BOZEMAN, Mont. — Ten members of the Montana State track and field team were named to the CSC Academic All-District teams, the organization announced on Tuesday. 

The 2025 Academic All-District Men’s and Women’s Track & Field teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the track, in the field, and in the classroom. 

Graduate student Kyla Christopher-Moody, senior Grace Gilbreth, junior Caroline Hawkes, junior Giulia Gandolfi, and junior Hailey Coey were named to the CSC Academic All-District Women’s team. 

Senior Rob McManus, junior Elijah Jackman, senior Colby Wilson, senior Owen Smith, and junior Sam Ells were named to the CSC Academic All-District Men’s team. 

Montana State posted a banner year in 2024-2025, finishing runner-up in all six conference championships across cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. 

The Cats broke 12 school records during the indoor season and nine more during the outdoor season, qualifying four entries for the NCAA Indoor Championships and four for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. 

Kyla Christopher-Moody, a native of Royal Oak, Michigan, earned her master’s degree in Earth Sciences this year graduating with a cumulative GPA of 3.88. The distance star broke four school records in 2025 and was an All-Big Sky pick in cross country before earning four All-Big Sky honors on the track and competing at NCAA Regionals in the 5,000 meters. 

Grace Gilbreth, a native of Bozeman, graduated with a degree in Economics with a cumulative GPA of 3.98. Gilbreth started her year with an All-Big Sky selection in cross country before setting the school record in the 3,000 meter steeplechase this past spring. She ended her big season competing at NCAA Regionals in the steeplechase, finishing 31st. 

Caroline Hawkes, a native of San Clemente, California, holds a 3.86 GPA majoring in Food and Nutrition Science. Hawkes earned honorable mention All-American honors after helping the women’s 4×400 meter relay team place 21st at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships earlier this June and broke the school record in the indoor 400 meters this season, additionally running legs on the school record indoor 4×400 and outdoor 4×400 meter relay teams. 

Giulia Gandolfi, a native of Faenza, Italy, holds a 3.99 GPA majoring in Political Science and Economics. Gandolfi earned honorable mention All-American honors after helping the 4×400 meter relay team become the first in program history to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where they took 21st. Gandolfi ran legs on both the school record indoor 4×400 and outdoor 4×400 meter relay teams. 

Hailey Coey, a native of Billings, holds a 3.94 GPA majoring in Business Finance. The junior earned honorable mention All-American honors after placing 20th in the long jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Montana State’s first-ever long jumper to qualify for the national meet. Coey also broke three school records in the indoor long and triple jump and outdoor long jump, as well as the Big Sky Conference record in the indoor long jump. 

Rob McManus, a senior from Cashmere, Washington, holds a 3.53 GPA in Earth Sciences Geography. McManus earned First Team All-American honors in the 3,000 meter steeplechase outdoors after placing eighth at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and Second Team All-American honors in the mile indoors after placing 15th at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The distance star also won his second straight Big Sky title in the steeplechase this year and was an All-Big Sky selection in cross country. 

Elijah Jackman, a junior from Tigard, Oregon, holds a 3.81 GPA in Business Marketing. Jackman tied for the team lead in points scored at the outdoor Big Sky Championships in May with 18 and was an NCAA Regional qualifier in the hammer, where he finished 25th. Jackman earned three All-Big Sky honors in the throws this season, placing second in both the discus and hammer and third in the indoor weight throw. 

Colby Wilson, a senior from Olympia, Washington, graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering after holding a 3.79 GPA. Wilson won his fourth and fifth Big Sky titles in the pole vault this season, sweeping the indoor and outdoor conference meets. Wilson also qualified for his third NCAA Championships meet by finishing in the top-16 in the country at indoor nationals by breaking his own school and Big Sky Conference record. 

Owen Smith, a senior from Billings, majored in Mechanical Engineering with a 3.75 GPA. Smith finished third in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at the Big Sky Championships to earn All-Big Sky honors and qualified for NCAA Regionals in the event, taking 27th. Smith climbed into the all-time top ten for the Cats in three different events during the outdoor season including the steeplechase, 5,000 meters, and 10,000 meters. 

Sam Ells, a junior from Kalispell, holds a 3.71 GPA in Mechanical Engineering. This season, Ells earned All-Big Sky honors and was also an All-Region selection in cross country after placing 24th at the NCAA Mountain Regional. On the track, Ells picked up an All-Big Sky honor with a third place finish in the 5,000 meters. 

#GoCatsGo 

SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga Volleyball Head Coach J.T. Wenger announced the signing of Danikah Johnson, an incoming redshirt sophomore and All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference Honorable Mention at Western Washington in 2024. Johnson, a former Mead High School graduate in Spokane, returns to her hometown and will join the Bulldogs this fall as they battle through the ranks in the West Coast Conference.
 
