Kuzey Tuncelli Claims Hat-Trick Of 1500 Free Titles At European Juniors; Luka Hoek le Guenedal Sets Spanish 50 Free Record

Olympic finalist Kuzey Tuncelli earned his third consecutive 1500m freestyle title with a 14:45.05 victory at the European Junior Championships in Samorin.

The Turkiye swimmer set a world junior record of 14:41.89 in winning this title in Vilnius last year and lowered it to 14:41.22 in finishing fifth at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Kuzey Tuncelli: Photo Courtesy: European Aquatics

With his focus having been on  his preparations for the World Championships in Singapore, and suffering the after-effects of badly bruising his foot in a training accident, the 17-year-old was in clear water as he secured his hat-trick ahead of Germany’s Johannes Liebermann who took silver in 14:53.15, with bronze going to Spain’s Cristobal Vargas Trujillo, who just held off the challenge of Romania’s Andrei-Theodor Proca, 15:11.34 to 15:11.77.

Now Tuncelli will turn his attention to the defence of his 800m freestyle title.

“Actually it’s a great feeling, coming from training I’m feeling so great about this title,” he told European Aquatics. “This means that my prospects for Singapore are looking better than I thought yesterday. It’s a great time without taper and with an injury so I hope I will be even better in Singapore. It’s so great to have this support from my team-mates and I feel so great with them here cheering for me, I couldn’t do it without them and I want to thank them so much.”

Hoek le Guenedal Sets Spanish 50 Free Record; European Junior Mark For Nowacki

Luka Hoek le Guenedal became the first Spanish man to break 22secs in the 50 free when he went 21.99 in the semis. Javier Noriega had held the national record of 22.04 for almost 16 years since the super-suited 2009 worlds. Hoek le Guenedal however sliced 0.05 from that mark to head the semis going into Friday’s final. It followed the 17-year-old’s 48.14 on the leadoff of the mixed 4×1 free relay on Wednesday, inside the national record but unlikely to be recognised as a new standard given it was a mixed lineup.

The men’s 200 breast semis featured two Championship records in as many races. Turkiye’s defending champion Doruk Yogurtcuoglu, won the first race in a personal best and Championship record of 2:10.63, bettering the mark of 2:10.69 set by Anton Chupkov, who went on to win Olympic bronze and world gold.

Filip Nowacki set a personal best of 2:10.74 in prelims but he dipped inside the 2:10 barrier in the second semi in a time of 2:09.11, a new European junior record. He became eighth all-time British performer and said: “I’m quite speechless to be honest, I wasn’t expecting that time on the board. I knew I had to go fast to make the final as the field is stacked this year.”

Denmark’s Martine Damborg won two golds in less than an hour, Damborg, who won women’s 50m backstroke silver on day two, earned the first of her titles in the 50m freestyle after Croatia’s 2024 silver medallist Jana Pavalic, whom she followed home, was disqualified.

The Croatian was credited with what would have been a personal best winning time of 24.87, but  was then ruled to have moved too early at the start and the title went to the 18-year-old Danish swimmer, who had clocked 25.00. Neutral athlete Kira Manokhina and Britain’s Theodora Taylor, from lane 2, shared silver after clocking 25.12.

Damborg re-focused and re-appeared to defend her women’s 100m butterfly title, which she managed comfortably in 58.30, with silver going to Finland’s Aliisa Soini in 58.95 and Poland’s Flawia Kamzol earning bronze in 59.10.

Martine Damborg: Photo Courtesy: Istvan Derencsenyi/European Aquatics

Neutral athlete Mikhail Shcherbakov dominated the men’s 200IM final, winning in a personal best and Championship record of 1:59.04, bettering the mark of 1:59.17 held by three-time Olympic champion Tom Dean. Romania’s defending champion Robert-Andrei Badea, had to settle for silver on this occasion as, after narrowing Shcherbakov’s lead to 0.12 at 150m he was unable to match his rival’s final 50, finishing in 2:00.59. Bronze went to Iason Routoulas of Greece in 2:01.18.

