We have a playoff thriller at Naperville North High School as Neuqua Valley and Hinsdale Central clash in the quarterfinals of the boys water polo sectionals. Neuqua head coach Chad Ganden recently earned win number 250 as a water polo head coach. There’s no time to waste, so let’s get right into the battlefield. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.

Declan Pucaz strikes early for Neuqua

Neuqua Valley is up 1-0 and now they’re up 2-0 as Declan Pucaz scores following the dry pass.

3-0 Wildcats, but the Red Devils get on the board with a goal from Jack Driscoll.

Each team keeps trading goals, and it’s Driscoll tallying another one for Hinsdale Central to tie the game at 4.

Here comes Neuqua Valley and Pucaz, who makes his unstoppable presence felt by adding another goal as he scores five in the contest.

Don’t forget Mario Valente. He gets the pass and just puts in for the goal, and the senior also tallies five goals as the Wildcats grow their lead to 8-5.

Hinsdale climbs back in it

Hinsdale Central is not going down without a fight. Bogden Ivkovic targets the left side of the net to make it a two-goal game.

Jack Driscoll leads the Red Devils with four goals, including two in the fourth quarter to keep things tight trailing 10-8.

However, the Wildcats keep their foot on the gas. As they work the ball around, Valente seizes an opportunity, finding the back of the net.

Neuqua Valley holds on and moves on in the boys water polo sectional

Late in the game, Alex Melone lasers in the knockout punch to secure a 12-10 win for Neuqua Valley. The Wildcats are moving on to the sectional semifinals, where they’ll face top-seeded Naperville North.

For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page.

Alternate broadcasts have become incredibly popular across various sports, and the latest is The Athletes’ Lounge from FloSports.

The Athletes’ Lounge will feature famed Olympians Matthew Centrowitz Jr., Trey Hardee, English Gardner, and others, joined by FloTrack personalities Demitra Carter and Nia Gibson, for 10 Wanda Diamond League track and field broadcasts this year. The first one is Friday at 11:15 a.m. ET for the Doha Diamond League event from Qatar.

It’s part of FloTrack’s inaugural slate of Diamond League coverage following a deal they struck for rights last year. The debut show on Friday will be free to all on YouTube and FloTrack’s platforms.

‘You get this rush of adrenaline’

Hardee, a famed American decathlete who won silver at the 2012 London Olympics and has worked on NBC Sports’ track and field coverage, helped create this concept, The Athletes’ Lounge. He spoke to Awful Announcing about it this week and said he envisioned this as a way to bring the excitement of an in-person track meet to viewers.

“The challenge for this product, and I think people have a hard time separating the sport from the product, is that when it’s on TV, it’s a product and it’s consumed and it is a very difficult sport to convert into this TV audience.

“When you’re at a track meet, it is so much fun because there’s always something going on. Your eyes can go just jump from thing to thing to thing. And really about every four to five minutes, you get this rush of adrenaline because there’s like quiet for a race or an event or something of great consequence.”

For Hardee, that excitement doesn’t translate during more conventional track and field broadcasts.

“The most fun that I’ve had watching, whether it be programming on television or any kind of digital media, FloSports or wherever it is, is not even close to the experience that you have when you’re there. You are on-site, in-person, sitting next to your buddies, talking about ‘Oh, look at this, look at that, did you hear about this?’

“And you’re talking about the relevant stories to the athlete, and you’re not caught up in the ‘Oh, we’ll be back in three minutes after this commercial break’ kind of thing. There’s not a bunch of vignettes, and then not a bunch of ‘We’re going to force these stories down your throat so that you love this athlete.’”

‘Mystery Science Theater 3000 with a track meet’

The Athletes’ Lounge has been in the works for a long time. Hardee said he’d been toying with the idea for almost 10 years.

“This story goes back almost a decade. When I first started to work for NBC, [producer] Rob Hyland asked, ‘How could we be doing this differently?’ And that was kind of where I where I was coming from, but it didn’t have legs. It didn’t have a format or anything like that. And then a couple of years went by, and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, okay.’

“I had retired, and was just thinking ‘It would be fantastic to do Mystery Science Theater 3000 with a track meet.’ You could have sports personalities and track and field stars.

“We know what’s going on, we’re watching it on TV, we’re watching the screen, we can see the race unfolding. But keep telling that story that we want to hear about from 2016 in Rio when the cab driver drove you down into the favela. Keep us in with that, and we can all just watch this track meet together.”

