BY BROOKE MCKENNA

The Board of Directors for Sun Valley Youth Hockey has hired former adult Suns player, Frank Salvoni as the organization’s new Executive Director.

Salvoni, whose family has deep roots in the local hockey scene, starts his new position this week.

Salvoni began his hockey career playing prep school hockey at Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut. He went on to serve as captain of his college hockey team at Lake Forest College, where he won the prestigious Nicholas J. Wasylik Senior Athletic Award for his positive, outgoing attitude as well as drive and determination.

Salvoni played for the adult Sun Valley Suns team from 2002-2007, serving as captain for a time. He has been a volunteer coach for Sun Valley Youth Hockey for the past 12 years, coaching at every level.

“We are so honored that Frank is stepping into this important role for our organization,” said Board President Brooke McKenna. “He brings a rich history of expertise to Sun Valley Youth Hockey and an unmatched commitment to hockey in the valley. He is well-respected in our community, in the State of Idaho and beyond.”

As one of the oldest and biggest hockey clubs in the state, Sun Valley Youth Hockey has introduced the game to thousands of kids since 1994.

Salvoni says he will approach his new position from a philosophy he has built over time: “The sport of hockey teaches about life–how to be a good person, teammate and community member, more than anything else. It is my belief that all of us are better as a team.”

Sun Valley Youth Hockey is planning a meet-and-greet tailgate party at the Hailey Ice parking lot on Friday, May 9, to introduce Salvoni in his new role. For more information, contact sunvalleyyouthhockey@gmail.com.

An NFL draft slide sometimes doesn’t come with clarity or a pinpointed explanation.

Agent Ron Slavin feels that was the case with his client and former Texas quarterback, Quinn Ewers.

Prior to the three-day draft spectacle, Ewers didn’t expect to be among the first 32 selections with the second round being more of possibility. However, he was the 13th and final quarterback taken in the 2025 draft, getting selected with the No. 231 in the seventh round by the Miami Dolphins.

Slavin told ESPN that he reached out to “half the league” the day after the draft to find out why Ewers had such a big slide.

The answer, he said, was “chickens–t.”

“They thought he was a third- or fourth-round pick, but too big of a name to be a clipboard holder,” Slavin told Archer. “Which I think is chickens–t.”

In other words, NFL teams thought that Ewers, who was the No. 2 recruit out of high school and was ranked No. 7 of the quarterback prospects by ESPN for the draft, was too big of a name to have as the development quarterback.

It’s one of the consequences discovered in the NIL era of college football.

After Texas lost in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff to Ohio State, Ewers had four days to pick a new program or take the next step in his career. By opting into the draft, Ewers left behind NIL deals reportedly up to $8 million if he transferred to another powerhouse school for another year in college as Texas moves on to Arch Manning.

Ewers had partnerships with several high-profile brands such as Wrangler, EA Sports, Hulu, Beats by Dre and Dr. Pepper.

His NFL rookie salary is estimated to be worth $4.33 million — nearly half of the opportunities he left behind.

Ewers at one point was considered a potentially high pick for the 2024 draft but he returned for his junior season, during which he threw for 3,472 yards, 31 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

In Miami, he will be behind Tua Tagovailoa and backup Zach Wilson, the ex-Jets bust who spent last season with the Broncos.

Tagovailoa’s contract has two more years of fully guaranteed money.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan women’s gymnastics team held its annual banquet Sunday (May 4) to celebrate its 2025 season.

The team reflected on the season and celebrated awards and honors during the 2025 campaign.

Graduate student Carly Bauman and freshman Jahzara Ranger were named the team’s most valuable performers in the 2025 season, the first for both.

Bauman ended the 2025 season as the NCAA Regional Co-Champion on uneven bars with a score of 9.950 after being named the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Northeast Regional Gymnast of the Year. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native was a first team All-Big Ten honoree for the second straight season and was a three-time Big Ten Specialist of the Week. Bauman won 14 individual event titles across three events and posted 19 scores of 9.900 or better in her fifth season.

