Sports

Bobcats Set for Big Sky Outdoor Championships

Published

8 months ago

May 13, 2025

BOZEMAN, Mont. — It all comes down to this.

The Montana State track and field team travels to Sacramento, California, this week for the 2025 Big Sky Outdoor Track & Field Championships, beginning Wednesday and continuing through Saturday at Hornet Stadium.

The entire meet will be streamed on ESPN+. Access to the meet schedule, live results, heat sheets, and more can be found here on the championship central webpage.

Action in the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon begins on Wednesday and Thursday, with prelims and finals in all other events contested on Friday and Saturday.

“The teams are both confident based on their training, past success, and the quality outdoor season we have put together up until this point,” head coach Lyle Weese said. “They are really close and invested in a common goal which really raises their level of confidence and provides motivation to perform well for the team.”

Last season, the Bobcat men won their first outdoor Big Sky championship since 2005, upsetting No. 11. Northern Arizona by a score of 186-185 in Bozeman.

Yet, it’s perhaps the Montana State women that enter this week in Sacramento with a better chance at the trophy looking for their first championship since 2003. Armed with the best team the Cats have ever assembled, MSU is primed to give traditional power Northern Arizona a run for their money.

Montana State’s women have set an astounding nine school records this season: 200 meters (Peyton Garrison), 1,500 meters (Kyla Christopher-Moody), 5,000 meters (Kyla Christopher-Moody), 3,000 meter steeplechase (Grace Gilbreth), long jump (Hailey Coey), shot put (Sydney Brewster), discus (Emma Brensdal), 4×100 meter relay (Reuter, Garrison, VanDyken, Wolff), and 4×400 meter relay (VanDyken, Garrison, Gandolfi, Hawkes).

It’ll be a challenging week as both Lumberjack teams enter Sacramento as favorites after winning the team titles at the indoor championships on their home track in Flagstaff.

However, the Bobcats are traditionally a better outdoor team with the addition of events such as the javelin, 400 meter hurdles, and steeplechase, among others.

Prior to last May when the Bobcat men pulled the upset, Northern Arizona had won three Big Sky outdoor titles in a row–even with last year’s loss, NAU has won 12 of the last 17 Big Sky titles dating back to 2007.

The Lumberjack women have won four consecutive outdoor championships and seven of the last eight.

On the women’s side, USTFCCCA’s most recent Conference Rating Index has NAU in the top spot at 1,218 and MSU in the second slot at 1,149. Idaho State is the next-closest school in third at 711. On the men’s side, NAU is first at 1,370, MSU is second at 1,001, and Montana is third at 731.

In the latest USTFCCCA Mountain Region Rankings, Montana State’s men were ranked No. 7 and Northern Arizona was ranked No. 5.

On the women’s side, Montana State was ranked No. 4 and Northern Arizona was ranked No. 3.

“We need to keep doing what we have been doing,” Weese said. “Don’t try to change things up. Just stay in our typical process, but stay on the gas pedal. It will be a balance between being aggressive while not trying to do anything out of character.”

Here are some things to keep an eye on this week in Sacramento:

MULTI’S KICK IT OFF

The duo of Nicola Paletti and Mathias Mees will aim to replicate their 1-2 finish in Flagstaff and get the Bobcats off on the right foot competing in the decathlon on Wednesday and Thursday. Paletti has won three straight conference titles in the multis, earning the crown in the heptathlon at the 2024 and 2025 indoor meets and winning on his home track last May in the decathlon at the 2025 outdoor meet. The second-year Bobcat from Bolzano, Italy, is in rare air in Montana State history—he’s currently tied with 2024 Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Mohl with three Big Sky titles in the multis. One more gold medal would give him the most in program history. Mees, a native of Belgium, earned silver behind Paletti in the heptathlon three months ago and is favored to repeat. On the women’s side, a lot will fall on the shoulders of freshman Hailey Ells with three-time All-Big Sky performer and Second Team All-American Shelby Schweyen out with an injury. Ells will be competing in her first outdoor heptathlon.

