Transferable skills

Penn State volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley has experienced more in the past 12 months than some people do in a lifetime.

She’s faced highs and lows that inspired the nation. Schumacher-Cawley was diagnosed with breast cancer in September. Despite her battle, she remained on the sidelines and guided PSU to its best season in a decade.

The Nittany Lions won the 2024 national championship, defeating Louisville in four sets (25-23, 32-34, 25-20, 25-17) and claiming their eight crown. It was a remarkable accomplishment for Schumacher-Cawley, returning to her home program and delivering the first title since 2014.

On Wednesday, Schumacher-Cawley received an award that transcends volleyball and a national championship.

At the 2025 ESPYS, Schumacher-Cawley was named the recipient of the 2025 Jimmy V Perseverance Award following her battle with breast cancer. 

“I’m beyond humbled and truly grateful for this moment,” Schumacher-Cawley said after receiving the award. “This past year has been one I could have never imagined. It’s been filled with challenges, grit, tears, but also with perspective, purpose, and unbelievable love.”

Schumacher-Cawley rang the bell on February 10 after six rounds of chemo and a near six-month battle, officially being declared cancer free. 

“Well, we did it! Six rounds of chemo — done! Today, I rang the bell, marking the end of this chapter,” Schumacher-Cawley said on Instagram. “What a journey it has been. There are truly no words to express how deeply grateful I am for the unwavering support from every corner of my life.”

“Cancer changed my life, but it didn’t take it,” she said. “It didn’t take my belief, it didn’t take my spirit, and it didn’t take my team.” 

Schumacher-Cawley thanked her family in State College, Chicago, and Pittsburgh for their support, including her husband and children. 

“You’ve been my rock and my strength,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “You showed up in every moment, even the hard ones, with love, humor, and unwavering support.”

She also thanked her doctors at UPenn and Mount Nittany Medical. 

“The medical professionals who help so many of us are such heroes,” Schumacher-Cawley said.

She started her speech in a lighter note, thanking ESPN and highlighting Penn State football legend Saquon Barkley. 

“Thank you to ESPN and the ESPYS for having me.” Schumacher-Cawley said. “Congratulations to all of tonight’s winners, especially my guy Saquon. Fly Eagles (Fly). Penn Stater! Let’s go. I know, I’m sitting here with some Ohio State guys. That’s alright. I have love for you.”

Members of the Penn State volleyball team accompanied Schumacher-Cawley to Los Angeles and the ESPY awards and were shown in the upper galley during her award speech.

“Thank you to my team and my former players,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “You inspired me everyday to keep fighting and reminded me what it means to be part of something bigger than yourself. That jersey we wear means everything and the bond we share is unbreakable.”

She concluded by thanking the Jimmy V foundation and saying she will fight with Dylan, a Make A Wish child she met this week that has a fight ahead of him. She also mentioned her late father. 

“I share this with everyone who’s ever faced this disease,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “The survivors, those still fighting, and with the ones that we’ve lost, especially my dad. This one’s for you. Keep showing up, keep believing, and please never, ever give up.”

The Nittany Lions begin their title defense in Lincoln, Nebraska. Penn State opens the 2025 season at Creighton on August 23 at AVCA First Serve. 

PSU will play Arizona State and TCU in Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena from August 31-September 1. The first match inside Rec Hall is on September 5 against the Kentucky Wildcats in the 2025 Penn State Invitational.

The Monache Athletic Hall of Fame Committee needs the help of the community of Porterville to find contact information for Monache Central Section Valley Championship teams who haven’t yet been inducted into the hall of fame.

Only Valley championship teams are eligible to be inducted into the hall. The following Valley championship teams have been inducted into the Hall:

1978 Wrestling, coach Drew Williams; 1991 Baseball, coach Paul Begin; 1996 girls water polo, coach Hal Hevener; 1997 girls basketball, coach Tom Fiormonti.

The committee has the contact info for the following Valley championship teams to be inducted in the future: 2004 girls water polo and 2008 boys water polo, coach Brandon Weaver; 2005 and 2008 boys water polo, coach Brandon Weaver; 2012 and 2017 softball, coach Dave Koontz.

Information is needed on the following teams to be inducted in the hall in the future: 2011 and 2012 girls basketball; 2014 and 2017 girls cross country and 2017 boys cross country.

Those who know who coached these teams can help the committee. Those who have information, even if it’s just the name of the coach, can email Drew Williams, captainandrew440@icloud.com Those who were members of those teams are asked to email their name, what team they were on, their email address and phone number, email all that information to Williams.

Those who have any contact information on teammates who played on these teams are asked to contact them and send their contact information to Williams, the committee chairman, at his email address.

INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES

The committee has been working with a list that was created by all the coaches who were coaching at Monache in 1997. A list of about 80 potential candidates were gathered and contact information was obtained. Names were collected from the first graduating class in 1971 to 1997. A handful of candidates have from 1997-2000 have been added.

The dilemma is a lack of candidates from 2000 to 2024. The committee is reaching out to the community of Porterville and social media for prospective hall candidates so then can be emailed with a questionnaire to be filled out and returned to the committee for screening and possible induction.

Those who know past Monache athletes they think are potential hall candidates should send their name, year of graduate, sport or sports and contact information to Williams. A name without contact information is of no value.

Of the 28 athletes who have been inducted into the hall, 20 continued their athletic participation at the next level. Inductees include former Major Leaguer Rance Mulliniks, two-time Olympian Tim Vanni and the majority of inductees had successful collegiate careers.