But this really fleshed out further for Hardee after he saw altcasts‘ popularity explode following the launch of ESPN and Omaha Productions’ Monday Night Football ManningCast in 2021.

“It wasn’t that long ago that the ManningCast premiered, and it was exactly this kind of long-form podcast,” Hardee said. “We’re all watching this football game, and whenever something cool happens, either Peyton or Eli just interrupts and just says, ‘Hey, you see what they did right there? I hate when they do that.’

“Or ‘That was beautiful. Nobody noticed it, but look at this: I remember my center used to do the same thing,’ or ‘I remember when Edgerrin James used to do this.’  That, to me, not only is it different, but for the athlete, that’s who I want to watch the game with.’ And so that’s where this idea came from.”

‘It’s invaluable to have those types of perspectives.’

What’s that going to look like? Hardee said the format provides opportunities for deeper dives, such as a recent preparatory one he did on star pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis.

“I think we can just afford to be pretty inventive. Just the other day I had a three- or four- minute breakdown of ‘What makes Mondo Duplantis so good?’ On no television show would you have that much time to do that.”

But beyond a feature like that, The Athletes’ Lounge will then feature athletes from different events discussing it and sharing their unique perspectives.

“Then I go and I sit back down and I’m still explaining that same thing to Matt Centrowitz, an Olympic gold medalist in the 1500m, and he’s still saying stuff that everybody’s thinking, stuff that I don’t really think about because I’m in it so much,” Hardee said. “I think they come with a unique ability to ask the right questions.

“It’s the same way I would be talking to a marathoner about their preparation: I think I kind of know how you would build it up, but I really have no idea. And so it’s invaluable to have those types of perspectives in the conversation and as a part of the show, because it kind of keeps us honest and keeps us from being too inside baseball.”

The ManningCast, in particular, is often notable for its guests, and Hardee said that’s another element The Athletes’ Lounge will focus on.

“What I’m really, really excited about is we have just full liberty to invite whoever we want on the show as a guest, whether it’s an American record holder in the women’s discus or the best shot putter who’s ever lived or the fastest man in the world last year or literally anybody. Anyone that wants to come on the show is going to come on the show.

“And we’re going to get to hear about what it was like when they were competing or breaking records, or what they see in the sport, or what they’re seeing in at the meet and so. We’ve got all of the Diamond League events at our disposal, and we’ve got a pretty blank slate in terms of a format to be able to pull people in and just talk to interesting people, talk to people that you want to know more about.”

‘I have at least enough information to be dangerous.’

Hardee said his background as a decathlete has given him at least a base level of knowledge of many events.

“I have at least enough information to be dangerous. I’m not quite at the top of the Dunning-Kruger bell curve. I don’t think I know everything, but I can at least have the conversation with the people who do know. I can understand what it means.”

He thinks that a wide background of knowledge has been key to his track broadcasting career to date.

“It definitely helps, it immensely helps. I think it’s the only reason I kind of got into this to begin with, and probably the only reason I’m still in it is just that baseline knowledge of multiple events.”

Friday’s debut of The Athletes Lounge marks the fruition of Hardee’s idea, which he first had a decade ago. He’s thrilled with how it’s turned out and optimistic about what it could mean as a different approach to track broadcasting.

“I think this is going to be the best show on FloSports, I really do. I think this is going to be the coolest, best, most interesting way to present our sport that is out there. It feels like we got a very rare opportunity to have both just media partners that can that are just handing all of the content, and then a company and platform that is willing to do this. It just feels like all the things are aligning here to do something really special.”

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State volleyball head coach Chuck Voss announced the addition of Matilda Dahlstrom (Malmo, Sweden) to the 2025 roster, as the outside hitter will join the Vikings with one year of eligibility remaining.
 
Dahlstrom comes to Cleveland State after spending the 2024 campaign at Eastern Illinois, where she appeared in 25 matches as an outside hitter for the Panthers. On the season, Dahlstrom averaged 2.07 kills per set, while also combining for 43 blocks and a team-best 21 service aces.
 
Prior to Eastern Illinois, Dahlstrom spent two years at Hillsborough Community College, earning Honorable Mention All-American honors along with All-Region and All-Conference accolades. As a sophomore, Dahlstrom led the NJCAA averaging 4.72 kills per set, while ranking fourth in the nation with 515 total kills on the year.
 
Dahlstrom played her club volleyball for Svedala, while also being part of the U20 Silver Swedish Championship team and U23 Bronze Swedish Championship team. In addition, she was part of the youth national team that captured Youth Gran Prix Silver and Silver NEVZA Swedish.

