Welcome to “Olympic Sports Catch Up!” As the Olympic sports manager at this beautiful little website, I lead a team of talented and passionate writers who have a special interest in non-revenue Olympic sports at Missouri (I despise the phrase “non-revenue.”) Because it’s the summertime and (flag) football was added to the LA2028 Olympics, I’ll make an exception for the inclusion any Mizzou athletic team.

I’ve broken down each of the sports below and will be sharing fun/relevant info, social posts any writing our talented crew has done, and links to other stories from outside of Rock M that people have done, as we used to do in the Links posts. We are in a content desert, y’all.

Enjoy!

Non-Sports Specific

Mizzou has found great success in volleyball, softball and gymnastics in recent years, and track and field just crowned an individual national champion in Valentina Barrios Thursday night. Meanwhile, baseball and women’s basketball have struggled in recent years but provide tremendous upside for generating revenue.

Athletics departments that strike the right balance between the revenue sports and Olympic sports, and between short-term and long-term success, will set themselves up for the future both in competition and on the balance sheet.

Baseball

There has been some movement in the portal for the Tigers both in an out since I last checked in with you. Transferring out are relief pitcher Victor Christal, OF/1B Brady Picarelli, pitcher Brock Lucas and UTIL Trey Calloway.

Kam Durnin (June 18)- Durnin spent his first two collegiate seasons in the American Athletic Conference at Wichita State, where he hit .251 with a .724 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) this year and had 20 extra-base hits alongside 23 walks to 54 strikeouts, playing mostly at shortstop. The Camdenton native’s best season came as a true freshman, hitting .267 with an .833 OPS and seven home runs for the Shockers. Durnin is mashing this summer in the Appalachian League with the Kingsport Axmen, going 12-31 (.387) so far in nine games and recording more walks (9) than strikeouts (8).

Jamal George (June 15)- George was a part-time starter for Texas A&M in 2024, playing in 34 games and making 17 starts. The incoming senior hit .231 with a .584 OPS for the Aggies in 65 at-bats, also stealing six bases, and split time between the corner outfield and second base. The Trujillo, Puerto Rico, native’s addition will add back depth to Mizzou’s outfield after the graduations of Pierre Seals and Cayden Nicoletto. George is unlikely to start for the Tigers, but senior has solid numbers in college with the potential for a second-season jump in the SEC. This addition gives Jackson another experienced position player and valuable depth.

Basketball- Men’s

What we know is Trent Burns was making enough of an impression in early spring workouts that it caused other bigs on the roster to consider their position in the depth chart. Burns has more of a shooting touch than any other post currently on the roster and projects to be the kind of big who can stretch the floor.

Scottie Adkinson (2027 CG) is outperforming some of the best competition on Nike’s EYBL circuit, currently ranking in the 95th percentile for offensive efficiency. Unsurprisingly, the 6-2 guard remains a menace on the break. What’s surprising is the fact his dosage of off-ball opportunities has doubled up his combined tally of pick-and-rolls, isolations, and handoffs.

The Tigers face four high-major teams, all in the top 100 of Bart Torvik’s projections, but also have the usual assortment of buy games against low and mid-major squads. The team has eight games falling in that category, with only two teams – SEMO and Bethune-Cookman – cracking the top-250 of the Torvik projections.

Basketball- Women’s

Kellie Harper has been hot on the recruiting trail in her first season at the helm of the Tigers, and as of June 11, they’ve offered 23 different prospects spread across the USA in 2026 and 2027.

• Practice has started! Here’s some social posts! And SEC opponents! Per Dylan (on RockM+), this slate is favorable for Mizzou.

Games against Texas A&M, Arkansas, Georgia and Auburn are the perfect opportunity to pick up wins in the unforgiving grind of conference play. Plus, conference games against Alabama, Ole Miss and Oklahoma seem much more manageable with a strong crowd. That leaves just one home game left: Texas

• I’ve been loving this X’s and O’s content series with Kellie Harper. Next up, Lisa Thompson and Jordana Reisma!

Football

Isaac Jensen is much more of the pass-catching variety at the moment, though his massive frame makes you wonder what it would look like if he puts on the necessary weight to start pushing dudes around in the trenches. He’s all of 6’6”, but could stand to add a few dozen pounds before he’s game ready. But he’s got decent athleticism and size you can’t teach. He’ll continue Drinkwitz and Kirby Moore’s long-standing project to find a towering TE to revive Mizzou’s dormant tight-end-passing-game.

The greatest Missouri team of all-time (according to SP+) was the 2008 squad that finished +24.0 and ranked 7th in SP+. Last year’s Alabama finished +25.0 and ranked 4th in SP+.