Italy won the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay in a Championship and European junior record of 7:56.06 with 14-year-old Alessandra Mao bringing the quartet home in 1:57.53. Lithuania took silver in 8:02.15, with bronze going to Great Britain – who had women’s 400m individual medley champion Amalie Smith on the last leg – in 8:04.12.

U.S. Women’s Water Polo Announces Singapore Worlds Roster with 7 First-Timers

The U.S. women’s water polo team announced its roster for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Friday, a group that includes just one holdover from the 2021 Olympics.

Seven of the 15 athletes are making their World Championships debut, and seven are held over from the squad that finished fourth at Paris Olympics last summer.

Amanda Longan is the lone holdover from an Olympic medalist team, the backup goalie on the Tokyo team in 2021. The Singapore group will not include such program mainstays as Maggie Steffens, Maddie Musselman, Ashleigh Johnson and Rachel Fattal.

Longan is one of seven players who were part of the Paris team, joining Tara Prentice, Jenna Flynn, Jovana Sekulic, Ryann Neushul, Jewel Roemer and Emily Ausmus. Seven players are taking part at their first World Championships: Anna Pearson, Julia Bonaguidi, Emma Lineback, Isabel Williams, Rachel Gazzaniga, Malia Allen and Ava Stryker.

Coach Adam Krikorian named a 15-person roster, with only 14 eligible to take part on any individual gameday. The U.S. is Group B and will open against China on July 10. It will play Netherlands and Argentina in group play.

The U.S. women are the reigning World Champions, having won the event at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha. The team lost in the quarterfinals of the 2023 event in Fukuoka, Japan, ending a streak of four straight titles that dated to 2015. The U.S. women have won eight world titles.

U.S. Women’s Water Polo 2025 World Championships Roster

• Amanda Longan (Moorpark, CA/USC/NYAC)
• Tara Prentice (Temecula, CA/UC Irvine/NYAC/Sabadell)
• Anna Pearson (Irvine, CA/UCLA/SET)
• Jenna Flynn (San Jose, CA/Stanford/NYAC)
• Julia Bonaguidi (La Jolla, CA/California/San Diego Shores)
• Jovana Sekulic (Belgrade, Serbia/Princeton/NYAC)
• Ryann Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/NYAC)
• Jewel Roemer (Martinez, CA/Stanford/680 Water Polo)
• Emma Lineback (Laguna Beach, CA/UCLA/SET)
• Emily Ausmus (Riverside, CA/USC/NYAC)
• Ella Woodhead (San Rafael, CA/Stanford/SHAQ)
• Isabel Williams (Severna Park, MD/California/Glyfada)
• Rachel Gazzaniga (North Tustin, CA/USC/SOCAL)
• Malia Allen (Irvine, CA/UCLA/Panionios)
• Ava Stryker (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/Santa Barbara 805)
• Head Coach: Adam Krikorian
• Assistants: Molly Cahill, Dan Klatt, Natalie Benson
• Video Coach: Andrew Silva
• Team Manager: Ally Beck
• Sports Medicine Manager: Larnie Boquiren

U.S. Women’s Water Polo 2025 World Championships schedule

• July 10: vs. China, 9:10 p.m. PT
• July 13: vs. Netherlands 5:45 a.m. PT
• July 14: vs. Argentina 6 p.m. PT
• July 17: Crossover Round
• July 19: Quarterfinal Round
• July 21: Semifinal Round
• July 23: Final Round

LAWRENCE (KSNT) – The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony is less than a month away, and another former Jayhawk will be joining.

Clifford Wiley was a member of the Men’s Track and Field team at the University of Kansas from 1974-1978.

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Originally from Baltimore, Wiley was impressed by Kansas’ history of dominance as a part of the Big Eight Conference. The Jayhawks won 58 total men’s track and field titles throughout the conference’s history. The school won two indoor and two outdoor titles during Wiley’s time in Lawrence.

“We were one of the blue bloods of college track and field in those days,” Wiley said. “We were very talented, a lot of great guys.”

Wiley left his mark on the program as a 13-time NCAA All-American and 1977 National Champion in the 4×400 meter relay.