Sixteen chamber singers from Scottsdale Preparatory Academy, a Great Hearts Academy, received valuable experience Wednesday before next week’s final exams.

The group visited the Grand Canyon University Recording Studio and took advantage of its numerous facilities.

“In a word, professional,” Robin Nealy, Scottsdale Prep choir director, said of his students’ experience. “This is what takes them up a level, from high school choir to feeling like they are leaning into professionalism with their choral performances and their choral experience in general.”

The students learned every facet of the recording studio and performed as a choir, mixed in with solo acts for songs that included hits by Diana Ross and the Spice Girls.

“If you catch them in between (sets), you’ll see some of them start dancing,” Nealy said. “They’re so excited they can’t even keep their feet still. This experience is not only a momentary bringer of joy for them, but this is a lifelong memory that they cherish and look forward to and celebrate and want to show all their friends and family what they’ve accomplished.”

Nealy became inspired last year to get a recording for his students, so he sent feelers via social media. It helped that Nealy conducted a choir performance for five years at the Chandler Children’s Choir under executive director Aimee Stewart, who then recommended contacting GCU Recording Studio Manager Eric Johnson.

“It was one of the factors that got me interested in auditioning for choir and joining the choir, because I saw that last year, they had been able to record at GCU, and I thought that was just really cool and such a huge experience,” said Nila Kumara, a sophomore who has played piano for 12 years.

“In the future, I’ll be continuing music and doing as much as I can to stay involved.”

When Johnson wasn’t operating the studio equipment, he paused to interject positive feedback to the students.

The GCU recording studio experience was near the top moments of Sonja Blake’s time at Scottsdale Prep.

“It’s been so awesome, getting to be in the studio with all my friends, and getting to do this music and really tune into aspects I never heard before,” said Blake, who plans to study piano performance at the University of Arizona next fall. “I didn’t realize how fine-tuned everything was.”

Nealy believes this experience at GCU will give his underclassmen a positive vibe to the end of the school year, as well as “the momentum that we carry from this helps build the program for years to come.”

GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]

***

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Sweet Briar College is proud to announce the return of volleyball for the 2025 season. The program will bring the College’s varsity sport offerings to 12 with Alejandro “AJ” Escobar, Jr. named head coach of the team.

Sweet Briar previously offered volleyball as a varsity sport from 1994-2010 and saw success on the court with three student-athletes named to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) All-Conference Team in 1995, 2001 and 2002. The Vixens will compete as an independent during the 2025 season before petitioning to join the ODAC in 2026.

“At Sweet Briar, we believe in turning challenges into opportunities,” said President Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83. “We are heartbroken for the St. Andrews community following the announcement of the University’s closing, but we are proud to be a teach-out partner and a place of hope and continuity for their young women who will transfer to Sweet Briar. Welcoming Coach Escobar and these students will strengthen our community and marks an exciting chapter in Vixen Athletics. Adding volleyball as one of our sports reflects Sweet Briar’s commitment to providing bold women with opportunities to lead, compete, and thrive.”

Escobar comes to Sweet Briar from St. Andrews University, and brings with him some of the university’s women’s volleyball team roster following the announcement of St. Andrews’ closure on May 5. Escobar gained coaching experience at Miami United Volleyball Club in Florida, Terra Environmental Research Institute, a high school in Miami that earned a district championship win, followed by his appointment at St. Andrews as coach to both the men’s and women’s volleyball teams. Escobar played volleyball at St. Andrews as a student.

“I am so grateful for what President Hutson has provided to me, especially after the unexpected closure of my alma mater,” said Coach Escobar. “I cannot wait to continue developing what I started at St. Andrews and to support women’s athletics at Sweet Briar College.”

You can find Vixens Volleyball on X (formerly Twitter) @SweetBriarVB and on Instagram @sbc_vball.

Visit sbc.edu/apply for more information for high school seniors interested in playing volleyball at Sweet Briar College beginning this coming academic year. 

MARTIN, Tenn. – The spring 2025 semester will go down as the best in the University of Tennessee at Martin athletic department’s academic history as the Skyhawks smashed records across the board.
              
UT Martin accounted for a 3.37 Grade Point Average, 290 Athletic Director’s Honor Roll recipients (at least a 3.0 GPA) and 94 Skyhawks with a flawless 4.0 GPA. Each of those three totals are the new benchmark in department history as this is the 11^th consecutive semester that UT Martin student-athletes have produced at least a 3.20 GPA.
              
