EUGENE, Ore. – Coming into his final attempt in the shot put at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Wisconsin men’s track and field standout Jason Swarens knew he needed a huge throw. 

The NCAA leader in the event with a PR of 70 feet, 1 ½ inches (21.37m), Swarens had led the competition through the opening round but several clutch marks by other competitors had moved the Badger down to fourth heading into his final toss. 

Swarens delivered on his final attempt at Hayward Field as the senior won the national title in the shot put thanks to a heave of 69-8 (21.23m).

“At our home meet I threw 21.37 meters there and I knew it was going to take 21 to win today,” Swarens said. “I wish I had done that a little earlier but I’ll take it.”

Swarens becomes the first Badger male to win a national title in the shot put and the first male thrower to win a NCAA title since Michael Lihrman won consecutive indoor weight throw titles in 2014 and 2015. 

“​​Jason earned this one,” UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. “He’s been close a few times and he never quit on himself. To hit that monster throw on his last time in the circle as a Badger with the national title on the line speaks volumes about his character as an athlete. 

“The minute the shot left his hand you just knew it was a huge throw.”

The Terre Haute, Indiana native posted an unforgettable senior season with a sweep of the Big Ten indoor and outdoor shot put titles. He placed third in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships, earning All-America honors and proved himself among the nations best. Swarens cemented his status as a Badger great, setting school records in both the indoor and outdoor shot put, marking the end of a decorated collegiate career. 

“I’ve always wanted to solidify myself as one of the greatest shot putters at Wisconsin,” Swarens said. “Today was the icing on the cake.”

Fellow senior Joseph White wrapped up his time competing for the Cardinal and White, etching his name in the history books and placing ninth in the shot put at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships with a throw of 63-4 (19.30m). 

In just one year, the senior became the school record holder in the discus, climbed to No. 2 all-time in the outdoor shot put and earned First-Team All-America honors in the shot put along with Second-Team All-America honors in the weight throw at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships. The Kenosha, Wisconsin native claimed silver in the discus at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.  

Spencer shines in 1500 semifinals

Spencer showed why he is one of the favorites for the title in the 1500 meters on Wednesday as the senior ran the fastest time in the event to automatically advance to Friday’s final.

After starting the race in the middle of the pack, Spencer took control of the race midway through and cruised to a time of 3 minutes, 41.67 seconds to win his section of the event. 

“The first heat went out so slow,” Spencer said. “It’s a real relief when they go out slow because then all you have to do is run faster. It was kind of nice to see. I was pretty shocked that some pretty big names missed out on the final but I was trying not to focus on that too much and instead focus on getting the job done and getting to the final.”

Spencer will race for a NCAA title on Friday at 7:12 p.m. CT live on ESPN2. 

Williams wraps up junior campaign 

Jalen Williams capped off his junior campaign by placing 16th in the 400 meters with a time of 46.06 seconds, competing among the fastest athletes in the country at Hayward Field. 

Williams made his mark early in the outdoor season, delivering consistent performances that culminated in a runner-up finish at the Big Ten Championships in the 400 meters. But perhaps the defining moment of his season came when he shattered the Wisconsin school record in the outdoor 400 with a time of 45.49, setting a program-best mark that cemented his name in the Badger history books.

Hooper concludes Badger career 

Badgers Cole Hooper closed out his collegiate season with Second-Team All-America honors thanks to a 16th-place finish in the hammer throw. The senior launched the hammer 216-6 (65.98) in his NCAA Outdoor Championships debut. 

Hooper wrapped up his career with the fifth-farthest throw in school history in the hammer throw, a personal best he nearly matched during his performance on Wednesday. He entered this week with the eighth-best indoor weight throw mark in UW program history.

Hilby, Casey capture honorable mention All-America accolades

Freshman Patrick Hilby led the Badgers on Wednesday evening in the 800 meters, as the freshman turned in a time of 1:48.39 in his first NCAA Outdoor Championships. Hilby tallied a 19th-place finish, garnering Honorable Mention All-American honors. 

