NEW ORLEANS, La. – Jadin O’Brien was named as the Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year for the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field season, as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Pewaukee, Wisconsin native finished as the runner-up in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships last weekend. She posted a personal-record and program-record score of 6256, which put her as No. 12 on the all-time collegiate scoring chart in the event. In May, she captured the ACC Outdoor Track & Field title in the heptathlon with a then-PR of 6220. O’Brien set a meet record in the event and became the first Notre Dame track and field athlete to win the ACC heptathlon crown.

O’Brien swept the 2025 USTFCCCA Region Field Athlete of the Year awards as she also earned the honor after the conclusion of the indoor track & field season.

The full list of USTFCCCA Regional Athletes and Coaches of the Year is available to read by following this link.

 

VALDOSTA — As the fall season approaches, Lowndes’ volleyball program is working hard to ensure that all levels of their program remain active during the summer and focused on the fundamentals.

This week, Head Coach Jesi Thomas and her staff welcomed a group of sixth,  seventh, and eighth graders for a developmental camp aimed at building both fundamental skills and a stronger future program. Next week, a younger group of elementary school kids will take the court for their own camp.

The camps, part of Lowndes’ multiple offseason efforts, focused on essential techniques like passing and serving—skills Thomas called “the only way you can start a point.” The players were divided by age across the gym and spent each day learning the structure of organized play, developing muscle control, and participating in guided drills. But beyond the technical training, the camp served a larger purpose: introducing younger athletes to the “Lowndes way” of volleyball.

Thomas said this year’s group has already shown something special.

“The group has really good chemistry this year,” she said during the camp. “Way more than we had at this point last year. That part is interesting—especially since they are younger.”

While the younger athletes learned the basics, they were guided by a lineup of familiar faces. Current JV and varsity players helped with the camp, while two recent graduates, former seniors who played key roles last season, returned to assist. Thomas discussed that the mix of experience levels created a positive environment where the younger campers could look up to players who had walked the same path. It also reinforced one of Thomas’ primary goals: creating continuity between middle and high school programs.

For Thomas, leading the Lowndes volleyball program has become more than a career move—it’s become a calling.

“I love it. It’s literally a dream job that I did not know was my dream job,” said Thomas. “I could not see myself doing anything outside of this. I love the girls.”

That passion translates into the culture Thomas continues to try to build within the team. As the season approaches, she’s focused on preparing a younger but eager group of athletes to step into the roles left by last year’s graduating class. 

Campers will also make an appearance at Crimson and White Night. Set for August 12, the event started last year and offers fans a chance to get an early look at the squad while celebrating the program’s growth. As for the season itself, Thomas said she hopes the community shows up the same way her players have—ready, energetic, and loud.

“Come out. Come out and support. We love having the environment that we have for volleyball,” she said. “It’s like almost a playoff-caliber game every single night.”

OMAHA, Neb. – When Coastal Carolina baseball takes the field at Charles Schwab Stadium on Saturday to compete for a national championship, it will carry the banner for the Sun Belt Conference, which has undergone a meteoric rise since expanding to its current 14-member configuration ahead of the 2022-23 season. 
 
The Chanticleers—proud members of the Sun Belt since the day after winning their baseball national championship in 2016—will be the second Sun Belt program to compete in an NCAA Division I national championship final during the 2024-25 season, following Marshall men’s soccer. With that appearance, the Sun Belt will join the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC as 1-of-5 conferences with multiple appearances in NCAA Division I national championship finals this season. 
 
The Sun Belt regular-season and tournament champion Chanticleers have not lost a game since April 22, including an unblemished run through postseason play. Coastal Carolina carried the longest-ever winning streak into the College World Series (23 games) and now into the College World Series national championship round (26 games)—snapping a 77-year-old record 18-game winning streak entering the national championship by USC in 1948 in the process. 
 
Sun Belt Coach of the Year Kevin Schnall summed up the Coastal Carolina run following Wednesday’s national semifinal by saying, “It’s incredible, but it’s not unbelievable.” 
 
That statement could just as easily have been describing the Sun Belt’s rise since the 2022-2023 season. The league has paced all non-autonomy conferences in Bowl Season representation in football for three-straight years—including leading the nation with 12 Bowl Season qualifiers in 2023—and established a conference record with 37 NCAA postseason and Bowl Season berths during the 2023-24 season—when it was a multi-bid league in women’s soccer, men’s soccer, volleyball, football, softball and baseball. 
 
