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College track and field: Wright finishes strong

College track and field: Wright finishes strong Published 8:13 pm Tuesday, May 20, 2025 UNC Wilmington graduate Cooper Wright (East Rowan) Staff report GREENSBORO — UNC Wilmington captain Cooper Wright finished his track and field career with some great efforts in the Coastal Athletic Association Championships held at North Carolina A&T. Wright was obviously fast […]

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3 weeks ago

May 21, 2025

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College track and field: Wright finishes strong

Published 8:13 pm Tuesday, May 20, 2025

: UNC Wilmington graduate Cooper Wright (East Rowan)

Staff report

GREENSBORO — UNC Wilmington captain Cooper Wright finished his track and field career with some great efforts in the Coastal Athletic Association Championships held at North Carolina A&T.

Wright was obviously fast when he was at East Rowan and had plenty of potential as a 6-foot-2 receiver, but he had no luck as far as injuries, and he also came through East during the two school years affected by COVID.

Track and field became Wright’s sport at East. He racked up all-county and all-conference accolades as a Mustang. Track and field also took him to the next level at UNC Wilmington, where he ran some terrific times in the 200 and 400. The 400 became his main event.

In the 2021 CAA Championships, Wright ran a 21.63 200 for fourth place. He was second in the 400 in 47.57 seconds and ran a leg on a third-place 4×400 team.

In the 2022 CAA Championships, Wright ran a PR 21.36 in the 200 for third. He was conference champ in the 400 with 48.46 clocking. He also ran on the championship 4×400 team that was timed in 3:20.68.

Wright battled some injuries after that. He was on the fifth-place 4×400 team in the 2024 CAA Championships.

He came back with a great year as a fifth-year performer.

He ran a PR in the 400 — 47.37 — in last week’s CAA Championships and finished sixth.

A more amazing effort came in the 4×400 where he ran the swiftest 400 of his life to close his career — 46.52 — on the third leg. UNC Wilmington finished third in the event, but it was a school record run for the Seahawks.

Wright graduated with a degree in accounting and finance and is launching a career as a financial planner.

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Okeke Set for NCAA Championships

Story Links EUGENE, Ore. — Obiora Okeke will represent the Columbia Track & Field team at the Outdoor NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon tomorrow night. Okeke punched his ticket to the NCAA Finals on Memorial Day Weekend at the NCAA Outdoor Eastern Prelims in Jacksonville. In order to advance, Okeke needed […]

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11 seconds ago

June 10, 2025

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EUGENE, Ore. — Obiora Okeke will represent the Columbia Track & Field team at the Outdoor NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon tomorrow night.

Okeke punched his ticket to the NCAA Finals on Memorial Day Weekend at the NCAA Outdoor Eastern Prelims in Jacksonville. In order to advance, Okeke needed a top-12 finish and he came through in a big way. After fouls on both his first two throws, Okeke clutched up on his third and final throw with an impressive mark of 19.52m (64-1) to finish fourth overall and secure his spot in tomorrow’s finals.

Okeke will be competing in the final round of the men’s shot put on Wednesday night at 9:15 p.m. eastern time. The field consists of 24 student-athletes broken into two flights. Each student-athlete will receive three throws, with the top-nine marks earning three more throws and a chance at the NCAA Title.

The top-eight overall finishers in the event will be named an NCAA All-American. 9-16 will receive NCAA All-American Second Team honors.

Live television coverage of the NCAA Track & Field Championships will be on the ESPN family of networks. The men’s shot put can be streamed on ESPN+, HERE. Live results can be tracked HERE.

Stay up to date on all things Columbia track & field by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsXCTF), Instagram (@culionsxctf) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).

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Lady Jackets reveal 2025 volleyball slate

Story Links 2025 VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The Cedarville Invite plus a match on Homecoming Saturday highlights the 2025 volleyball schedule. The Lady Jackets will play 12 contests in the Callan Athletic Center across ten dates beginning with their own tournament on September 12-13. The hosts will welcome […]

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1 minute ago

June 10, 2025

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2025 VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE

CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The Cedarville Invite plus a match on Homecoming Saturday highlights the 2025 volleyball schedule.