POLE VAULT POINTS

Montana State has reigned at the top of the Big Sky in the pole vault in recent years, punctuated by a sweep of the podium on the men’s side in Flagstaff. Colby Wilson enters his final outdoor conference championships looking for his fifth Big Sky title. The redshirt senior from Olympia, Washington, is a three-time NCAA Championships qualifier, holds the Big Sky championship meet records both indoors and outdoors, and was named 2025 Big Sky Most Outstanding Performer at the indoor conference meet. Jordan Lasher, a freshman from Yelm, Washington, earned a silver medal in February and will aim to replicate that feat with bronze medalist and teammate Bob Hartley out of the running while redshirting this outdoor season. On the women’s side, three Bobcats enter this week ranked in the top-six led by Megan Bell, a freshman who is at the top of the conference this season after clearing 13-08.25 on Friday in Bozeman at the Tom Gage Classic to earn Big Sky Women’s Field Athlete of the Week honors. Bell ranks No. 3 in school history, with teammates Tatum Richards ranking No. 4 (13-06.25) and Libby Hansen ranking No. 8 (13-02.25).

JUMPS BATTLE

Hailey Coey and Eastern Washington’s Egypt Simmons are set for an electric showdown in the women’s long jump. Coey holds the Big Sky Conference indoor record with Simmons second all-time. Outdoors, Simmons holds the conference record with Coey in second. At the indoor championships in February, Coey beat her rival for the gold with an unforgettable walk-off winner in her sixth and final attempt. The Billings native currently ranks No. 10 in NCAA Division I after leaping 21-3.50 in Pocatello two weeks ago to re-break her own school record. On the men’s side, two-time All-Big Sky honoree Destiny Nkeonye will look for his elusive first gold medal while entering with the conference’s top mark (24-05.75).

STEEPLE U

The nation’s top-ranked men’s steeplechase group will look to continue its dominance in the event on Friday. After Duncan Hamilton won four straight conference titles from 2020-2023, Rob McManus is a heavy favorite to win his second straight gold medal and make it six straight years with a Bobcat on top. The three-time All-American is hoping to be flanked by Will Kelly and Owen Smith, who each have also run top-ten all-time marks in Montana State history this year in the event. On the women’s side, Grace Gilbreth is looking for another all-conference honor in her final outdoor Big Sky meet. The Bozeman native became the first Bobcat woman to break the 10-minute barrier with a school record at the Bryan Clay Invitational earlier this year, finishing in 9:58.84.

GO THE DISTANCE

Northern Arizona has established team dominance in the Big Sky thanks to arguably the best distance group in the country. At last year’s Big Sky Outdoor Championships in Bozeman, the Bobcat men were able to upset the 11th-ranked Lumberjacks on the back of the contributions of Ben Perrin and Matthew Richtman, who finished 2-3 in both the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters to help break up an onslaught of NAU points in the distance events. A big responsibility on the women’s side this year will fall on graduate student Kyla Christopher-Moody, who is enjoying perhaps the greatest season by an MSU woman’s distance runner in school history. The Michigan native has set four school records this year and placed third in both the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters in February to break up what would have been nearly an NAU clean sweep of all the available points in both events. On the men’s side, a name to watch is 2025 Second Team All-American Harvey Cramb. The Australian sophomore is entered in the 800 meters, where he holds the school record, and in the 1,500 meters, where he ranks second all-time in program history.

BREWSTER & BRENSDAL

The star sophomore duo of Sydney Brewster and Emma Brensdal aim to repeat their 1-2 finish from Flagstaff in the shot put while also looking to do damage on the podium in the discus. Brewster has been one of the biggest stories of the season, breaking the Big Sky Conference record and school record in the event multiple times this spring while being named Big Sky Women’s Field Athlete of the Week three times in a row. Brewster ranks 17th in the country this season. Her Montanan teammate, Emma Brensdal, took silver at the indoor conference meet and enters this week ranked second in the conference in the shot put and second in the discus. The sophomore broke the school record in the discus earlier this year with a throw of 165-5, eclipsing the previous mark of 160-6 that had been held by her throws coach and MSU Hall of Famer Jen Allen since 2001.

