This past weekend gymnasts from Eagle Gymnastics traveled to Springfield, Mass. for the 2025 Region 6 Championships.

The gymnasts qualified for the Regional Championships (best gymnasts in seven northeast states) in the NY State Championships back in March.

The Level 6 NY State Team won the Team competition and Canandaigua’s Kyah Williamson was a member. Williamson went on to be crowned the regional champion in the floor routine during the individual competition.

Here are the results:

Level 6 Senior age group (NY State Team)

Kyah Williamson, Canandaigua — 1st place (Regional Champion) in Floor (9.85), 3rd place in Beam (9.25) and 3rd place All around (37.575). Williamson also took first place as a member of the NY State Team.

Level 8 Junior A age group

Emily Snieszko, Farmington — 1st place (Regional Champion) in Beam (9.475), 3rd place All Around (37.575), 3rd place in Floor (9.525), 4th place in Bars (9.35).

Senior C age group

Isabella Seeley, Bloomfield — 5th place in Beam (9.025).

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Babson College senior outfielder Sara Moore (Kennett Square, Pa.) was selected as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III Player of the Week on Tuesday. 

Moore, who also was tabbed as the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Player on Monday, batted .684 (13-for-19) with five multi-hit games, a double, two RBI, six runs scored and was 10-for-10 in stolen base attempts to close out the regular season for Babson. She went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases last Tuesday at Endicott, was 5-for-7 with a double, two RBI, three runs scored and four stolen bases in a doubleheader Wednesday at Clark and wrapped up the week by going 5-for-8 with four stolen bases and three runs scored in Thursday’s sweep of WPI. Moore had a .714 OBP and slugged .737 while becoming the first player in school history to surpass 100 stolen bases for her career.

Moore enters this week’s NEWMAC Tournament ranked first in the league with 31 stolen bases and is third with 56 hits. She is batting .424 with four extra-base hits, 16 RBI and a team-high 32 runs scored, and boasts a 12-game hitting streak. 

In addition to her success this spring, she is Babson’s all-time leader with 101 stolen bases and ranks third in school history with 219 hits. She has started all 172 career games and owns a .387 average to go along with 24 doubles, six triples, two home runs, 66 RBI and 128 runs scored. 

Second-seeded Babson (24-13) will open the conference tournament against either third-seeded Springfield or seventh-seeded Coast Guard on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. on Alumni Field. 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University golf team has been invited to the GOLFWEEK National Golf Invitational (NGI) Championship at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Arizona, from May 16-18.
 
The 54-hole event will have the same scoring format as a traditional college team event with each team starting five players and counting the four best scores.
 

 
“We are extremely excited about this opportunity to compete out in Arizona,” coach Sean Covich said. “This will give our players another postseason championship to compete for, and I’m excited to see some of our younger players get their chance to show what they can do. Hopefully, this will be a springboard for next season.”
 

When Bob Conkling arrived as Illinois State’s women’s gymnastics coach, he wasn’t looking 20 years into the future, or even a week ahead. There was no time for that.

Conkling was the program’s only coach in 2005 and constantly on the go. He had no assistant coach to help train ISU’s existing athletes or recruit new ones.

“I knew that I had some work to do,” Conkling said. “You really do need at least a minimum of two coaches with four different events. I knew that had to happen soon.”

Overnight would have been nice. It didn’t come that quickly. Yet, progress was made and ultimately, help arrived.

“We worked really hard with the administration to start bumping up the program and trying to get assistant coaches,” Conkling said. “Now we have two full-time, paid assistant coaches. I really feel like these last four or five years that we’ve had that … that is when we’ve really increased and done a lot better.”

Megan Harrington just completed her sixth year as a full-time assistant and Kendra Combs her second. They helped Conkling hit the finish line of his 20-year Redbird tenure in style.

He announced his retirement after a season in which ISU won its second Midwest Independent Conference championship in three years and third overall under Conkling. He was named the league’s Coach of the Year for the third time.

He leaves the program better than he found it.

“It was a good year for me to retire,” he said. “I turned 65 this year. There were just a lot of things that fell in place. It was my 20th year, which is really good retirement wise with ISU. I just felt like, ‘Leave on a high note.’”