The Lady Jackets will play 12 contests in the Callan Athletic Center across ten dates beginning with their own tournament on September 12-13.

The hosts will welcome D’Youville, Indianapolis, Saginaw Valley State, and West Liberty to the ten-match round robin event.

Cedarville will be on campus for Homecoming Saturday for the first time in three years when Findlay visits for a G-MAC encounter.

There are seven other home matches culminating with Senior Night on November 15 against Walsh in the regular season finale.

Following an exhibition at Division I Ball State on August 23, CU opens the campaign at the Warrior Invitational on September 5-6 against Upper Iowa, Winona State, and host Wayne State.

The Midwest Region Crossover returns to Hammond, Indiana on October 17-18.

The G-MAC Championship is scheduled for November 18, 21, and 22 with the quarterfinals on campus sites and then the top remaining seed hosting the semifinals and final.

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Chrissy Schoonmaker Named Softball Head Coach

Thank you to the University of Houston, Chancellor Renu Khator, Eddie Nuñez, David Williams, DeJuena Chizer and the entire search committee for their belief in my vision for this program and their continued investments into driving the team and university forward. It is an exciting time to be a Houston Cougar and I am overjoyed […]

Published

18 minutes ago

June 10, 2025

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Chrissy Schoonmaker Named Softball Head Coach

In 2025, Schoonmaker tutored her second A-10 Pitcher of the Year in four seasons while guiding George Washington to the 25th-best ERA in the nation and leading the A-10 in ERA, strikeout-to-walk ratio, shutouts, strikeouts per seven innings and WHIP. Previously in 2024, Schoonmaker guided the Buff and Blue to the top spot in the A-10 in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging and scoring.

Over four seasons at George Washington, Schoonmaker led GW to two 30+ win seasons and turned the Revolutionaries around from 17 wins in 2023 to 27 victories in 2024 and 33 wins in 2025, a 16-win improvement over the last two years. She stands as the only head coach to lead GW to three winning seasons in the program’s history.

Schoonmaker rejoins the Big 12 Conference after beginning her coaching career at Texas Tech in 2012 and has mentored 18 All-Conference selections, six All-Region honorees, two Pitchers of the Year, a Player of the Year and an All-American.

Led by NFCA All-American Sierra Lange and A-10 Player of the Year Alexa Williams, GW went 36-17 in 2022, including a 21-3 mark in conference play, and advanced to the A-10 Championship final before concluding its season at the National Invitational Softball Championship in Fort Collins, Colo.

After a 6-10 start, the group surged down the stretch by winning 27 of 30 to finish the regular season, highlighted by a 13-game winning streak which tied a program record.

The Buff and Blue finished the regular season ranked among the top 100 nationally in RPI and ended up among the national leaders in several statistical categories. They were recognized for a memorable spring with Lange and Williams pacing a program-record five All-Conference First-Team selections.

Schoonmaker also led George Washington to academic success. During her tenure, the Revolutionaries collected 15 academic honors from College Sport Communicators as well as 30 student-athletes to academic awards from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

“I would also like to thank George Washington University, along with our former student-athletes, coaching staffs and support staff for their contributions during my tenure in Washington, D.C.,” Schoonmaker said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a guardian of the program and it was a privilege to be surrounded by such incredible people. Our time together was special and I wish the team continued success.”

A veteran leader with more than a decade of experience at the highest levels of the sport, Schoonmaker arrived at Houston for her second head coach position after four years at GW and assistant coach stints at Harvard, UConn, Houston, Texas Tech and her alma mater South Carolina.

Schoonmaker spent the 2020-21 academic year on staff at Harvard, during which she helped lead the Crimson’s virtual programming amid the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis on team building and leadership development through core value study. The Sebastian, Fla., native also contributed to the SEC Network’s softball coverage as a game analyst this spring for the second consecutive season.