STACKING SPRINTS POINTS

Montana State’s women will be counting on big points from their sprinters, with two of the best in school history in juniors Jaeden Wolff and Peyton Garrison favorites to potentially get on the podium in the 100 and 200 meters. The pair hold the two fastest 200 meter times in school history and two of the five fastest 100 meter races ever run, with freshman Brooke Reuter and long jumper Hailey Coey also trying to make their way into Saturday’s finals and score points. In the 400 meters, junior Caroline Hawkes has earned silver at the conference meet three straight times dating back to the 2024 indoor championships. On the men’s side, the Cats will try to scratch out points with a deep bench that includes Xavier Simpson, Stryder Todd-Fields, Malikye Simpson, Noah Barbery, and Drake Wilkes. The first four are all ranked inside the top five in school history in the 100 meters and three are ranked in the top five at MSU in the 200 meters, but will have an uphill climb competing against a loaded group of Big Sky contenders in the sprint events.

RELAY REWARDS?

All four of Montana State’s relay records have been broken this spring, with the men’s and women’s 4×100 and 4×400 marks all getting re-written across March and April. Last year, the men’s 4×400 meter relay team executed perhaps the biggest race in school history at the conference championships, winning gold with a Jett Grundy anchor leg that clinched a 186-185 walk-off win over NAU that led to an unforgettable track-storming. Three of the legs from that team remain, part of a general theme of consistency across all the relay squads. All four of Montana State’s relay teams have run either the first or second-fastest times in the conference this spring. If everything else goes perfect, one or both of this year’s outdoor titles could once again come down to the final event of the meet on Saturday afternoon—the 4×400 meter relay.

#GoCatsGo

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Spencer McLachlin Named Head Coach at UC San Diego

Published

53 minutes ago

December 30, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LA JOLLA, Calif. – Third-year USC women’s volleyball associate head coach Spencer McLachlin was hired for his first appointment as a head coach and will lead the UC San Diego women’s volleyball program, UCSD Director of Athletics Andy Fee announced on Tuesday, Dec. 23.

McLachlin becomes the eighth head coach in UCSD program history and will coach the Tritons in their final season as members of the Big West (2026) before the program transitions to the West Coast Conference ahead of the 2027 campaign. He joins JJ Van Niel (Arizona State), Tyler Hildebrand (Saint Mary’s College), and Amy Pauly (Orlando Valkyries) as former USC assistants under Brad Keller who have moved into head coaching positions.

“This opportunity is no surprise and has been a long time coming for Spencer,” said Keller. “UCSD is getting one of the best coaches in the game. Spencer and I have worked together in many different phases of our careers, and I know USC is in a better place with a brighter future for everything he has done here. Spencer is an innovator, a creator, and most importantly, a dreamer. Our game needs more leaders like him. I couldn’t be prouder of what he has done and for this new opportunity for him and his family.”

In his three seasons at USC, McLachlin helped lead the Women of Troy to three straight NCAA tournament appearances. The Trojans advanced to the second round in each of their three postseason berths. Most recently, McLachlin helped USC reach 25 wins and finish in a tie for third place in the Big Ten. Six Trojans received awards on all-conference teams and USC led the league in blocking (2.76 bps). The Trojans also ranked second (12th in the NCAA) in total blocks (322.5) and were second for opponent hitting percentage (.184). OH London Wijay earned AVCA All-America honorable mention.

With McLachlin on staff in 2024, USC advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third straight year and finished 22-10 overall with a 13-7 mark in the Big Ten (tied for sixth). Setter Mia Tuaniga was named to the AVCA All-America third team. In his first season with the Women of Troy, McLachlin helped USC go 19-13 with a 12-8 mark in the Pac-12 for a fifth-place finish. That season, OH Skylar Fields was honored with AVCA All-America first-team recognition.

McLachlin is married to former USC volleyball standout opposite hitter Diane Copenhagen (2004-07), a 2004 Pac-10 All-Freshman Team selection. The McLachlins are parents to two daughters, Leila and Malia, and a son named Koa.

The 14th-ranked Trojans (25-7, 15-5 Big Ten) finished the regular season tied for third in the Big Ten and were awarded one of 33 at-large berths—and a hosting bid—into the 2025 NCAA tournament. USC made its fourth straight appearance in the tourney under sixth-year head coach Brad Keller (41st all-time) and moved into the second round for the fourth consecutive year with a 3-0 sweep of Princeton. The Women of Troy were eliminated from postseason play in a hard-fought five-set loss to Cal Poly in the second round.