A Rockford native, Conkling racked up more than 100 wins and had 33 gymnasts qualify for the NCAA Regionals. He saw 44 of his athletes win conference individual event or all-around titles, with six named MIC Gymnast of the Year. The Redbirds won MIC team championships in 2012, 2023 and this year.

Conkling competed in trampoline, tumbling and as a diver as a youth and in high school. He began coaching gymnastics while in college at Indiana Wesleyan and was program director at the Gymnastics Academy of Rockford before coming to Illinois State.

He said his time with the Redbirds has gone quickly.

“I thoroughly enjoyed every single year at ISU and working with the gymnastics team,” Conkling said. “Each group brought something different and special. The season starts in January and finishes in April and those few months are the fastest months of the year. It just flies by. Every year it seems to go a little quicker.”

Changing landscape

Conkling has seen a lot of changes in college athletics, most notably the transfer portal and athletes being paid for their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).

He said he has relied on Cindy Harris, ISU’s executive associate athletic director for compliance and student services, to help him navigate it all.

“It’s been difficult honestly with NIL and the other stuff,” Conkling said. “It was a lot. It was a learning curve for me obviously. It’s kind of gone back and forth with what the rules are and it changes weekly it seems like.

“I kind of just lean on other people who know what they’re doing because it changes constantly. With Cindy Harris being my boss, it’s made my job a lot easier because she gets that information pretty quickly.”

Portal, NIL activity

Conkling said the gymnastics program has had limited participation in the transfer portal.

When MIC member Lindenwood dropped its gymnastics program, ISU picked up two of its athletes from the portal. The Redbirds had a gymnast enter the portal for her fifth year and landed at Temple. This year, for the first time, a Redbird underclassman entered the portal. She was picked up by Arizona State.

“It’s just now starting to hit a little bit more with the portal that we just didn’t have to deal with before,” Conkling said.

NIL deals have been more prevalent at bigger schools, Conkling said, with some gymnasts making huge money. LSU’s Olivia “Livvy” Dunne earned an estimated $4.1 million in NIL deals.

Conkling said the Redbird coaching staff has not had to deal with NIL much in recruiting, but added, “I can see it coming that we’re going to have to, especially to compete with the big schools because they are offering it.”

“Probably one of the biggest benefits for anybody in college athletics is NILs now,” Conkling said. “Unfortunately, I feel like the power four schools, especially the gymnastics programs, they’re going to just get bigger and better and stronger and it’s going to be harder for the mid majors in the future.”

Cream of the crop

Among the top ISU gymnasts in Conkling’s era is Sami King Geringer, a 2015 graduate who was inducted into Illinois State’s Percy Family Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024.

Conkling listed Gabi Cooke (2020 graduate), Angelica Labat (2024) and current senior Jaye Mack as other elite performers in his tenure. Labat and Mack are the only Redbird gymnasts to advance to the NCAA Championship, a feat Conkling called “extremely difficult.”

“There are many more conference all-around champions,” he said. “But those three for sure are probably future Hall of Famers here.”

What’s next?

Conkling officially retires June 30. His final gymnastics camp at ISU is in June and he will be available as needed to help search for his successor.

After that?

“I’ll probably still coach here and there. I’ll probably do some camps and some clinics,” Conkling said. “But I really kind of want to take a break for at least a few months. It will probably drive me crazy.

“I’ll miss coaching. I still love to be in the gym. I have a feeling that’s where my part-time work is going to take me is coaching.”

Hamilton College’s Hannah Apsey ’25 (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands Regional HS) and Stephanie Pratt ’25 (Beverly, Mass./Manchester Essex Regional HS) were selected for the 2025 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Women’s Tennis All-Conference Team on Wednesday, May 7.

Apsey was voted to the first team for singles and joined Pratt on the second team for doubles. The all-NESCAC honors were the first for both players.

Apsey played all 18 of her dual matches at No. 1 singles and went 7-3 against NESCAC competition during the regular season. Her overall singles record this season was 12-11, including fall tournaments. Apsey finished her Hamilton career tied for eighth place on the team’s all-time list with 41 singles wins.