In his second-straight NCAA outdoor championship appearance, Andrew Casey was cut off heading into the homestretch and ultimately finished in 21st overall with a time of 1:52.44. 

Up Next: A trio of Badgers will be in action on Thursday for the Badger women. Chloe Lindeman will lead things off with the women’s hammer throw at 3:30 p.m. CT. Taylor Kesner will compete in the women’s javelin at 7:15 p.m. CT and Emma Kelley will race in the women’s 800 meters at 7:58 p.m. CT. Thursday’s track events will air live on ESPN while all the events can be seen online through ESPN+. 

2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon

400 Meters

16. Jalen Williams, 46.06

800 Meters

19. Patrick Hilby, 1:48.39

21. Andrew Casey, 1:52.44

1500 Meters

1. Adam Spencer, 3:41.67 Q

Shot Put

1. Jason Swarens, 69-8 (21.23m)

9. Joseph White, 63-4 (19.30m)

Hammer Throw

16. Cole Hooper – 216-6 (65.98)

Determination and dedication pay off.

To most people, volleyball is a fun, competitive sport. To Savannah Griffith, it’s life. 

At just 18 years old, the Strawberry Crest High School graduate received a scholarship to play volleyball with the Florida College Lady Falcons.

Griffith’s journey began at age 11, when she first stepped onto a volleyball court at Marshall Middle School. What started as an after-school activity quickly evolved into an all-consuming passion. By high school, she was playing competitively year-round, participating in both school and club tournaments. While she is largely successful now, Griffith’s journey was not always easy.

Despite a challenging start where her team lost every set across five matches in her first season, Griffith remained undeterred, maintaining an unwavering commitment to improvement. This resilience and dedication to growth shaped her development as a player, eventually leading to remarkable progress in her performance. Her talent and determination did not go unnoticed, particularly catching the eye of Joseph Smith, a volunteer scout for a recruiting company. While her impressive hitting percentage spoke to her technical abilities, Smith was most captivated by her natural leadership qualities and commanding presence on the court.

“She’s always interacting on the court,” said Smith. “Her ability to have good vision, to see where to hit it, and always have that strike…that’s her greatest ability.”

With every challenge, Griffith kept one thing centered in her life: God. 

“Faith had pushed me to get better and given me a drive for something other than myself and my family to work for. God has really shown me the things I should work for, not only in myself but in volleyball,” Griffith said. 

Looking ahead, Griffith has committed to Florida College on an athletic scholarship, where she’ll join one of the state’s top volleyball programs while pursuing a degree in Pre-Health Sciences. Her ultimate goal is to become a small animal veterinarian, combining her passion for athletics with her love for helping animals. The rigorous academic program, coupled with her athletic commitments, will present new challenges, but Griffith’s determination and work ethic suggest she’s more than ready for what lies ahead.

In the fall, Griffith is excited to meet her new teammates and begin this next chapter of her journey. She looks forward to growing not only as an athlete and student but also strengthening her relationships with her family, boyfriend, and God. Her support system has been crucial in getting her to this point, and she knows they’ll continue to play an important role in her future success. As she prepares for the summer’s end and the beginning of her collegiate career, it’s clear that for Savannah Griffith, volleyball isn’t just a sport—it’s a calling that has shaped her path and will continue to influence her journey forward.

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As Carpinteria High School’s class of 2025 prepares to don their red caps and gowns to celebrate the end of their high school careers on June 11, Coastal View News takes a look back at the senior student athletes who embodied the Warrior Spirit during their time on the field, the court or in the pool.

This senior class is packed with athletic talent and student leaders who set an example for their peers both on and off the field. 

There were record-setting specialists such as Melanie Avalos — who dominated every track and field meet in the shot put and discus events — and multi-sport starts such as Averi Alexander (soccer/volleyball/track and field), Caden Lemere (water polo/volleyball/softball), Aiden Alcaraz (water polo/basketball/baseball) and Sawyer Kelly (football/basketball/track and field), just to name a few.