For more information on the USC women’s volleyball team, please visit USCTrojans.com/WVB. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on X, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

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Defending Big West Regular Season And National Champion Long Beach State Chosen As 2026 Preseason Coaches’ Poll Favorite

Published

1 hour ago

December 30, 2025

Your Sports Nation

IRVINE, Calif. – The Big West released its 2026 Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll and Team, and defending Big West regular season and National Champion Long Beach State was selected as the preseason favorite. The Beach garnered 24 total points and four first-place votes from league head coaches, signaling strong expectations for another elite season.

Long Beach State’s status as a national powerhouse was further reinforced in the 2026 AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Preseason Poll (Dec. 23), where the Beach were ranked No. 3 nationally behind UCLA and Hawai’i.

The Beach also placed multiple student-athletes on the 2026 Big West Preseason Coaches’ Team, as Skyler Varga and Alex Kandev earned preseason recognition following standout performances during Long Beach State’s championship 2025 season.

Varga returns as one of the nation’s premier attackers. During the 2025 season he played a central role in Long Beach State’s run to the NCAA National Championship, earning NCAA All-Tournament Team honors for his performance in the title match. He finished the year with 270 kills (2.73 per set) on a .368 attack percentage, while adding 33 service aces, 70 total blocks, and 341 points across 99 sets. In addition to his on-court excellence, Varga also received CSC Academic All-America recognition, underscoring his impact as a scholar-athlete.

Kandev, now a sophomore outside hitter, made his mark on the national stage during the 2025 NCAA Championship match. In the title match victory over UCLA, Kandev helped the Beach secure their fourth national title and earned NCAA All-Tournament Team honors in the process. He concluded his freshman season with 210 kills (3.23 per set) while hitting .458, ranking among the team leaders in efficiency, and added 21 aces, 36 blocks, and 250 points in 65 sets.

Following Long Beach State atop the Big West preseason poll, Hawai’i was chosen second with 22 points and two first-place votes, and UC Irvine was tabbed third with 17 points. CSUN, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara rounded out the poll, each earning nine points.

With proven postseason performers and returning national contenders, Long Beach State enters 2026 as both the team to beat in the Big West and one of the top programs in the nation.

2026 Big West Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll

Long Beach State – 24 points (4)

Hawai’i – 22 points (2)

UC Irvine – 17 points

T-4. CSUN – 9 points

T-4. UC San Diego – 9 points

T-4. UC Santa Barbara – 9 points

First-place votes in parentheses

2026 Big West Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Team
George Bruening, UC Santa Barbara
Alex Kandev, Long Beach State
Jalen Phillips, CSUN
Tread Rosenthal, Hawai’i
Adrien Roure, Hawai’i
Kristian Titriyski, Hawai’i
Skyler Varga, Long Beach State

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NSU adds goalkeeper transfer – Northwestern State University Athletics

Published

1 hour ago

December 30, 2025

Your Sports Nation

By: Jonathon Zenk, Assistant Director of Communications

NATCHITOCHES—After dipping into the transfer portal for a midfielder and defender, Northwestern State soccer head coach Ian Brophy now picks up a goalkeeper in the form of transfer Saki Tsuchiya.

Tsuchiya, a native of Takasaki, Japan, comes to NSU following a season at Valparaiso.

“We are very excited to add an experienced goalkeeper who really fits our style of play,” Brophy said. “Her ability with the ball at her feet is something that definitely suits us and should help us as a team. She will instantly provide competition in an already very competitive group and certainly makes us better.”

She played in three games for the Crusaders, sporting a save percentage of .708 and goals against average of 3.36 in just under 134 minutes. She recorded 12 saves this past season, seven coming against Drake and then posting five saves against Illinois.

Prior to her season at Valpo, Tsuchiya started her collegiate career at Tyler JC, where she competed for two seasons.

For Tyler JC, she appeared in 30 matches during the two years, where she posted a 1.18 GAA and a .780 save percentage.