He and other members of the 1976 4×100 meter relay team still hold the Kansas program record with a time of 39.39 seconds.

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Former Wildcat player, Jayhawk coach to join Kansas Sports Hall of Fame

At the 1977 International Amateur Athletic Federation World Cup, Wiley and his teammates set a world record in the 4×100 meter relay with a time of 38.03 seconds for Team USA.

Wiley’s success continued after college. He’s a two-time Pan Am Games Champion and a two-time USA National Champion in the 400 meters. He’s also a National Champion in the indoor 440 yards race.

Wiley was apart of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, but never got to live out his dreams.

Moscow was the host city for the 1980 summer games, and after the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter made the decision to boycott.

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“It was a tough situation,” Wiley said. “I used to get emotional about it, emotion mixed with bitterness. Now I’m just bitter,” Wiley said through laughter.

Wiley was excited when he received the news he’d be inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame and is looking forward to sharing his story.

Game schedule released for Topeka Scarecrows ice hockey team

“Whenever I go into a hall of fame and look at who’s there, I always ask, ‘Who’s that guy, how did he get there? What did he do or what did she do?’” Wiley said. “I think that’s important and to be one of those people, I think that’s really special. I think it’s really special.”

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Wiley is still actively involved in the local track and field community, serving as the sprinter and relay coach at Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, KS. He also helps organize track meets in the area.

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For one day every year, Hayward Field is home to the Prefontaine Classic.

Matt Adams knew he liked both sports and numbers pretty early on. 

Growing up in Fairport, New York, Adams enjoyed polling and surveying the members of his family about random topics. He also avidly collected baseball cards, drawn in particular to the players’ statistics. 

Years later, he’d parlay his passions into a career in sports analytics, culminating in his current role as a performance analyst for the Michigan volleyball team where his aptitude for technology and passion for volleyball has made him a crucial asset to the Wolverines’ staff. 

Adams attended Syracuse University, double majoring in sports analytics and economics, with minors in information management and technology, and credits the program with developing the skills requisite for his role.

“The professors are great,” Adams told The Michigan Daily. “The other students push me too, because there’s a lot of really bright kids there, and I also learn there.”

In addition to building a network, Adams also gained hands-on experience in the form of an internship with RSPCT Basketball, a basketball tech company, where he assisted in ball tracking. Though not pertaining to analytics, he played volleyball as a practice squad player for the Orange’s women’s team and was President of the men’s club team, furthering his aspirations in the sport.

And when Erin Virtue took the reins as head coach at Michigan in 2023, she saw so much value in analytics that she decided to create a full-time position for an analyst on the coaching staff — a role Adams fit like a glove. 

“When I became the head coach and talked with the administration here in athletics, the value that I found in that position was enough that I really, really wanted that to be a full time position, and one that is as integral to our staff as an assistant coach,” Virtue told The Daily. “So that was a nice change, and he is at every practice. He’s at every match. He helps with camps. We want him as involved as he can be, so he’s somebody that is year round, full time.”

Adams has several tools in his toolbox, but chief among them is a volleyball-specific program called VolleyStation, which provides both video and numerical data. Making use of VolleyStation on the sidelines at every game and practice, Adams uses the software to track a variety of statistics, namely passing percentages and attack types. Using VolleyStation, Adams codes individual touches from matches and practices, and syncs the data to video, to review in one-on-ones with players and coaches. He also keeps on hand these statistics in spreadsheet form. Other notable programs he utilizes include Catapult and Volleymetrics, which track athletes’ load management and assorted statistical and video data, respectively. 

In addition to keeping track of data on the Wolverines, Adams applies the same methods to reviewing film on Michigan’s opponents, identifying common tendencies and strategies of the teams the Wolverines face. Together with the detailed statistics on Michigan, Adams’ skill set has helped the Wolverines implement a data-driven approach in a sport where analytics haven’t become quite as widespread as in other sports, such as football or baseball, just yet. 

With this myriad of tools, Adams encountered a bit of a learning curve early in his role. 