There were First Team All League athletes in nearly every sport. Carlo Suarez and Sebastian Reed earned First Team All Citrus Coast League in boys basketball; Brennan Van Wingerden in boys soccer; Charlotte Stoops in girls soccer; Giulia Piccoletti in both water polo and swimming. Senior Keyla Manriquez was one of the league MVPs in girls tennis doubles, and Alexander earned All League spots in both girls volleyball and track and field.

Senior Natalie Gonzalez was a three-time Goalie of the Year in girls soccer, while Lucas Martin made a splash on the boys swimming team and on the tennis court, where he finished as a league champion in doubles and helped his team reach the semifinals of the CIF championships.

These seniors created lifelong memories, and learned lessons they will likely carry with them into their young adulthood. From all of us at Coastal View News: Thank you for the many highlights, class of 2025, and good luck with the next chapter of your lives.

In a world increasingly shaped by social media influence, polarized discourse and public opinion, one organization is using an unexpected yet profoundly powerful tool to combat antisemitism and reframe public perception of Israel: athletics.

Athletes for Israel was founded six years ago with a bold mission — to leverage the global reach of professional and collegiate athletes to promote a deeper understanding of Israel and challenge rising antisemitism and misinformation. By organizing transformative trips to Israel, the organization provides professional athletes from the NBA, NFL, MLB, Division 1 college teams, and more with an up close and personal experience of the country’s history, diversity and complexity, an experience they are then inspired to share with millions of followers around the world. As Athletes for Israel founder Daniel Posner shared, “The goal is that by using their platform, these athletes can reach hundreds of millions of people who are uneducated about Israel and shine a positive light on it.”

For many non-Jewish individuals, “The only way to understand Israel is to visit it and see it for yourself,” said Posner. “I could tell you until I’m blue in the face that Israel is a diverse country, that 20% of Israelis are not even Jewish, that 60% of Israelis are from the Middle Eastern countries like Iraq, Iran or Egypt. But until you see it for yourself, until you see the freedom of religion, until you see the melting pot that Israel is, until you see the people and meet the people and have a real cultural exchange, it’s really hard to describe and to really internalize.”

With the mission of conveying this information to athletes and, by extension, to the world, Athletes for Israel began bringing professional players and college teams to Israel.

AFI began bringing college athletes to Israel when Posner was introduced to Bruce Pearl, Auburn University’s head basketball coach. As Posner told the story, “He’s a big Israel advocate, and he said to me, ‘Daniel, I have this dream, I want to bring my team to Israel.’ I said, ‘Coach, we’re gonna help your dream become a reality.’ Six months later, we brought the entire team to Israel, along with ESPN, which brought an entire camera crew. All of the games that they played in Israel against Israeli teams were televised on ESPN, reaching millions of people.” As Pearl shared after his experience, “We are a misunderstood people, Israel is a misunderstood land, and the best way that we can increase our understanding of it is to come visit. The experience speaks for itself.”

The following year, AFI brought the basketball teams of University of Arizona and Kansas State University to Israel. Since Oct. 7, volunteer missions have been set into motion. Most recently, Athletes for Israel traveled with a delegation of Brigham Young University (BYU) football co-captains. BYU has a population that is 97% Mormon/LDS, and most of its students know very little about Judaism, antisemitism and Israel. BYU’s football team is one of the top 15 football teams in the country, and some of its players will be moving on to the NFL in the coming years.

These athletes traveled with AFI on a one-week trip to Israel in early May. The trip was divided into three sections. First, religious and historical exploration: the delegation visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Western Wall, the City of David, and more. Second, cultural exchange: for example, volunteering and service in underprivileged communities. Third, Israeli society in a post-Oct. 7 world: Kibbutz Be’eri and the Nova Festival site, for example. A particular highlight of the trip was Friday night dinner in Jerusalem; the athletes had the opportunity to experience Jewish culture and traditions and compare them with their own connections to their religion and faith.