Apsey and Pratt played all 17 of their dual matches at No. 1 doubles and they had a 4-6 record against NESCAC competition during the regular season. Their overall record this season was 15-9, including fall tournaments, and they were 30-18 as a pairing for their career. Apsey’s 54 career doubles victories put her in second place on the team’s all-time list, and Pratt was sixth with 43. 

The Continentals ended the season with a 7-11 record that included a 5-2 win against then-nationally ranked No. 37 Bates College on April 6. Hamilton was ranked 50th in NCAA Division III by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as of April 30. The Continentals played in the NESCAC championship quarterfinals for the third straight year.

 

When asked about why he wants to get the Mississippi State University club hockey team back on ice, senior Peyton Bryant shared inspiring words.

“Mississippi State has people from all across the globe, all across America, and a lot of people miss being able to play hockey,” Bryant said. 

Landon Walsh, the president of the club, has been playing ice hockey for 11 years on six different teams, and served as captain for two teams. Ice hockey has had a huge impact on Walsh’s life, and he is passionate about bringing it to MSU for others to experience. 

“There’s a growing number of hockey fans here at State, and I truly believe we can create something special — something that stands out in the South,” said Walsh. “From my experience, I know that hockey has a way of building community and bringing people together, and I want to help lay the foundation for a team that can thrive for years to come.” 

Before COVID-19 struck the United States, Mississippi State was home to Ice Dawg Hockey, a club team that gave MSU students the chance to play an icy sport in the south.

Unfortunately, the team never made it out of the pandemic struggles. 2020 was the last year that the team played in the rink, but there is a group of hopeful students trying to reboot the sport. 

“To any incoming or current freshmen who have a background in hockey, I would suggest looking at this amazing club,” said Walsh. “Our club hockey team is more than just a team — it’s a brotherhood, and we want you to be a part of building that here at Mississippi State.”

Ice Dawg Hockey previously competed in the College Hockey South League against teams such as Ole Miss, Alabama and Auburn. Since this club is not sponsored by the NCAA, the team’s biggest struggles when it comes to returning to competition are interest levels and funding. 

“I’ve talked to them in the past and they said that we used to have a club, but if it got started up again, just let them know and they’ll gladly let us back in,” Bryant said. 

Reagan Jordan, a member of the original Ice Dawgs Hockey team, described the challenges they faced.

“We didn’t have a goaltender, and we kind of got our teeth kicked in every game,” Jordan said. “And then when the program folded, you know, that was that.” 

Despite the unsuccessful last season, Jordan shared that they were just having fun and said that he would be excited to see the club hockey team make its way back to MSU.  Jordan is currently a Mississippi State Men’s Basketball graduate assistant studying kinesiology.

“Yeah, we were getting our butts kicked, like every day, but we were doing it together and we were traveling, and honestly it helped put me in a good position for my current job,” Jordan remarked on his last season.

In 2017, the team played home games in Tupelo, but the cost of renting out the rink became too much, leading to a season full of road games. 

All games played were away at Alabama, Vanderbilt and Tennessee since there was no home rink for the Ice Dawgs. Although they did not win a game, Jordan said the team valued the experience they gained along the way. 

Currently, the team is trying to get the information out so that fellow Bulldogs are aware of the opportunity they have to be a part of a new team. 

“Definitely reach out, because even if you can’t play, you know, there’s definitely a spot for you,” Jordan said. 

The club hockey team is on the search for players, a social media manager, a team manager and photographers, so there is a place on the team for those interested in aspects other than just playing the game.

“We’re really just trying to get our numbers up so that we can be officially recognized by the school,” said Bryant. “Last time I checked, we had around 11 interested members, which is a little under two full lineups.”

The players are passionate about getting the team up and running again, and they plan to start tabling on the Drill Field, as well as selling customizable jerseys.

Bryant also gave remarks on why he thinks students should get involved with the team.

“I think that this is a great time and a way to show yourself who you are and make an impact,” Bryant said. “We’re just getting things started here and having your name attached to the history, yeah that’s pretty cool.”

To learn more about the Ice Dawgs, visit their Instagram at @hailstatemhoc. There is a team interest form in their Instagram bio. 

“We gotta get our foot in the door to be recognized, and then everything else comes after that,” Bryant said.