An Artist At Heart 

Sumanasekera’s floor routine from 2024 instantly became a fan favorite. Not just a fan favorite, but a personal favorite of hers. She has decided to keep the self choreographed routine for the 2025 season. Choreography has always been a passion for Sumanasekera, she started choreographing her own routines when she was a level eight gymnast. 

“When I started gymnastics, I was just doing it purely out of passion,” she said. “I wanted to be as true to myself as possible. Starting elite, I just knew that I wanted to be myself and just be known for being myself and being as authentic to myself as possible. So I’ve always loved dancing and I always had so much energy and so much passion for any sort of dance. So I knew that I wanted to choreograph my routines.” 

Heading into the 2024 season, Sumanasekera knew she wanted her floor routine to be special. The music she ultimately chose is something she was familiar with for over five years. She knew she had to wait for the right moment to use the music. 

“When I was ready to choreograph this routine, and I was like, ‘now’s the time I want to use this routine’,” she said. “I want to make a magical routine out of it. I just started choreographing upstairs, and I was just having the time of my life, because I loved the music. I thought it was so special, so artistic, and it just was so magical to me, and I choreographed it in a week or so. I showed it to my coaches and my teammates, and they were in awe.”

The show-stopping routine is easy to be in awe of. Sumanasekera combines world class tumbling with fun, energetic dance that hits every beat of the music. She is able to cast a spell on every audience member as soon as the first note of music is played. At the Olympic Trials last year, she was able to create multiple memorable moments, but nothing sticks out to her more than her floor routine from day two of the competition. 

“I finished the best routine of my life, and I stuck the double pike, which I had been waiting to stick for the whole year,” Sumanasekera said. “That could not have ended in a more perfect way. Before I could even finish my ending pose, I was already sobbing. I was in tears. I saluted, and I walked off. I was walking down the stairs at the podium, and Simone [Biles] told me to get back up, because the crowd was giving me a standing ovation. And I was like, ‘that’s not for me,’ because I thought somebody else was competing. I had to put my water bottle down because I was already prepared to get off the podium, and I waved. It was just the most surreal and unforgettable experience I could ever imagine.”       

In 2024, Sumanasekera hit routine after routine, continuing to build momentum. She hit every single routine she competed throughout 2024, a perfect 25/25.    

“2024 was, by far, hands down, the best year I’ve ever had in my gymnastics career,” she said. “I had no intention, or no idea that it would play out that way. Olympic Trials was huge. It was a very surreal, full circle moment, knowing that I went to watch in 2016 and just was so excited to be there watching, I had just started gymnastics at the time, and that’s why I was so passionate and so excited to watch. I was looking at those photos while I was at Olympic Trials, and could not help but just burst with joy.”

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When NiJaree Canady enters the circle, it is often goodnight for the opposing lineup. Texas Tech’s star pitcher gave up just five hits during Monday’s 3-2 win over four-time defending national champion Oklahoma as the Red Raiders punched their ticket to the championship series of the Women’s College World Series with Texas.

The Stanford transfer who twice anchored Cardinal trips to Oklahoma City is the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year for a reason, and continues to deliver for Texas Tech this season. Canady’s on a record-breaking NIL deal with Texas Tech’s NIL collective, The Matador Club, which she signed last summer for just over $1 million, according to ESPN.

She is college softball’s first member of the million club after the Red Raiders made her a priority in the transfer portal ahead of coach Gerry Glasco’s first season. Oklahoma and Texas, among others, immediately pursued Canady, but Texas Tech pushed out front with the financial help of boosters Tracy and John Sellers, a pair of former Red Raiders athletes.

“We look at it as they deserve it just as much (as male athletes),” Glasco said during an interview with ESPN after Canady’s official visit. “She worked so hard to be the No. 1 pitcher in the country. … I left that meeting and thought, this is who I would love to put a lot of effort into because of who she is.”

Canady and her family met with Stanford’s collective during her standout freshman season to seek a better NIL contract moving forward in her career, but the Cardinal balked at the request, according to The Athletic. And that is what kickstarted the process of looking elsewhere and eventually making herself available in the transfer portal after her sophomore campaign.

According to The Athletic, her NIL deal with the Red Raiders is 10 times more that what many considered the starting price in the negotiation process. 

Canady went 41-10 over her first two seasons at Stanford. This season, she has hit a stratospheric level of dominance. After Monday’s victory over the Sooners, Canady boosted her record to 30-5 with a 0.89 ERA. That includes a perfect record in the postseason for a team on a quest to win its first national championship. 