Before heading to the Ivy League, Schoonmaker spent a year as assistant director of development at South Carolina where she was part of major-gift fundraising efforts for the athletics department, including creating an initiative – The Women of South Carolina – which has raised more than $1 million to date to provide resources for female student-athletes at her alma mater.

Schoonmaker’s latest tenure at USC followed five seasons as lead assistant at UConn. Her wide-ranging responsibilities included practice planning, scouting and recruiting for the Huskies, who recorded 95 wins from 2015-19 competing in the American Athletic Conference. In her final campaign, the program produced five All-AAC performers, including a pair of First-Team picks, as well as 14 AAC All-Academic Team honorees.

In 2014, Schoonmaker was on staff for Houston’s run to the NCAA Regionals. The Cougars totaled 33 victories and earned an at-large berth in the Waco Regional. She served as infield coach for a group that set a single-season program record for double plays turned and helped increase the team fielding percentage by 12 points from the previous spring.

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Conway Chosen to Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Men’s Track & Field Team

Story Links PHILADELPHIA — For the second-straight year, Matthew Conway was selected to the Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Men’s Track & Field Team. The team is selected by votes from 30 four-year institutions in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. To be considered for Academic All-Area recognition, individuals had to have at least a […]

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18 minutes ago

June 10, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — For the second-straight year, Matthew Conway was selected to the Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Men’s Track & Field Team.

The team is selected by votes from 30 four-year institutions in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. To be considered for Academic All-Area recognition, individuals had to have at least a 3.3 GPA or above.

The Chemical Engineering major, who also minors in Spanish, is a 2024-25 Goldwater Scholarship Winner, a two-time College Sports Communicators Academic (CSC) All-District, a Rowan Scholar of Distinction (Student-Athletes with 3.80 or above), an NJAC All-Academic Honorable Mention, a member of Chi Alpha Sigma (National Student-Athlete Honor Society), and is a board member of Rowan’s American Institute of Chemical Engineers chapter. The recent graduate plans to pursue a Ph.D. in chemical engineering

On the track, Conway is a two-time NJAC Outdoor Champion in the 10,000 meters (2024, 2025), and an 2025 NJAC Indoor Champion in the 5000 meters. He is also a member of the Profs’ cross country team. He was part of three NJAC Championship teams this season (cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field).

Conway is joined on the Academic All-Area team by Villanova’s Liam Murphy and Dan Watcke, Haverford’s Reza Eshghi and Peter LaRochelle, Javon Bowen of Holy Family, Kampton Kam of Penn, Samuel Knowles of Widener, Jayden McKeen of Ursinus, and Luke Noss of Saint Joseph’s. Murphy was named the performer of the year.

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Rowan Finishes 17th in LEARFIELD Division III Directors’ Cup Final Standings; Marks Best Finish in Over 20 Years

Story Links CLEVELAND, OH – Rowan University Athletics earned a 17th-place finish in the final 2024-25 LEARFIELD Division III Directors’ Cup standings, which recognizes the overall excellence of the athletics program. It marks the highest finish for the Profs since 1998-99 when the program garnered a fifth-place finish, and a 17th-place finish in […]

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39 minutes ago

June 10, 2025

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CLEVELAND, OH – Rowan University Athletics earned a 17th-place finish in the final 2024-25 LEARFIELD Division III Directors’ Cup standings, which recognizes the overall excellence of the athletics program. It marks the highest finish for the Profs since 1998-99 when the program garnered a fifth-place finish, and a 17th-place finish in 2005-06.

Throughout the course of the year, Directors’ Cup points are awarded based on a school’s finish in up to 18 sports in the NCAA Championships.

Rowan, which had representation in 13 NCAA Championships by either full teams or individuals, saw the baseball, men’s indoor track & field and men’s outdoor track & field teams register third-place national finishes, with softball finishing fifth.

