STATE COLLEGE — Recent State College Area High School graduate Nathan Haas just added another milestone to his long list of achievements as a Little Lion football player and track and field athlete.

Haas, who holds seven varsity letters from his career at SC in football and track and field, is presently the Mid-Penn Conference Javelin and Discus Champion and he is a three-time District 6 Discus Champion and two-time D6 Javelin Champion.

He is also a four-time PIAA Medalist, and he recently capped his track and field career by winning the 2025 PIAA State Javelin Championship.

Competing in the PIAA Meet at Shippensburg University, Haas and Whitehall High School’s Thomas Lloyd were neck-and-neck going into the final, sixth attempt when Haas unleashed his best effort of the day: 204 feet, 4 inches.

Lloyd, who actually went into the final attempt leading with a throw of 202 feet, 2 inches, still had to throw but his attempt was just under 190 feet and Haas took the Gold Medal.

Talon Romance was third with a mark of 198-7.

The State Championship, along with other parameters, qualified Haas for the New Balance Outdoor Nationals held on Thursday, June 19, through Sunday, June 22, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

Haas traveled to the New Balance Meet with his father, Steve, and was later joined by other members of his family. He was entered into both the javelin and discus competitions.

In the discus competition, there were 51 place winners and Haas finished 30th with a throw of 170-3.

First Place went to Benjamin Shue from Bergen Catholic HS in New Jersey with a throw of 199-1 and Second Place went to Max Martin of Tatnall HS in Delaware with a 196-11.

In javelin, Haas gained his All-America Medal with a sixth-place throw of 197-10. The top six finishers in every category were named to the All-American Teams.

Markos Hantsoulis from Highland Park in New Jersey was First Place with a 203-1 while Landen Cruz was Second Place with a 202-9.

This was Haas’ second trip to the New Balance Nationals. In 2024, he finished in ninth place in the javelin.

On the State College football team in his senior year, Haas was a starter at defensive end, and he was named to the First Team Mid Penn Conference Defense. 

In discus, he was the top American finisher in the 2025 Penn Relays (third overall), and he finished seventh in the state as a sophomore and fifth as a junior.

He finished his college recruiting by committing to Liberty University in Virginia to continue in track and field.

“The State meet was definitely the meet that I had been training for all year,” Haas said, “and what honestly got me the result I wanted was just doing it for something bigger than myself and thinking about the team every single time I went up to the runway.

“And I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without my coaches who were right with me on the other side of the fence the whole time.

“Going to Nationals was really tough since it was about a month after states and training had died down with graduation and other senior activities. But I really felt good and made sure I stuck to my routines and got in some practice sessions when I could.

“Honestly, I did have a rough competition with the heat and other factors I couldn’t control getting to me and I struggled to get a big throw. But I was extremely grateful to have gotten All-American to end my senior season and boost me into my college career.”

EMMITSBURG, Md. (July 2, 2025) – Mount St. Mary’s men’s water polo releases its schedule for the 2025 season. The team is slated to play 30 games for the year, with four home games at the ARCC Swimming Pool.  
 
A full list of games can be found on the Mount’s website.
 
Games begin with a trip to Colorado for four matches. All contests are at the Air Force Academy and the campaign kicks off with the Mountaineers battling the host Falcons. Biola, University of Redlands, and Cal also stand on the docket.
 
Further tournaments occur at Princeton, Navy, Bucknell, and in Southern California.
 
Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference play starts at Navy on September 12. There are 12 games throughout the year. Four of those contests happen at the ARCC Swimming Pool, beginning October 25 against George Washington. Wagner comes to town on October 31, and Bucknell and Mercyhurst arrive for Senior Day on November 1.
 
Conference championships start on November 21, taking place at Fordham.
 

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The University of San Francisco volleyball program and Head Coach Diogo Silva have officially announced the schedule for the upcoming 2025 season.

“We have a very competitive schedule this season, facing off against some strong programs led by excellent coaches,” said Silva. “We don’t have as much travel during the non-conference schedule, which gives us a great opportunity to host two tournaments right here at home.”

Silva, entering his fifth season at the helm, led San Francisco to a successful 2024 campaign, ending the season with a 17-13 record—the most wins by the program since 2015—and finishing in fifth place in the West Coast Conference standings at 10-8. The team earned multiple victories over high-end opponents, including a sweep of LMU at home and a five-set thriller against San Diego, marking the first win over the Toreros in 11 years.

Despite a handful of departures from last season’s roster, the Dons welcome five talented transfers: Cagla Bengi (Coastal Carolina), Maeve Bailey (Holy Cross), Hannah Taylor (Saint Mary’s), Hokulani Perez (Arizona State), and Sina Toroslu (Siena), while Emilija Arsic, Andrea Fabikovicová, Kayla Ostovar, Taylor Mendez, and Beata Bohmova join the program as freshmen.

The 2025 campaign features 28 contests, comprising 10 non-conference and 18 West Coast Conference matches, as well as two home tournaments spanning four months of competition. The season begins in Berkeley when San Francisco competes in the California Tournament. The two-day event features contests against San Diego State on August 30 and California on August 30 at Haas Pavilion.