The Sun Belt’s first-ever appearance in the College World Series final comes on the heels of a four-season span in which it has sent 14 teams to NCAA Baseball Regionals, 10 to NCAA Baseball Regional finals and two to NCAA Baseball Super Regionals. That grouping has included four regional hosts and national seeds—No. 13 Coastal Carolina (2025), No. 16 Southern Miss (2025), No. 10 Coastal Carolina (2023) and No. 16 Georgia Southern (2022). 
 
Historically one of the nation’s premier conferences in the diamond sports, the Sun Belt has been a multi-bid league in baseball in 30-of-36 seasons since 1989 and in softball in 11-of-15 seasons since 2010. The conference has produced seven Super Regional and two Men’s College World Series teams in baseball since the current tournament format was adopted in 1999 and eight Super Regional and three Women’s College World Series teams since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 2000. 
 
In the three seasons since reestablishing its men’s soccer conference in 2022, the Sun Belt has sent nine teams to the NCAA Tournament, with two advancing to the Men’s College Cup—Marshall (2024) and West Virginia (2023). That grouping has included five national seeds—No. 13 Marshall (2024), No. 1 Marshall (2023), No. 5 West Virginia (2023), No. 12 UCF (2023) and No. 1 Kentucky (2022)—and the No. 1 overall seeds in 2022 and 2023. 
 
In football, the Sun Belt’s .571 bowl winning percentage during the College Football Playoff era (2014-2024) trails only the SEC (.578), while its .545 all-time bowl winning percentage leads all non-autonomy conferences since the conference began sponsoring football in 2001. 
 
Building upon its own 2016 national championship and the Sun Belt’s sustained rise across a number of conference-sponsored sports, Coastal Carolina baseball will attempt to take the next step for the conference in the College World Series final this weekend. With a championship series victory, the Chanticleers would become the Sun Belt’s second-ever NCAA team national champion, joining Old Dominion women’s basketball (1985). 
 
Regardless of this weekend’s result, Schnall sums up the sentiment for Coastal Carolina baseball and the Sun Belt Conference by stating, “This is not a fluke. This is not a Cinderella deal…and we’re not going away.”  
 
With 14 universities in 10 contiguous states, the Sun Belt has established itself as a power player in NCAA Division I as 1-of-5 conferences with multiple appearances in NCAA Division I national championship finals this season and an opportunity to hoist a national championship trophy this weekend. 
 
The Sun Belt is rising. This is not a fluke. This is not a Cinderella deal…and we’re not going away. 

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LONG BEACH, Calif. — Long Beach State track and field standouts Rahni Turner and Claudine Raud-Gumiel have been recognized with two of the Big West Conference’s top postseason honors, the league announced Friday. Turner was named the Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, while Raud-Gumiel earned Big West Field Athlete of the Year accolades.
 
Turner capped a record-breaking season by defending her Big West title in the 100-meter hurdles with a wind-aided personal best of 13.08 seconds. She advanced to the NCAA West First Round and reset the Long Beach State program record with a wind-legal 13.15, finishing 16th in the quarterfinals.
 
Turner also earned All-Big West honors in the 4×100-meter relay, helping her squad place third with a time of 44.90—the third-fastest in school history. She contributed to the 4×400-meter relay team that finished fifth in 3:43.53, the seventh-fastest mark in program history.
 
Turner’s impressive season also included a victory in the 100 hurdles at the Trojan Invitational (13.20), which earned her Big West Track Athlete of the Week honors on March 25—her third such weekly award. She becomes just the second Long Beach State athlete to be named Big West Track Athlete of the Year, joining two-time honoree Ryley Fick (2022, 2023).
 
Raud-Gumiel earned Field Athlete of the Year honors after capturing the Big West heptathlon title with a school-record 5,698 points, earning Co-Field Athlete of the Meet honors in the process. During the heptathlon, she clocked 13.22 in the 100 hurdles—the third-fastest time in school history—and set personal bests in the high jump (5′ 7¾”), shot put (35′ 11½”), 200 meters (24.57), and 800 meters (2:17.57).
 
In addition to the heptathlon, she placed second in the 100 hurdles, fourth in the high jump, and ninth in the long jump at the conference championships.
 
Raud-Gumiel qualified for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the heptathlon, finishing 21st to earn Honorable Mention All-America honors. She also competed in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA West First Round, placing 25th overall.
 
She is the third LBSU athlete to win Big West Field Athlete of the Year, joining Ami Goldhammer (2004) and Riley Cooks (2016, 2017).
 

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