In a “down year”.

We should all have that level of misfortune.

Golf- Men’s

• Per MUTigers, HC Glen Millican and incoming freshman Reese Roberts will be a part of the Team USA World Junior Golf Cup in Nagoya, Japan in late June.
• Congrats to Veikka Viskari on making the semifinals of the Amateur Championship.

Gymnastics

• Looks like Mizzou’s new rookies, Kimarra Echols, Hayli Westerlind, Bryce Kupbens and Maiya Terry will arrive in CoMo!

• I could re-live this season forever.

Soccer

• Here’s the schedule! Per Dylan at RockM+, the Tigers play seven of the same conference opponents as last year, and finished 0-6-1 in those games. The non-con looks similar to last year, and the Tigers will again face SLU, Memphis, MO State and Illinois (finishing 1-2-1 in those games).

As a whole the Tigers will play 10 home games, including the first Mizzou athletics event of the new school year in the home opener against SDSU (plus an exhibition against K-State on Aug. 6).

Mizzou faces six teams who made the NCAA Tournament, taking no shortcuts as Golan looks to have the best season in years for the Tigers.

Softball

She made 23 appearances in the circle for the Cougars with 14 starts. Michalak notched a team-best 35 strikeouts over 59.2 innings to go with a 6-5 mark in 2025.

Adding a young pitcher, but one with experience, is a smart move for a program looking to rebound, though her stats (a 5.75 ERA and more BB than K) are a bit eye-opening, per Karen. There is still a lot to do in order to move this program back into the top of the conference like they’ve been in recent years. Especially with the losses of Taylor Pannell (A&M) and Madison Walker (Florida), amongst many others.

Swim & Dive

Track & Field

• A bit delayed but incredible congratulations must go out to Valentina Barrios, Mizzou’s first individual javelin national title winner. She is the THIRD individual national champion of the year for Mizzou Athletics!

Other results: Kristi Perez-Snyman (high jump, 6th place) and Callan Saldutto (javelin, 3rd place) earned First Team All-American honors in the high jump while Claudina Diaz (high jump, 11th place) and Alicia Burnett (100m, 11th place) earned Second Team honors. Skylar Coffey finished 21st in the men’s discus after setting a PR in the first round of the west regional. The women overall placed 20th at NCAAs, which is their third best finish in school history. This is their highest finish since 2018, when they finished 11th.

“It was an outstanding week for the Tigers,” head coach Brett Halter said via MUTigers. “I’m really proud of everyone’s efforts and appreciate the support that we’ve had through our season. It’s been a collective effort – high-level performances take a village to achieve, and this staff did an incredible job of helping us reach that goal. The credit goes to the kids in the arena for sticking to the plan and achieving a historical season.”

• Some Tigers also participated in the USATF U20 Championship. Ryan Eddington took bronze in the 1500m. Charlotte Cullen advanced to the finals of both the 800m and the 1500m.
• Jonathan Seremes made his Diamond League debut with a fourth place finish in the triple jump.

Volleyball

• Dawn Sullivan & Co. has wasted no time adding a bunch of high-level roster additions! Lucky Fasavalu, a 5-8, top-60 setter from CA, Maizy Agnello, a 6-1, 43rd ranked outside hitter from IL, Eve Bushnell, a 6-2 outside hitter from NC, and Danielle Lewis, a 5-5 libero from NC.

Here’s Matthew’s master list of the roster members thus far.

Wrestling

• Brian Smith welcomed in 2-time NCAA qualifier Evan Bates from Northwestern. Matthew wrote on RockM+, “Similar to Maxx Mayfield, Bates provides the solid floor of a likely top-25 wrestler with a limited ceiling. He seems likely to be what he is at this point, garnering a lower seed at the NCAA Championships and lasting three or four matches but not making it deep into the consolation bracket”

Overall, this is a solid addition for Tiger Style as the program looks to get back into the top-10 at next season’s NCAA Championships after back-to-back down years. If nothing else, the team should be more prepared for attrition and adversity in 2025-26.”

China’s women put up a spirited performance against defending Volleyball Nations League champions Italy at Kai Tak Arena on Sunday, but eventually succumbed to a 3-0 defeat as the Hong Kong leg of the tournament came to a close.

The result, which was China’s first defeat of the week, means they are sixth with one more week of competition before the finals in Poland.

China pushed the Paris Olympic champions all the way in the first two sets, losing 25-21, 32-30, but collapsed in the third, bowing out 11-25.

“All of the matches in Hong Kong told us a lot and I’m really excited about our upcoming performances,” Dong Yuhan, the outside hitter, said.

