Award and Commissioner Cup standings. This is just the Gaels second time over the past five years finishing in the top-five in the overall Commissioner’s Cup standings, and their highest men’s finish since 2017. Here is a look at the overall standings:

Commissioner’s Cup

 
 
Women’s All-Sports Award

 
 
Men’s All-Sports Award

On the men’s side, the Gaels climbed from a fourth place finish last year, to second play this year. This was due in big part to conference titles won by Men’s Basketball and Baseball, as well as top five WCC finishes from Men’s Cross Country, Men’s Tennis, and Golf. In total, the men’s programs of Saint Mary’s finished the year with a combined record of 76-59-6, and won two conference championships for the first time since the 2015-16 academic year. 

For the women, the Gaels picked up just their third top five finish in the past decade. Paced by a conference title from Softball, a third place finish from Beach Volleyball, the Gaels women finished with a combined overall record of 84-94-3, and picked up at least one conference title in back to back years for the first time in program history. 

On another extremely successful year, Saint Mary’s Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Matoso noted:

“The continued success of Saint Mary’s athletic success has clearly been on display in the 2024-25 academic year. We surpassed the 150 win mark for the second consecutive year, and saw three different programs hoist WCC title trophies for the first time since 2015-16, and just the fourth time in program history. I am extremely proud of all of our student-athletes, coaches and support staff that made this season such an incredible success!”

#GaelsRise

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Nathan Kent from the men’s track & field team has been named this week’s Naval Academy Athletic Association (NAAA) Athlete of the Week, presented by Northrop Grumman, for his performance at the NCAA East Region First Round last weekend.
 
Kent punched his ticket to the NCAA Championship when he broke Navy’s 400m record of 45.32, which he previously set at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last June when he ran 45.23 and placed fourth. The Rocklin, Calif., native was also a member of the 4x400m relay team that qualified for the for nationals as it clocked a school-record 3:04.05. 
 
Kent and four other student-athletes – Pete deJonge (4x400m relay), Jacques Guillaume (4x400m relay), Murphy Smith (10,000m) and David Walker (4x400m relay) – will compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championship on June 11-13 in Eugene, Ore.

Women’s Volleyball | 6/4/2025 2:15:00 PM

GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T volleyball team released its 2025 schedule on Wednesday after coming off a season where the program made it to the postseason for the fourth time in six seasons. In addition to making it to the postseason in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) tournament, the Aggies also qualified for the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Volleyball Championship Tournament for the first time in their three-year existence in the league.

Head coach Hal Clifton, the longest-tenured volleyball coach in program history, returns for his 15th season. His schedule includes HBCU opponents, ACC opponents and two in-state rivals before the Aggies enter the crucial portion of their schedule – facing CAA opponents.

“We are very excited about our fall schedule,” said Clifton, who enters the 2025 season with 143 wins.  “We have a variety of schools on our non-conference schedule that is very similar to what we are going to see in the CAA. 

It’s nice that we were able to get some fellow HBCUs on our schedule.  It’s been a while since we’ve battled with Howard, Bethune-Cookman and Coppin State.  We also added three Power Four matches, which also created a challenge for us.  The schedule will have us battle-ready as we start CAA play on the road at UNC Wilmington.”

The Aggies start the regular season on Friday, August 29 at 6 p.m. inside Corbett Sports Center with a familiar foe from their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference days in the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. It will be the 67th meeting between the two teams, with A&T leading the all-time series 42-24. The two teams will meet for the first time since August 27, 2022, when the Aggies defeated the Wildcats 3-0 in Moore Gymnasium.

Bethune-Cookman will play the Coppin State Eagles on Saturday afternoon, August 30, at 1 inside Corbett as a part of the Aggie/Phoenix Invitational shared with Elon University before the Eagles face A&T at 6 p.m. at Corbett. The Aggies had a similar beginning to the 2022 season when they opened with the Coppin State Eagles and the Wildcats at home. The Eagles beat the Aggies 3-2 in Moore on August 26, 2022. A&T leads the series 18-5.

 The Aggies have an additional HBCU on the schedule when they face the Howard Bison on Friday, September 12, in Washington, DC, at 6 p.m. The Bison won six MEAC tournament titles from 2015-2021 in seven years. Howard won the MEAC regular-season title in 2024 with a 14-0 record. The two schools will meet for the 20th time, with A&T holding an 11-8 advantage, but the Aggies have not defeated Howard since October 15, 2006, a streak of six straight losses.

A&T will stay in the nation’s capital to face American University on Saturday, September 13 at 4 p.m. The Aggies will begin a string of three-straight in-state non-conference matches, starting with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Thursday, September 18, at 6:30 p.m. at Reynolds Gymnasium in Winston-Salem, NC.

The next night, the Aggies will travel down Market Street to face Gate City rival UNC Greensboro at Fleming Gymnasium at 6 p.m. before facing the UNC Asheville Bulldogs at Fleming at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 20. The other ACC opponent on A&T’s non-conference schedule is the Clemson Tigers. A&T will face the Tigers on September 4 and 5 at 6 p.m. at Clemson’s Jervey Gymnasium.

UNCW will be the Aggies first CAA opponent. The Aggies will travel to Wilmington, NC, to face the Seahawks on Friday, September 26, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, September 27, at 2 p.m. A&T’s other road CAA matches include at College of Charleston (October 10-11), Elon (October 24-25) and Stony Brook (November 7-8).

Hampton will be the Aggies first CAA home opponent, facing the Aggies on Friday, October 3, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, October 4, at 2 p.m. The other CAA matches at Moore Gymnasium are against William & Mary (October 17-18), Hofstra (November 1-2) and Campbell (November 14-15).

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Head volleyball coach Sarah Rumely Noble rounded out her coaching staff with the addition of Jessica O’Brien on Wednesday, June 4. O’Brien, a recent graduate of Auburn University, will serve as South Carolina’s director of operations and technical coordinator.

“I am beyond excited to round out my staff with the addition of Jessica,” Noble said. “She is a go-getter and will be in incredible role model for our student-athletes! Her experience with VolleyStation as well as her organization skills makes her the perfect fit!”

In May, O’Brien earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Auburn; she was a double major in Business Analytics and Marketing with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Family Business. As a student, she was a supervisor for the university’s recreation sports programs for two years, helping coordinate officials and manage events.

In the athletics department, O’Brien worked with the Auburn volleyball program as a student manager and analytics intern for the 2024 spring semester and fall season. As manager, she supported the director of operations with coordinating meals and travel for the team while also working on the analytics side to break down game video and assist with the construction of scouting reports for the Tigers.

Last summer, O’Brien also worked as an analytics intern for the Normal CornBelters, a collegiate summer baseball team.

“Excited is an understatement! I want to thank Sarah, Chanelle, Connor, and Christian for their support as I begin this journey with South Carolina,” O’Brien said. “Their energy is high, their passion is strong, and I can’t wait to join them in contributing to the team’s success on and off the court!”

For continued updates on the team, follow Gamecockvolley on X/Twitter and GamecockVB on Instagram.