“The idea behind each one of these trips,” Posner articulated, “is not just to impact each one of the participants, but also for them to use their platform to advocate and spread the knowledge they’ve gained about Israel, what it is and what it isn’t.” At the end of the week, the delegates attend a debriefing dinner, replaying the events and experiences of the trip. The crucial question is as follows: What are you going to take back with you?

For one athlete, the lesson was clear: “I came to Israel not knowing anything. I’m coming back understanding the story of Israel and how misunderstood it is, and why, since Oct. 7, Israel has to fight a war even though they don’t want to fight in wars. They have to protect their citizens. They’re fighting against the terrorist organization called Hamas, which is committing horrible atrocities, and we need to support Israel.”

Before and after each trip, the delegates complete a survey regarding their knowledge on Israel and antisemitism and their experiences; “All of them give enormously high praise and excitement about being involved and excited about telling their stories,” according to Posner. “I think they feel more conviction in their religion. I think they feel more conviction in terms of their support and interest in supporting Israel.” These experiences are not easy to forget, and the hope is that these athletes will bring the emotions associated with the experience back home with them. This feedback makes the entire trip worthwhile, as Posner shared, “We have a real return on our investment. We invest in them so that we can reach a broader community.”

Athletes for Israel, originally inspired by Robert Kraft and AIPAC, believes that social media has a massive impact on public opinion. “If we’re going to invest in combating antisemitism, we need to bring people who have platforms to Israel … we need more people to come and see it with their own eyes.” Posner saw the work being done to turn the tide and said, “We need to do more of this, not just in the political realm.” Sports and entertainment truly are the social fabric of the U.S., and the online platforms of athletes and artists have a substantial influence on politics, especially among Millennials and Gen Z. “We need to make sure that popular culture is with Israel. The one way to do that is by bringing sports stars, athletes and influencers to Israel to help them understand and educate them so that they can educate others,” added Posner.

In its six years, and especially in the aftermath of Oct. 7, Athletes for Israel has reached tens of millions of people. In Posner’s view, “If we reach only the Jewish community, we’ve failed. Our goal is to reach a spectrum of people, which is not the 10% of the people that are with us, not the 10% of the people that hate us or hate Israel. It’s the 80% of the people in the middle who aren’t educated and don’t want to be involved. Sports is the way to connect with them and get them invested.”

As AFI’s mission statement details, “we can together change the narrative and combat antisemitism.” To learn more about Athletes for Israel, visit athletesforisrael.org.

Eliana Birman is the assistant digital editor for The Jewish Link. She is a rising sophomore at Barnard College and lives in Teaneck.

After winning a pair of conference titles and earning his first All-America honor, Colorado College rising senior Rabbit Barnes was named the Men’s Track Athlete of the Year for the 2025 season by the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC).
 
Barnes, from Los Olivos, Calif., became Colorado College’s fifth male track athlete to earn All-America honors with a fourth-place finish in the 1,500-meter final at the 2025 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Barnes finished the race in 3:50.01, just 1.26 seconds behind the champion.
 
At the 2025 SCAC Track and Field Championships, Barnes captured a pair of titles, the 800 and 1500, becoming just the first male in league history to win both races at the same SCAC meet twice (won both as a sophomore in 2024). He is the fourth male in SCAC history to win at least three 1,500-meter titles and his time of 1:51.31 in the 800 final was the fastest in SCAC championship meet history.
 
Barnes is the third Colorado College male to earn the SCAC Track Athlete of the Year honor, joining Josh Fry (2021) and James Settles (2023 and ’24). Additionally, Barnes was named SCAC Men’s Track & Field Elite 19 Award recipient for 2025.
 
“Rabbit had a breakout year and is very deserving of this honor,” head coach Katie Bretscher said. “Throughout the season, he demonstrated his versatility by running the 400, 800 and 1500 at a high level. He thrived at the championship competitions this season.” 
 
Barnes set the school record in the 800 (1:49.08) and 1,500 (3:49.04) as well as a member of the 4×400 relay team (3:15.81) this season.