In her first season as a Wolverine, Ranger notched second team All-Big Ten honors and was named to the All-Freshman Team. Ranger was a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, winning five individual event titles and scoring 9.900 or higher on nine routines.

Freshman Sophie Parenti was named the Unsung Hero along with Jenna Mulligan, and earned the Specialist Award. Parenti led off three events in her first season as a Wolverine, competing on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. The Los Altos, Calif., native scored a career-best 9.850 on uneven bars and beam and a career-high 9.875 on floor, winning her first career title.

Mulligan returned for her fifth season and competed in two events, earning a career-best 9.950 on the vault and a 9.900 on the beam. The Fruit Cove, Fla., native won the vault title in three straight meets and captured one beam title in her final season.

Sophomores Kayli Boozer and Ava Jordan shared the Most Improved Award as Boozer competed on three different events in her second season while Jordan competed on vault and uneven bars.

Boozer won three beam titles and scored a career-best 9.950 while she had two 9.900s on floor and stuck her vault at Oklahoma for a 9.900 in just her second career appearance.

Jordan notched a career-high 9.875 on the vault twice in her sophomore season and also scored a career-high 9.900 on the uneven bars at the Big Ten Championships.

Freshman Peyton Davis was awarded the Coaches Award after competing on the vault all season and earning a spot in the floor lineup for the second half of the 2025 campaign. Davis earned a career-best 9.900 on floor at the Big Ten Championships and posted a career-high 9.850 on the vault at NCAA Regionals.

Freshman Sophia Diaz was named the Newcomer of the Year as she competed on three events and vaulted at the NCAA Individual Event Finals. The Clarksville, Md., native was named second team All-Big Ten and an All-Freshman Team honoree after winning six individual titles in her first season donning the maize and blue. Diaz scored a career-best 9.950 on the vault at NCAA Regionals to send her to the NCAA Championships, while she posted a career-high 9.900 on both the uneven bars and floor in the 2025 season.

Graduate student Reyna Guggino was given the Leadership Award after she sat out her fifth year due to injury. Guggino found a new way to lead the group while not competing and was named Michigan’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree.

For the second straight season, Lily Clapper and Jacey Vore were awarded the Scholar-Athlete Award for their work in the classroom and the gym, while Vore was also the Chip Hills Spirit Award winner for the third straight year. Vore competed on the uneven bars and beam, winning three event titles in her final season.

2025 Award Recipients

Most Valuable Performer: Carly Bauman, Jahzara Ranger

Unsung Hero: Sophie Parenti, Jenna Mulligan

Coaches Award: Peyton Davis

Most Improved: Kayli Boozer, Ava Jordan

Specialist Award: Sophie Parenti

Newcomer of the Year: Sophia Diaz

Leadership Award: Reyna Guggino

Scholar-Athlete Award: Lily Clapper, Jacey Vore

Chip Hills Spirit Award: Jacey Vore

Michigan State University’s College of Engineering unveiled a new undergraduate technology engineering program, serving as the college’s latest response to industry demand for practice-ready engineers.

“Technology engineering is a new engineering discipline and MSU is leading the way with this,” Janet Brelin-Fornari, director of Technology Engineering, said in an interview with The State News.

Technology Engineering, or TechE, which was launched in fall 2024, blends mechanical, electrical and computer engineering with computer science to prepare students for modern engineering challenges while working in state-of-the-art labs. The program aims to bridge the gap between engineers and computer scientists across product development teams, according to a press release. 

“While students have the core of choosing a concentration, they can mix it with the new Smart Agricultural Systems minor, and they can take the courses in that track as well to fulfill that,” Brelin-Fornari said. “The industry has been so excited to get their hands on these engineers.”

The new program will include courses in hardware cybersecurity, electronics and embedded systems, sensors and signal processing, robotics and automation and controls with the goal to “leverage hands-on, real-world projects that integrate cutting-edge technologies with a strong foundational engineering mindset,” the release says.