She recorded three solo shutouts and five combined shutouts among her 13 wins as a sophomore in 2024. That season also earned her a Second Team All-Region selection, as her team captured the Region XIV championship and played in the NJCAA National Tournament 2023 and 2024.

As a freshman, she was named to the NJCAA Second Team All-Academic Team for 2023-24.

She played summer soccer in 2024 for TLH Reckoning of the USLW and in 2025 for Peoria City of the WPSL.

In high school at Kaishigakuen JAPAN Soccer College koutoubu, she was a three-year starter in net.

She joins an already impressive goalkeeper room that includes Second Team All-Southland Conference selection Kennedy Rist and rising sophomore Audrey Marfia, who recorded a goals against average of 0.39, surrendering just one goal in 230:32.

Tsuchiya will be the first Japan native to play for the Demons and joins Hosane Soukou, Ravina Sandhu and Anika Sproxton as players on the team not from the United States.

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Lauren Watson Becomes First Player in USD Beach Volleyball History

Published

2 hours ago

December 30, 2025

Your Sports Nation

SAN DIEGO — Defender Lauren Watson became the first player in USD beach volleyball history on Monday afternoon when she signed a grant-in-aid agreement to play for the Toreros.

Watson, who hails from Phoenix, Arizona, attends Notre Dame Preparatory High School, where she was twice named the Arizona Beach Volleyball Player of the Year by the Arizona Republic. She will join San Diego for its inaugural beach volleyball season in the spring of 2027.

“Lauren is a really good all-around talent,” said USD beach volleyball head coach Derek Olson. “As a defender that can sit in the pocket and run shots down, she has good defensive instincts and covers a lot of sand.”

Her high school career thus far has seen her earn two Arizona Beach Volleyball Pairs State Championships, three All-League First-Team honors, and her league’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

“She also knows how to win and that’s very apparent by her results in tournaments,” Olson added. “But what I appreciate most about Lauren is her ability to play with anyone and make them better. She adds value to the environment that she is in.”

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Spencer McLachlin named new women’s volleyball head coach – The UCSD Guardian

Published

2 hours ago

December 30, 2025

Your Sports Nation

On Tuesday, Dec. 23, UC San Diego Athletics announced that USC associate head coach Spencer McLachlin will be the next head coach of Triton women’s volleyball. He replaces Melanie Greene, who stepped down on Dec. 6 after two seasons as head coach.

The coaching change comes after a tumultuous 6-24 season where a promising Triton team never found its rhythm. The Tritons were eliminated from postseason contention with three games left in the season following a loss to UC Riverside on Nov. 17. Assistant coach Kara Barkdoll Coy was named interim head coach for the final six games of the season after Greene’s departure.

“Spencer brings exactly what we need at this moment,” athletic director Andy Fee said in a press release. “He’s helped build winning programs, developed All-Americans, and knows how to compete at the highest level.”

McLachlin played collegiately at Stanford, winning a national championship with the Cardinal in 2010 and ending his four years in Palo Alto ranked third in career kills. McLachlin then served as an assistant coach at Hawai’i, California, UCLA, and Indiana before joining USC as associate head coach in 2023. This past season, the Trojans went 25-7 but fell in the second round of the NCAA Championship in a five-set upset loss against Cal Poly. McLachlin’s new position at UCSD will be his first head coaching role.

“I am thrilled to join UC San Diego as the Head Coach of the women’s volleyball program,” McLachlin said. “This is an incredible opportunity for my family and me to be part of an historic and beautiful university and build a program with great potential.”

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Volleyball Inks Four Highly Touted Transfers to 2026 Roster

Published

2 hours ago

December 30, 2025

Your Sports Nation

DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU Volleyball team announced the signings of outside hitter Suli Davis, libero Victoria Harris, opposite hitter Gabi Placide and setter Ava Sarafa to the 2026 roster on Monday.

Arriving for the spring 2026 semester, Placide brings in three years of collegiate playing experience; Harris and Sarafa come to the Hilltop with two and Davis comes to SMU with one year playing at the college level.

Details of the four transfers are below.