Since the AD Honor Roll program was initiated prior to the 2019-20 academic year, 3,101 Skyhawks have dialed up a spot on that prestigious list. The spring 2025 semester topped the previous record of 287 set during the fall 2024 semester.
              
UT Martin’s 3.37 Grade Point Average this spring bested the previous mark of 3.33 in both the fall 2024 and spring 2022 semesters. The 94 student-athletes with an unblemished 4.0 GPA was a massive improvement over the previous mark of 73, set in the fall 2024 term.
              
The Skyhawk equestrian program was responsible for the most student-athletes (14) with a perfect 4.0 GPA, followed by softball (13) and soccer (12). The softball team landed a whopping 68 percent of its roster on the 4.0 GPA list while UT Martin’s volleyball/beach volleyball and soccer programs each produced 43 percent of its rosters on the 4.0 GPA list. Overall, 17 of the Skyhawks’ 18 teams tallied at least one 4.0 GPA student-athlete.
              
The UT Martin football program had the most AD Honor Roll recipients (54), followed by equestrian (37) and rodeo (27). Both the Skyhawk equestrian and softball teams placed a remarkable 95 percent of their rosters on the AD Honor Roll while volleyball/beach volleyball reported 90 percent of their roster with at least 3.0 GPA’s. Overall, 17 of UT Martin’s 18 teams put at least 63 percent of their rosters on the AD Honor Roll list.
              
All but one Skyhawk sports program generated at least a 3.15 GPA in the spring 2025 semester as the lone remaining team accumulated a 2.93 GPA. The UT Martin softball team came through with the highest GPA (3.81) while equestrian (3.63), volleyball/beach volleyball (3.62), soccer (3.57) and golf (3.47) rounded out the top-five sport GPA’s.
              
Below is a list of Skyhawk AD Honor Roll recipients for the spring 2025 semester, sorted by sport. Those student-athletes with an asterisk recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA.
 
Football (54): Thomas Ansley*, Mitchell Appleton*, Bryce Bailey, Tah Mac Bright Banda, Jase Bauer, Keaton Brown, Julian Calvez, Anthony Carter, Joel Castleberry, Duston Chavis, Kaleb Costner, Tanner Crandall, Bryce Dailey, Jabaree Dawkins, Na’Drian Dizadare, Tyler Dostin, Christian Dowell, Dolapo Egunjobi, John Gentry, Javion Goins, Quincy Hamilton, Jai’Lun Hampton, Lanard Harris, Jayden House, Desmon James, Hayden King, Connon Littlefield, Aidan Maddox*, Ethan Maddox*, Burke Mickelsen, Jeff Miller, Nate Moak, Conner Mooney, Doug Newsome*, Alex Nolen, Colton Peoples, Sawyer Phipps, LaMarion Pierce, Keyshaun Pipkin, Stefan Ponder, George Psychoularis, Preston Puni*, Rashad Raymond, Chris Rhodes, AJ Robinson, Jr., Garrett Smith, Patrick Smith*,  Andrew Smithberger, Christian Stapleton, Jacob Stevenson, Drake Tabor, Josiah Tingley*, Cason Totten, Corey Yeoman
 
Equestrian (37): Gabby Adams, Lexi Bailey*, Reese Barrett, Annie Batsche, Elizabeth Becker*, Audrey Blase*, Stevie Brown, Payton Bundy, Claire Carpenter*, Kate Davis, Shelby Davis, Kathleen DeGenova, Sam Elliott, Riley Francis, Ruby Gunderson*, Riley Hayes, Lydia Jordan, Tess Kjellberg*, Lillian Laney*, Payton Lussen*, Emerson Maier, Aubrey Malone*, Brianna Marks*, Elise Mason, Mia McAfoos, Kate Mills, Audrey Morris, Ava Newsom*, Logan Putvinski*, Marley Rizzi, Madison Snyder, Zadie Stack*, Abby Tibbits, Bridget Vieau, Rileigh Weiss*, Ellie Wilburn, Olivia Wynn
 
Rodeo (27): Bentley Anthony, Rylan Austin, Noah Beshears, Shae Clever, Caleb Dunn, Riley Gossett, Garrett Houin, Lainey Hutchison, Shelby Kemper, Owen Larrick, Weston Lewis, Jordyn Litton, Josie Luttrell, Brooke Martin, Allie Maxwell*, Savannah Moran*, Tate Ondrik, Caysen Orman*, Leah Pitts, Canton Prentice*, Allie Sherman*, Seth Simpson, Cooper Stone, Drew Thomas, Rylee Wells, Anna Wilder, Kyndall Woltz
 