Brelin-Fornari said that with the engineering field rapidly changing due to advanced technology, MSU has created the curriculum addressing the changes to make students “career-ready engineers.”

“The students have a set of foundational courses that they have to take,” Brelin-Fornari said. “They have courses in electronics, sensors and signal processing, digital logic to understand what’s going on inside of a chip and the computer side.”

With the skills and knowledge students can learn, Brelin-Fornari said the program is designed to be hands-on.

“You need to know and understand the theory, and as engineers, a big part of what we do is to apply that theory—but the theory needs to come to life,” Brelin-Fornari said. “With that, we have hands-on opportunities in most of the courses within Technology Engineering.”

The TechE degree program’s first graduating class is expected in fall 2026, with incoming students learning more about the program during New Student Orientation. Students can find more information on the Technology Engineering program through the College of Engineering’s website.

LOS ANGELES – Designated player Alexis Ramirez went 3-for-4 with six runs batted in and logged her first career two-homer game to help the No. 6-ranked UCLA softball team defeat Northwestern, 15-8, in a slugfest at Easton Stadium Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bruins (47-8, 17-4 Big Ten) recorded 15 hits in a game for the fourth time this season on a misty and cloudy day in Los Angeles. Junior third baseman Jordan Woolery joined Ramirez with a three-hit performance (3-for-4) and scored three runs. In total, UCLA’s top three batters – Jessica Clements, Savannah Pola and Woolery – went a combined 7-for-11 with eight runs scored and four RBIs.
 
Sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Terry was tasked with leading UCLA in the circle after its 8-0 shutout loss from the previous day. Terry opened her outing by allowing the first two batters she faced to reach on a walk and infield single deep in the 5-6 hole. A wild pitch in the middle of the next at-bat to Kelsey Nader complicated the matter, putting two in scoring position with no outs. Terry escaped the threat by striking out each of the next two Wildcats (28-17-1, 15-6 Big Ten) and inducing a groundout to first baseman Megan Grant.
 
The Bruins set the tone on offense early with three runs in the first inning. Clements worked a full-count walk and a double by Pola into the left-center gap put two aboard for the heart of the lineup. Northwestern starting pitcher Emma Blea, who had thrown just 19.1 innings entering the contest, walked Woolery and Grant to bring home UCLA’s first run of the game. Kaniya Bragg rolled into a 6-4-3 double play; the Wildcats took the two easy outs in exchange for the Bruins’ second run. The next batter, Ramirez, smacked the first pitch she saw up the middle to score Woolery with two outs and extend the lead to 3-0.
 
Terry retired the side in order for a shutdown second inning, putting the bat in her own hands to lead off the bottom half. Terry – UCLA’s No. 9 hitter – got the green light on a 3-0 count and barreled a long single to the center field wall. Despite Clements lining into a double play, the Bruins were able to generate five runs with two outs. Two straight singles by Pola and Woolery and an intentional walk to Grant brought Bragg to the plate. On a 3-1 count, Bragg squared up a ball that bounced off the Northwestern second baseman’s ankles for an error to score a pair. Ramirez made the Wildcats pay for the blunder with a three-run homer to left field, again on a first-pitch delivery. Ramirez’ blast pushed UCLA’s lead to a commanding 8-0.
 
Terry battled through eight runs (seven earned), four homers and nine total hits to earn her 16th win of the season (16-4) in a complete-game effort.
 
At the plate, Terry went 2-for-4 and showed off her athleticism by scoring from first base on a two-run double by Clements in the bottom of the third. On the next pitch, Woolery dropped another long single into the left center gap to score Clements from second and balloon UCLA’s lead to 11-0.
 
The left-hander Terry went to work in the top of the fourth with 11 runs of support. However, four straight hits by the Wildcats – single, single, double, homer – scored four runs to put the threat of a run-rule away temporarily. Designated player Avery Garden hit the three-run shot to left to cap the scoring in the fourth inning.
 