“Our team has a bright future, we will follow the fighting spirit and try to continue our good results.”

Italy have now won all of their matches over the first two legs of the Nations League as they look to defend their 2024 crown.

OMAHA, Neb. — Kade Anderson made his final start in an LSU uniform on Saturday night, and it was a masterpiece that put the Tigers on the cusp of their second national championship in three years.

Anderson pitched a three-hitter and struck out 10 in a 1-0 victory over Coastal Carolina in Game 1 of the College World Series finals, his second straight dominant performance in Omaha.

“That’s what we’ve seen all year,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “He’s the best pitcher in the country. And did it again tonight. That’s been on the regular every game one of the entire season. Everybody got to see what we’ve seen and known for an entire season.”

The Chanticleers (56-12) lost for the first time in 27 games and must win Sunday to force a third and deciding game Monday night.

LSU (52-15) made Steven Milam’s RBI single in the first inning stand up with Anderson getting stronger as the game progressed against a Coastal Carolina team that had won its first three CWS games by a combined 24-9.

“If it was going to be easy, there would be more than one national champion,” Chanticleers coach Kevin Schnall said. “We’ve got to regroup. We’ve won 26 in a row. Let’s just call it is what it is — the odds were not in our favor to go 28-0 and win this national championship.”

Anderson, a lefty projected to be a top-three pick in next month’s MLB amateur draft, threw 130 pitches and was just as good as he was in LSU’s CWS opener against Arkansas last weekend. He has allowed one run and six hits and struck out 17 in 16 innings in Omaha.

Anderson grew up in Madisonville, Louisiana, as a big fan of LSU baseball. Asked how often he dreamed of a CWS performance like Saturday’s and winning a title, he said, “Probably every night.”

“That wasn’t necessarily to end the College World Series,” he said. “We’ve got one more that we’re preparing for. We’ll go back to the hotel and start preparing for that one as well.”

Against the Chanticleers he had to deal with traffic on the basepaths after issuing three of his five walks in the first two innings and hitting two batters. He was up to the challenge. The Chanticleers were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

“It’s the College World Series. You’re going to pitch with runners on base,” Johnson said. “It’s the best teams in the country, and that’s one of the best teams in the country. They do a great job of finding their way on base. And they did a few times tonight.”

Anderson (12-1) walked pinch-hitter Domenico Tozzi with two outs in the ninth, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Nate Yeskie. Anderson then got Wells Sykes to fly out to end the game. Anderson and catcher Luis Hernandez embraced, and then their teammates mobbed them behind the mound to celebrate the first complete-game shutout in the CWS since 2022.

Anderson worked around two walks in the first inning, got out of the third when Sebastian Alexander was caught stealing third base, and he struck out three in a row after Blagen Pado’s double leading off the fourth.

After he gave up LSU’s early run, Coastal Carolina’s Cameron Flukey (8-2) matched zeroes with Anderson from the second to sixth inning. Flukey limited the Tigers to four hits, walked two and struck out nine before turning the ball over to Dominick Carbone to start the seventh.

The Tigers are 16-0 when they have a lead at any point when Anderson is pitching. It was Anderson’s second shutout of the season. He threw 135 pitches in a 2-0 win over Oklahoma on April 3.

Anderson said he wasn’t bothered by the conditions. The temperature was 97 degrees at first pitch with a gusty wind blowing out to left.

“I think that’s the real benefit of playing in Louisiana,” he said. “Growing up there, this was honestly not nearly as bad as it was in the super regional.”

LSU will try to lock up its eighth national title Sunday.

Coastal Carolina won the championship in its first trip to Omaha in 2016 and is seeking to become the fifth school to win the title in each of its first two trips to the CWS, but the first since Michigan in 1962.

Schnall reminded reporters that in 2016, Arizona left-hander JC Cloney threw a shutout in Game 1 of the finals and Coastal Carolina came back to win the next two.

“Again, we’ve got to respond, rebound, regroup,” Schnall said. “We’ve got Jacob Morrison pitching tomorrow. Answer the bell.”

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

Texas A&M volleyball landed a potential program-changing recruit last Monday when Sophee Peterson, the No. 1 recruit in the nation for the Class of 2027, announced her commitment. 

ITTA BENA, MS – MVSU kicked off its second annual Track and Field Camp. The camp stretches over 4 days and includes instructions in sprints, hurdles, throws, and jumps. 

“We’re working with the youth in the area of learning their skill levels.” said MVSU Track Coach Dr. Michael Snapp.  “We also want to be able to get them to see the university and get experience on the collegiate level.”