“My job is a hybrid between the stats and the technology, and the technology part is always frustrating,” Adams said. “I feel like even people who are the most advanced with technology are still going to have things come up that don’t make sense right away. … Maybe my first year, if things went wrong, I would get frustrated or maybe not know how to fix it. But now I’ve done the process enough times where I can kind of slow down and be like, it’s going to take a few points, but I figure this out, and then it’s everything okay, I’ll catch up with whatever I missed, and things move on.”

Beyond his own growth in terms of his patience and his penchant for troubleshooting, Adams also credits the volleyball community and his fellow coaching staff as instrumental in his evolution in his role as an analyst. 

Additionally, Adams has had the opportunity to expand his portfolio of skills through his work with the U.S. national team, having joined Virtue at multiple national team and Olympic-level events in the past two years. He’s networked with fellow performance analysts from across the country, as well as analysts working with the U.S. men’s national team. 

“It’s a cool thing where it’s a small community, but everybody’s getting to know each other a little bit,” Adams said. “ … It’s been nice to meet other people from around the country doing the same thing as I am, but also learn from people who’ve been doing it longer and are now doing other things.”

Adams continues to look to the future and evolve on his own, especially as it pertains to the incorporation of artificial intelligence. As the prominence and use of AI grows, so does the controversy surrounding it. But Adams welcomes AI with open arms and looks forward to its use in volleyball analytics — in particular, he’s looking to use computer vision to track things such as ball movement, vertical jumps, speeds and spin rates on serves.

Whichever tools Adams has at his disposal, he’s committing to furthering the growth of the Wolverines’ volleyball program by hoping to turn numbers on spreadsheets into wins in the recordbook.

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BURNSVILLE, MINNESOTA—Brooke Emily Reinhardt, a former head coach for the Burnsville High School men’s volleyball team, has been charged with three counts of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a minor player, according to court documents filed by the Dakota County Attorney’s Office.

Charges and Allegations

Reinhardt, 24, of Rosemount, faces the following charges:

• Count 1: Criminal Sexual Conduct in the 3rd Degree (Victim 16-17, Actor More Than 36 Months Older, Position of Authority)

• Count 2: Criminal Sexual Conduct in the 3rd Degree (Victim 16-17, Actor More Than 36 Months Older, Position of Authority)

• Count 3: Criminal Sexual Conduct in the 3rd Degree (Victim 16-17, Actor More Than 36 Months Older, Position of Authority)

Each count carries a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison and/or a fine ranging from $9,000 to $30,000. Under Minnesota law, third-degree criminal sexual conduct includes sexual penetration with a person aged 16 or 17 when the perpetrator is more than 36 months older and in a position of authority over the victim.

Timeline of Events

• April–June 2025: The alleged incidents occurred between April 1 and June 30, 2025, involving a 17-year-old male player on a team coached by Reinhart.

• June 28, 2025: One of the alleged incidents took place at a residence in Burnsville.

• July 1, 2025: Burnsville Police received a report after a witness found the victim’s wallet at his residence, prompting an investigation.

• July 2, 2025: Reinhardt was arrested at her home in Rosemount, Minnesota, by officers from the Burnsville Police Department.

Details from the Investigation

According to court documents, the victim in this case was a player coached by Reinhardt, who reported that their relationship began as coach and athlete but developed into a romantic and sexual relationship over the preceding months. According to the criminal complaint, police learned during their investigation that sexual encounters occurred at multiple locations, including Reinhardt’s home, the victim’s home, and a third-party residence. The complaint states that eventually, Reinhardt admitted during a police interview to engaging in sexual acts with the victim and to sending explicit photos.

Legal Proceedings – Additional Court

Court documents state that the prosecution requested that bail be set at $100,000 without conditions or $75,000 with conditions. The judge eventually set the bail at $100,000 without conditions, $10,000 non-cash bond with conditions, or $1,000 cash bail with conditions. Court records show that Reinhardt posted the cash bail of $1,000 on July 3, 2025.

Reinhart’s next court appearance is set for August 6, 2025, at 1:30 PM in Hastings, Minnesota.

All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The investigation is ongoing, and further details may emerge as the case proceeds.