After being held scoreless by Northwestern reliever Renae Cunningham in the bottom half, the Wildcats continued to cut into UCLA’s lead with four more runs off a string of back-to-back-to-back jacks by Kansas Robinson, Izzy Cunnea and Lauren Sciborski. What was once an 11-run lead for Terry was trimmed to just three, 11-8.
 
UCLA’s offense did not let up, answering Northwestern’s four-run spot with one of its own in the bottom of the fifth. Clements led off the inning with her second double of the game to match her career high. She later came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Pola after advancing to third on a wild pitch. Woolery singled to left center for her third hit of the game and advanced into scoring position on a passed ball. Bragg came through by fisting a 3-1 delivery to opposite field (right) to score Woolery. Ramirez delivered the final blow with a home run to the deepest part of the ballpark for her second longball of the day to bring the score to its final tally, 15-8.
 
The Shelly Carlin UCLA Head Softball Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez elected to leave Terry in the ballgame to finish out the sixth and seventh innings. Terry retired the final six batters in order with relative ease, needing just eight and 15 pitches in each inning, respectively.
 
NEXT UP
UCLA closes the regular season versus Northwestern tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. (PT) at Easton Stadium. The Bruins will be honoring the eight members of their senior class – Kate Blunt, Jayla Castro, Jada Cecil, Jessica Clements, Seneca Curo, Lauren Hatch, Savannah Pola and Taylor Stephens – prior to first pitch as part of a Senior Day Ceremony.
 

Miami University hockey announced its schedule for the 2025-26 season on April 28.

Miami’s season begins on Oct. 3 and 4, when it takes on the Ferris State University Bulldogs at home in the first of three non-conference series. Max Dukovac, who played his first three collegiate seasons with the RedHawks, will return to Goggin Ice Center for the first time as a Bulldog.

The second and third series will be on the road against familiar opponents from 2024-25: the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers and the Lindenwood University Lions.

The RedHawks begin conference play against the Arizona State University Sun Devils on Halloween weekend. Former Miami forward and the RedHawks’ leading scorer last season, John Waldron, will be returning to Oxford after transferring to Tempe early in the portal window this offseason.

Following the Arizona State series, Miami’s schedule moves to a bye week before the second weekend of November. Miami will head up to Kalamazoo to take on the defending national champion Western Michigan University Broncos before returning home to face the St. Cloud State University Huskies.

Miami then embarks on a journey overseas to participate in the Friendship Four tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The RedHawks will take on the Sacred Heart University Pioneers, the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers and the Union College Garnet Chargers in games on Nov. 28 and 29 competing for the Belpot Trophy.

There’s no rest for the RedHawks following their international journey, though. As the second-half of the regular season begins, Miami travels to the Denver University Pioneers on Dec. 5-6 before returning home to take on the Colorado College Tigers, whom Miami did not play at home in 2024-25.

The RedHawks hit their second bye week before playing in another mid-season tournament, this one taking place in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Great Lakes Invitational is another four-team tournament that will involve Miami along with Ferris State, Michigan State University and Michigan Tech University.

The 2025-26 season will be Miami’s first time playing in the tournament.

To begin 2026, the RedHawks will take on Arizona State for the first time as visitors at Mullett Arena. Then, the University of Omaha-Nebraska Mavericks head to Oxford for the first of two series between the squads in 2026.

A third bye week for the Red and White makes way for five-straight weekends that alternate between home and away. Miami will play St. Cloud on the road and Western Michigan at home, the second series against both teams during the season.

The team’s first and only series against the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks will take place at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Feb. 13 and 14 before first-year netminder Ethan Dahlmeir returns to Oxford with the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs the following weekend.

Miami closes out the regular season against Omaha on Feb. 27 and 28 before beginning NCHC tournament play on March 6, with the top four seeds in the conference hosting the best-of-three series, the semi-final and the final.

@jjmid04

middleje@miamioh.edu