The Dons return home to War Memorial at the Sobrato Center when they host the Battle By The Bay, a three-day tournament with Portland State and Long Beach State. The green and gold take on Portland State in the home opener on September 5, followed by a meeting with Long Beach State on September 6. San Francisco will host its second tournament of the season, the USF Challenge, when San Jose State and CSUN come to the Hilltop for a four-day event on September 17 – 20.  

Returning to the road for the final time in non-conference play, San Francisco travels to Idaho to compete in the Boise State Invitational on September 11 – 13 at Bronco Gym. The team begins the tournament against Idaho State and then takes on host Boise State before finishing with Utah Tech.

Entering WCC play at the end of September, San Francisco travels to Washington State at Bohler Gym and Gonzaga at Charlotte Y. Martin Centre on September 25 and 27, respectively.

October features eight WCC contests, highlighted by home matches against Pepperdine (October 2), Oregon State (October 4), Pacific (October 11), and Gonzaga (October 25). The green and gold will also face Santa Clara, Portland, Oregon State, and San Diego on the road.

The campaign concludes with eight matches in November, with four of the last five to be played on the Hilltop. The Dons begin the month on the road at Pepperdine on November 1 before coming home to take on Santa Clara on November 6. The program returns to the road when it takes on Seattle U for the first time as conference members on November 8.

In the final stretch, San Francisco takes on Saint Mary’s (November 13), LMU (November 15), Seattle U (November 26), and Washington State (November 29) at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center to conclude the regular season.

The full 2025 San Francisco volleyball schedule can be viewed here.

For more information and updates on the University of San Francisco volleyball program, be sure to follow the Dons on Twitter @USFDonsVB, @USFDonsVB on Instagram, and @USFDonsVball on Facebook.

 

NACOGDOCHES — Six former female athletes are suing Stephen F. Austin State University for violating Title IX a little more than a month after the school announced it was cutting four sports.

The suit filed June 1 in federal court in Lufkin accuses the university of violating a section of law that promises equal protection and opportunity for men and women participating in collegiate sports.

SFA announced May 22 that it was cutting golf for men and women along with beach volleyball and bowling, which were women’s sports at the university.

University officials were served with the lawsuit Tuesday, said Damon C. Derrick, general counsel for the university.

“The university takes its Title IX obligations seriously and is prepared to respond through the legal process. As this is an ongoing legal matter, the university will not comment further at this time,” Derrick said in an email.

The suit was publicly announced by California-based attorney Arthur Bryant, who is representing the six former SFA athletes and “others similarly situated.”

“SFA’s elimination of the women’s beach volleyball, bowling, and golf teams is a blatant violation of Title IX,” Bryant said. “We reviewed the facts and the law with the school, asked it to reinstate the teams and agree to comply with Title IX, and it refused. So our clients are doing what SFA is requiring them to do — hold the school accountable in court.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs and the school met Friday, but SFA refused to bring back the three women’s teams, Bryant said.

The civil complaint tells only one side of the legal argument. SFA had not filed a response in court as of Tuesday.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Sophia Myers, Kara Kay, Ryann Allison, Elaina Amador, Berkelee Andrews and Meagan Ledbetter.

“It is truly sad and disappointing that we have to sue SFA to make it comply with Title IX, provide women with equal opportunities, and preserve our teams,” Myers said. “But we have to stand up for our rights and fight what is right, including the gender equity Title IX requires.”

Myers was a member of the beach volleyball program and has one year of eligibility remaining.

Kay is an incoming senior who was on the bowling team. The suit alleges that her credit hours at SFA would not transfer to other schools.

Allison is an incoming redshirt junior, who says in the suit that transferring would impede her academic progress and ambitions to attend medical school. She said she has chosen to give up beach volleyball if SFA does not restore the team.

Amador will be a senior this fall. She was a member of the beach volleyball program and said its elimination had caused her “considerable sadness, frustration and anxiety.”

Andrews will also be a senior this fall. Andrews was born without her left hand. When she joined SFA, she became the first ever Division I adaptive beach volleyball player and she has aspirations of playing beach volleyball at the Paralympics. Ledbetter is an incoming senior who said she’s been negatively impacted by the elimination of beach volleyball.

In the 2022–23 school year, SFA reported to the U.S. Department of Education that it had 7,832 undergraduate students — 4,961 were women and 2,871 were men, according to the suit. That means about 63.3% of undergrads were women. However, only 46.7% of the students on SFA’s sports teams were women — 212 women compared to 242 men, the suit says.

To follow Title IX rules, SFA needs to offer more sports opportunities for women, Bryant said. Eliminating the sports affected 40 women and 11 men, which makes the university even further away from meeting Title IX requirements.

Title IX requires that men and women have an equal opportunity to participate in college sports. Doing this would require SFA to add 218 spots for women in sports, Bryant said.

John Clune and Ashlyne Hare of Hutchinson Black and Cook in Boulder, CO, and James L. Sowder and Ellen Platt of Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons, LLP, in Dallas, are co-counsel for the women athletes.