Baseball (24): Garner Anderson, Brock Arender, Jeb Bartle, Kaleb Baskin, Blaze Bell, Brody Capps, Houston Clark, Rett Edwards, Jalen Fithian, Gates Gerhart*, TJ Grines*, J. Henry Hobson, Silas Jones, Aidan Karns, Brandon King*, Tommy Koch*, Quin Long*, Frank Micallef, JP Nunn, Kevin Okins*, Shawn Perez*, Mason Shropshire, Jacob Sitton, Quincy Thornton
 
Soccer (23): Shayla Addington*, Allie Buchmann, Maren Cain*, Peyton Cook, Molly Corgan, Audrey Fuchs*, Parker Gelinas*, Ava Huntrods, Anna Østergaard Ibsen*, Brooke Kala*, Gretchen Marek, Abbie McHenry, Lorena Montesano, Caroline Moore*, Blanca Negrete, Izzy Patterson*, Millie Perry*, Nyeemah Prescod-Beckles, Makayla Robinson*, Ella Rucka, Joelle Stinson, Daksha Sutharshan*, Unni Wolf*
 
Volleyball/Beach Volleyball (19): Kayla Bryant, Sydney Eckhardt, Abby Freund*,  Maddy Gladson, Hannah Haislip*, Zara McCauley, Reagan McGee*, Dylan Mott*, Olivia O’Keefe, Makaelah Paulino, Kristin Phillips, Ryan Rednour*, MC Rehm, Riley Rushing*, Mia Saenz*, Dylan Sulcer*, Kylie Surratt, Amara Traiger*, Jenna Vallée
 
Softball (18): Kennedy Brown*, Kyrsten Brown*, Elly Eckrich*, Joleanna Fox, Ashtyn Green*, Kyla Harley*, Payton Harris*, Jordyn Hustey, Natalie Kreuziger, Avary Makarewicz*, Kaylin Reeves, Addie Roberts*, Alli Robinson*, Josie Sanders*, Ava Scott, Dylan Scott*, Rylee Tittle*, Carly Ward*
 
STUNT (17): Claudia Colston, Ellen Colston, Livia Comuzie, CeCelia Dollison, Emily Hartley, Natalie King*, Tembreanna Mahan, Emmy Melton, Mayce Mitchell, Ashley Myles, Kacey Reedy, Calli Beth Schlick, Braylee Smith, Ti’Aisia Taite, Emily Wilcher, Emily Wood, Ali Workman
 
Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field (17): Cam’ron Bonds, Tristen Bough*, Ethan Brinkley, Ridge Bruce, Maluke Cluver, Keagan Enicks*, Luke Johnson*, Ethan Knight, Marques Marshall II, Brady Millikin*, Angus Monro, Christian Patterson, Ben Ruscoe, Braxton Sharp, Sam Shuman, Samir Smith, David Stukey
 
Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field (13): Gabby Brown*, Janay Chapman*, Rita Eimer*, Alaina Gordon*, Holly Henderson, Abbie Lloyd, Kaitlyn Loyet, Bethany Mayers, Morgan Mitchell, Danielle Mudd*, Eliana Oquendo*, Maggie Roy, Lauren Sedberry, Reese Settle, Meg Wiginton*, JayleAna Wyatt
 
Women’s Basketball (13): Morgan Borgstadt, Anaya Brown, Norah Clark, Tia Hymon*, Mauryah Jones, Mikayla Lambert*, Shae Littleford*, Kaitlyn McCarn, Kenley McCarn*, Lexi Rubel*, Taylor Scohy*, Sophie Singleton, Abby Stephens
 
Men’s Basketball (12): Andrija Bukumirović*, Carlos Cortijo, Stefano Faloppa, Tarence Guinyard, AJ Hopkins, Lamine Niang, Filip Radaković*, Vladimer Salaridze, Afan Trnka, Damjan Vukčević*, Lucas Williams, Matija Žužić*
 
Golf (8): Luke Beadles, Luke Caldwell, Jaden Morrell, Grant Phillips, Jackson Twerdahl*, Drew Williams*, John-Gregory Wilson, Jonathan Xoinis*
 
Rifle (5): Aubrey Chenoweth, Rachel Haines*, Joey Kovach, Sadie Palfrey*, Alayna Walther