Danikah Johnson | RSo. | MB | Spokane, Wash. | Western Washington
Johnson signs with Gonzaga after a strong redshirt freshman season at Western Washington, where she earned All-GNAC Honorable Mention while leading the Vikings with a .285 hitting percentage and 1.07 blocks-per-set average. In limited action, Johnson finished second on the team with 48 total blocks, sixth in kills (84, 1.87 kills/set), adding 15 aces at the service stripe. She recorded a season-high 12 kills on three separate occasions, including in back-to-back wins over Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific, hitting .333 on the week with 14 total blocks on defense. The former WIAA All-State First Team selection and All-GSL First Team honoree will bolster the Bulldogs’ front row in 2025.
 
“I chose Gonzaga volleyball because of the competitive spirit, and the opportunity to be part of something bigger than myself!”
 
J.T. Wenger on Johnson: “We are excited to add Dani to the program! Her experience as a student-athlete will complement the program immediately,” Wenger said. “Her versatility as an attacker will be a fantastic asset and she has great lateral speed as a blocker. I’m excited for Dani to get on the gym and join the program!”
 

Grand Canyon track and field head coach Tom Flood agreed to a multi-year contract, keeping the Lopes’ founding architect at the helm of a program that he has led to 24 Division I conference championships and a Division II national title.   

Flood, set to enter his 16th GCU season in 2025–26, has built the Lopes into a perennial championship contender since launching the program in 2010. He is GCU’s second-longest tenured active head coach. 

“Coach Flood has established a standard of sustained excellence that has become synonymous with GCU track and field,” GCU Vice President of Athletics Jamie Boggs said. “He cares deeply about his student-athletes, the program and GCU, and you can see this in his results. We’re very thankful and excited to have Tom’s leadership guiding the program’s continued rise.” 

Under Flood, GCU has won 24 WAC team championships with him earning 26 WAC Coach of the Year honors. 

“I feel truly blessed, and I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity for the last 15 years to have started, built and developed a highly successful track and field program at GCU,” Flood said. “While I am very proud of all that this program has accomplished since 2010 — including a national title, two top-three national team finishes, 26 conference titles, 100-plus All-Americans — I feel that this program is just now hitting its stride.” 

Flood has overseen a program that has produced more than 220 individual conference champions and advanced 18 athletes to compete at NCAA Division I Championships. 

In 2025, GCU won individual championships in 14 events and claimed the WAC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships title. Lopes senior sprinter Justin Raines advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 200-meter dash, while senior teammate Cam Wilmington qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 400-meter hurdles. 

During the consistent championship success, some of the more impressive stretches of team dominance include streaks of seven consecutive WAC men’s indoor championships (2016-23), four consecutive WAC women’s indoor championships (2016-19), four consecutive men’s outdoor championships (2021-24) and three consecutive women’s outdoor championships (2018-21). 

Flood already has a spot in the GCU Hall of Fame as head coach of the 2012 NCAA Division II men’s indoor national champions, leading the program to that title in just its second season of existence. Flood and the team were inducted in February. 

“While I may not still be coaching for another 15 years, I’m really excited to direct, lead and be a part of the continued success and to watch the continued growth of both the track and field program and GCU,” Flood said. 

Flood’s coaching reputation has been recognized on the national and world stage with a selection to coach USA Track and Field sprinters and hurdlers at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Serbia. 

Flood began his coaching career at Colorado State and previously trained elite sprinters and hurdlers in Arizona. A former Arizona State jumper, he remains deeply rooted in the Phoenix community and aligns with GCU’s mission.

 

GREENWOOD, Ind. – Ten members of the St. Olaf College men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams were named to the 2025 Academic All-District ® Men’s and Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators (CSC), as announced on Tuesday.

Recent graduates Sophie Abernethy ’25 and Alison Bode ’25 and rising seniors Ashlyn Jore, Grace Moeller, and Isabel Wyatt represented St. Olaf on the women’s list, while rising junior Max Albertson, rising senior Gael Manzur Strandlund, rising senior Lance Nemecek, recent graduate Andrew Skemp ’25, and rising senior Kevin Turlington did so on the men’s list. The Academic All-District ® Teams recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined athletic and academic accomplishments.

In order to be recognized, student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically and must carry a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50. Nominees must also have either finished in the top 50 at the 2024 NCAA regional competition in cross country or hold a top-50 regional ranking in a single event in track and field (indoor or outdoor).

Skemp and Bode both earned their third consecutive Academic All-District ® accolade, while Abernethy, Moeller, Turlington, and Wyatt collected their second. Albertson, Jore, Manzur Strandlund, and Nemecek were all first-time honorees.

Bode, Skemp, Turlington, and Wyatt advanced to the CSC Academic All-America ® ballot, with first-, second-, and third-team Academic All-America ® honorees set to be announced on July 15 (women) and July 16 (men).