Suli Davis, So., 6-2, Outside Hitter, Euless, Texas – BYU

AVCA Second Team All-American (2025)

AVCA West Region Freshman of the Year (2025)

AVCA All-West Region First Team (2025)

Big 12 Freshman of the Year (2025)

All-Big 12 First Team (2025)

Big 12 All-Rookie Team (2025)

6x Big 12 Rookie of the Week (Sept. 9, Oct. 7, Oct. 21, Nov. 4, Nov. 25, Dec. 2, 2025)

2025 (Freshman at BYU)

–Broke BYU’s all-time freshman kills record during the Cougars’ five-set win over Utah on Nov. 26

–Broke BYU’s rally-scoring era freshman kills record against Arizona on Nov. 19

–27th player in Big 12 history with 500+ kills in a single season

–30 double-digit kill matches, third-most in the rally-scoring era at BYU

–Team-leading 10 double-doubles

–Led the team in kills in 22 matches, including 13 of the Cougars’ final 14

–Played in all 31 of the Cougars’ matches and 119 sets, starting 29 matches

–Recorded 541 kills, third-most in a rally-scoring era season at BYU, 252 digs, 43 total blocks, including 10 solo stuffs, 31 assists and 25 service aces

–Finished No. 1 in total kills (541), kills per set (4.55) and points per set (4.97) in the Cougars’ all-time freshman record book

–Finished No. 1 in sets played (119), total kills (541), kills per set (4.55), total points (591.5) and points per set (4.97) in the freshman rally-scoring era at BYU

–Is also second in double-doubles (10) and third in solo blocks (10) in the Cougars’ freshman rally-era record book

–Career-high 28 kills in back-to-back matches (at Utah on Nov. 14 and vs. Arizona Nov. 19), the second-most kills by a freshman in the rally-scoring era at BYU

Victoria Harris, Jr., 5-4, DS/Libero, Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina

SEC Community Service Team (2025)

SEC All-Freshman Team (2024)

SEC Freshman of the Week (Nov. 18, 2024)

2025 (Sophomore at South Carolina)

-Appeared in all 26 matches for the Gamecocks in her second season with the program

-Finished fourth in the SEC with 4.11 digs per set, totaling 399 digs

-Added 120 assists and 16 aces in her sophomore campaign

-Had seven matches with 20+ digs and 21 matches with double-digit digs

-Logged a season-best 27 digs at Missouri on Oct. 24

-Second in the SEC during conference play, averaging 4.31 digs per set for South Carolina

-Finished with 795 digs, 223 assists and 35 aces as a Gamecock in two seasons

Gabi Placide, Sr., 6-0, Opposite Hitter, Centennial, Colo. – Ole Miss

AVCA South Region Honorable Mention (2025)

SEC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 22, 2025)

AVCA West Region Honorable Mention (2024)

Big Sky All-Conference First Team (2024)

2x Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 21, Oct. 28, 2024)

Big Sky Conference Fall All-Academic Team (2024)

Big Sky Outstanding Freshman Award (2023)

Big Sky All-Academic Team (2023)

2025 (Junior at Ole Miss)

-Started and played in all 29 matches for the Rebels

-Led the team with 558.5 total points, 5.12 points per set, ranking third in the SEC and 15th in the NCAA

-Registered 488 kills (31st in the NCAA) on a .213 hitting percentage in her lone season with Ole Miss

-Logged 34 aces (sixth in the SEC) to lead Ole Miss and added 182 digs, 1.67 digs per set.

-Had 10 matches with 20+ kills and logged double-digit kills in 25 of 29 matches

-Registered five double-doubles, including a 19-kill and 14-dig outing against LSU on Nov. 2

-Had a career-high 28 kills against Alabama on Oct. 31

-Notched 22 kills, 10 digs and five aces against Texas on Oct. 24

Ava Sarafa, R-Jr., 6-0, Setter, Bloomfield Hills, Mich. – Kentucky

Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll (2024)

First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll (2023-24)

2025 (Redshirt Sophomore at Kentucky)
–Played in 27 matches and 80 sets for a Kentucky program that reached the final four in 2025
–Finished the season with 136 assists, 57 digs and 10 aces
–Logged 43 assists, 10 digs and six blocks against Nebraska on Aug. 31

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