Eight of the inductees were selected on the basis of multi-sport participation and excelling at a high level in the post-season which include all-league, MVP, all-Valley, individual Valley champion, state qualifier, state placer and Double M Award winner honors.

Screening of candidates is based on a point system with points awarded for the level of competition each year, freshmen, junior varsity, varsity and the number of sports and the number of years of participation.

Bonus points are awarded for special awards for both teams and individuals. Additional points are awarded to athletes who participated beyond the high school level. The reason for adopting a point system for screening was to make the process more objective.

Only varsity coaches are eligible for the hall. They’re screened based on the number of sports they coached, the number of years they coached and the number of championship teams they coached.

July 17 (UPI) — Barstool Sports, a blog, pop-culture and digital multimedia company, is joining forces with FOX Sports to share content.

A press release from Fox said the “wide-ranging collaboration” will boost coverage around college football, college basketball and other FOX Sports properties, including unique content with a new daily studio show on FS1.

“We’re excited to welcome Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports to the FOX Sports family,” said Eric Shanks, CEO and executive producer of FOX Sports. “Dave has built a one-of-a-kind brand that connects with a new generation of sports fans — authentic, bold, and original. Their unique voice and loyal fanbase makes them a natural fit for our evolving multiplatform content strategy.”

Barstool is owned and was founded by Portnoy, a controversial personality.

“Everybody at Barstool is super excited to partner with the FOX Sports Family,” Portnoy said. “In our two-decade history, we’ve never had the chance to work with so much talent and resources. We can’t wait to collab and bring our voice to FOX Sports’ airwaves. See ya soon in Columbus.”

The press release said Portnoy will appear on college football pregame show Big Noon Kickoff. There will also be a new weekly show, The Barstool College Football Show.

Portnoy announced in a tweet: “Emergency Press Conference — Barstool Sports is Proud to announce a new wide ranging partnership with Fox Sports. This is the 1st time in our illustrious and notorious history that we’ve got a Tv partner we believe in and believes in us. I can’t wait to see what we create together.”

Barstool started in Boston in 2003 as a free print publication and has built its brand on bros. It’s often been accused of fostering a misogynistic culture. Portnoy’s strong social media following has helped skyrocket the popularity of the brand.

Barstool Sports also will contribute to FOX Sports’ college basketball coverage, including the College Basketball Crown — a postseason tournament launched by the network in April 2025, the press release said.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri track & field’s Kristi Perez-Snyman and Callan Saldutto were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Second Team, the organization announced on Wednesday. 

Perez-Snyman capped off her academic career with a 3.96 grade point average, while obtaining a master’s in natural resources. Saldutto notched a perfect 4.00 GPA, graduating with a master’s in accountancy. The pair finished the outdoor season in sixth place in women’s high jump after leaping 1.87m (6-1.5) and third place in men’s javelin with a throw of 76.88m (252-3), respectively.

Saldutto is the third Tiger on the men’s side to be named to a CSC Academic All-American and first since Tyler Dailey in 2007. On the women’s side, Perez-Snyman’s honor is the 13th in program history and first since Karissa Schweizer in 2018. 

Seven student-athletes were recognized as Academic All-District sections. The women’s team was represented by Rahel Broemmel (general studies), Claudina Diaz (master of science in natural resources), Reagan Kimrey (health science), Nicole Louw (educational studies) and Perez-Snyman. On the men’s side, Saldutto and Sterling Scott (health science) were recognized for their academic efforts.

The Academic All-America recognitions honor student-athletes for their combined achievements in athletic competition and academic performance. Selections are made across four divisions: NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, and NAIA.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS

For all the latest on Mizzou Cross Country and Track & Field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the teams on Facebook, Instagram and X (MizzouTFXC).

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Drake volleyball program has finalized its schedule for the 2025 season. The Bulldogs’ slate features four non-conference tournaments, a Blue and White Scrimmage, one exhibition, and eight tilts from the Knapp Center.

The Bulldogs will hold the Blue and White Scrimmage on August 20 with a time still to be determined. Drake will then take to the court on August 23 for an exhibition from Ames, Iowa against in-state foe Iowa State.

The regular season officially begins on August 29 with the WKU Invitational hosted by Western Kentucky. Other institutions partaking in the tournament include Wright State, and Loyola-Chicago.

The following week the Bulldogs head to Florida for the 305 Challenge, hosted by Miami (FL), which begins on September 4.

The third non-conference tournament the Bulldogs will play in is the Husker Invitational from Lincoln, Nebraska beginning on Sept. 12. Drake will then close out the non-conference slate with the South Dakota Classic starting on Sept. 18.

Missouri Valley Conference play begins with a pair of road contests for Drake. The Bulldogs first head to Valparaiso (9/26) and then travel to Chicago the following day to challenge UIC (9/27).

The month of September closes with the home opener from the Knapp Center. The Bulldogs will look forward to hosting in-state rival UNI on September 30.

October begins with three consecutive contests from Des Moines with the Bulldogs set to host Murray State (10/3), Bradley (10/10), and Evansville (10/11).

Following road tilts at Illinois State on Oct. 17 and Bradley on Oct. 18, Drake returns to Des Moines for back-to-back home matches versus Indiana State (10/24) and a rematch with the Redbirds (10/25).

Drake closes out the month of October with road trip to Southern Illinois (10/30) and starts November with a home match versus the Belmont Bruins (11/1). Drake then will make the trek to the eastern part of the state for a rematch with UNI (11/4) before returning home for the final home contest versus UIC (11/8).

The regular season concludes with the Bulldogs going on a road trip to Evansville on November 14 and Indiana State on November 15.

The entire schedule for the Drake volleyball program can be found at the link provided.