Texas Tech is the first program in WCWS history to reach the championship series in its debut trip to Oklahoma City since, coincidentally, the Sooners did so in 2000. And ironically, the Red Raiders snapped a 37-game losing streak to Oklahoma to get to this point.

“I feel like people thought I heard the number and just came to Texas Tech, which wasn’t the case at all,” Canady said. “If I didn’t feel like Coach Glasco was an amazing coach and could lead this program to be where we thought it could be, I wouldn’t have come.”

GRAND FORKS — Isaac Gordon won’t be transferring to UND after all.

The forward from Landmark, Man., has informed UND’s coaching staff that he wishes to return to Michigan Tech, where he played his first two collegiate seasons.

The change in heart for Gordon comes soon after Michigan Tech made a coaching change.

Michigan Tech announced on May 22 that it parted ways with head coach Joe Shawhan and hired Bill Muckalt from Lindenwood. Muckalt was previously an assistant at Michigan Tech.

Gordon entered the NCAA transfer portal in late April and committed to UND after an on-campus visit.

“It’s the school that got me introduced to college hockey,” Gordon told the Herald after his commitment. “That’s what everyone talks about when you refer to college hockey in Manitoba — it’s North Dakota.

“I’ve been following the team from when I was 13 or 14 years old on social media. They were the only college team I followed until I got to the U.S. to play juniors. It’s the only one that’s been on my radar for that long. Now that the opportunity has come, it’s pretty special.”

The right winger was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s Rookie of the Year in 2023-24.

His exit means UND has to add two forwards for the upcoming season – and it likely means UND will be younger up front.

The Fighting Hawks now have just four upperclassmen up front – senior Dylan James, senior Ben Strinden, senior Ellis Rickwood and junior Anthony Menghini.

The sophomore forward class is comprised of Mac Swanson, Cody Croal, Cade Littler and Dalton Andrew.

The freshman forward class, so far, is Cole Reschny, Will Zellers, Jack Kernan, Josh Zakreski and David Klee.

The NCAA transfer portal has closed for everyone except players from Lindenwood and Michigan Tech, who have an exemption due to a new head coaching hire.

Schlossman has covered college hockey for the Grand Forks Herald since 2005. He has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the top beat writer for the Herald’s circulation division four times and the North Dakota sportswriter of the year twice. He resides in Grand Forks. Reach him at bschlossman@gfherald.com.

Paul Finebaum revealed the biggest problem for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama is being in the shadow of Nick Saban. It’d likely be a problem for any coach who followed, arguably, the greatest college football coach in the history of the game.

DeBoer won nine games last season under the weight of tremendous expectations. But missing the College Football Playoff last year put DeBoer in the crosshairs. It was just one year removed from him leading Washington to the national championship.

So even if DeBoer is successful this season, it will be compared to Saban’s trajectory and the latter’s success. It’s almost a lose-lose situation unless DeBoer wins a title.

“They were not happy with the end of last season and Kalen DeBoer, they believe, right this second is going to get them to the playoffs,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “But the problem is the shadow of Nick Saban. I was at an event two weeks ago in Birmingham that DeBoer and Nick Saban were both playing golf at this Pro-Am, and DeBoer looked like a lilliputian compared to Nick Saban. He sucked all the oxygen out of the room in interviews and everything, and as long as Nick Saban is around, Kalen DeBoer will be compared to him and it won’t be a good look.”

DeBoer led Alabama to the ReliaQuest Bowl, a loss to Michigan, last season after missing out on the CFP. He went 25-3 at Washington, winning the Alamo Bowl in his first year, as well as the Sugar Bowl (CFP Semifinal) in his second season.

But there’s no doubt there’s a lot of pressure on Alabama this season. Considering DeBoer’s squad is No. 3 in ESPN’s FPI preseason top 25, the expectations are there to make a big leap in 2025.

“I think a lot of it was just the early piece, just understanding what the timing of it was in January,” DeBoer said of Year 1. “I think that was the hardest part. The season and the ups and downs, I’ve been part of that. I think the first year is always extremely hard because there are going to be things that come your way that you just know are going to be hard to handle. And a lot of times, it’s the wins and losses that I’m talking about …

“But we’re in a good spot right now because I think our guys have really found out who wants to be here. They’ve really dug in deep. We’ve got a great mix of upperclassmen that understand what it takes, mixed with some young guys that either got their feet wet last year or are coming in and have been really accepted in a way that they feel appreciated by the guys who have gone through it. So I’m really looking forward to this team, this next 6-8 months.”