Rowan totaled 708.0 points in the Directors’ Cup standings for NCAA Division III and was the top-finishing program in the NJAC. The Profs recently captured their fifth consecutive NJAC Cup, which signifies success for an institution’s athletic program during the year of conference competition.

Rowan’s 2024-25 NCAA Team Finishes

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field – 3rd (NCAA Championship)

Men’s Indoor Track & Field – 3rd (NCAA Championship)
Baseball – 3rd (NCAA World Series)
Softball – 5th (NCAA World Series)
Women’s Lacrosse – 9th (NCAA Third Round)
Field Hockey – 9th (NCAA Second Round)
Women’s Swimming –19th (NCAA Championship)
Men’s Swimming – 28th (NCAA Championship)
Women’s Cross Country – 32nd (NCAA Championship)
Men’s Cross Country – 33rd (NCAA Championship)
Women’s Soccer – 33rd (NCAA First Round)
Men’s Soccer – 33rd (NCAA First Round)

Women’s Outdoor Track & Field – 38th (NCAA Championship)

Emory was the overall LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup champion with 1198.75 total points with last year’s champion Johns Hopkins finishing second (1147.0 points) and Tufts placing third (1069.00).

The LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Directors’ Cup points accumulated can vary by sport based on the size of a team bracket or the number of teams that score points at a particular NCAA Championship.

Rowan All-Time in the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup

1995-96         5th place

1996-97         9th

1998-99         5th

(standings from 2000-02 N/A)

2003-04         53rd

2004-05         29th

2005-06         19th

2006-07         74th

2007-08         61st

2008-09         53rd

2009-10         68th

2010-11         63rd

2011-12         26th

2012-13         39th

2013-14         65th

2014-15         98th

2015-16         33rd

2016-17         43rd

2017-18         21st

2018-19         30th

2019-20         No standings due to Covid-19

2020-21         No standings due to Covid-19

2021-22         29th

2022-23         21st

2023-24         21st

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Seven of eight tickets secured for 2026 European Water Polo Championships on penultimate day of qualifiers

Slovenia’s players and coaches celebrate after beating Great Britain to secure their qualification. Photo: Gorazd Kavčič (Gorazd Kavcic/www.rezultat.si) Only one of the eight qualification spots is still to be booked after a thrilling penultimate day at the men’s qualifiers for the 2026 European Water Polo Championships. So far, there has been no changing of the […]

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49 minutes ago

June 10, 2025

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*Slovenia’s players and coaches celebrate after beating Great Britain to secure their qualification. Photo: Gorazd Kavčič (Gorazd Kavcic/www.rezultat.si)*

Only one of the eight qualification spots is still to be booked after a thrilling penultimate day at the men’s qualifiers for the 2026 European Water Polo Championships. So far, there has been no changing of the guard, as the advancing teams are all set to return to the grand stage, while the challengers were unable to bring any of them down.

European Water Polo Championships
Men’s Qualifications, Day 3
Tuesday 10 June 2025

Group A (Kranj)

Great Britain 11-9 Poland
Netherlands 35-4 Czechia
Slovenia 16-6 Great Britain
Netherlands 29-3 Poland

Group B (Istanbul)

Finland 5-30 Germany
Sweden 7-30 Türkiye

Group C (Tbilisi)

Israel 16-9 Bulgaria
Georgia 29-5 Switzerland

Group D (Gzira)

Ukraine 10-24 France
Portugal 13-17 Malta

Netherlands’ Bilal Gbadamassi helped steer his team to qualification on day three in Kranj. *Photo: Gorazd Kavčič (Gorazd Kavcic/www.rezultat.si)*

In Group A, Great Britain claimed a heroic win over Poland in the morning to set up a do-or-die clash against hosts Slovenia in the evening. The young Brits came back from 1-5 down, as James Blenkinship stepped up and scored three in the fourth period, after 8-8, to secure a memorable 11-9 victory.

However, playing twice on the same day is challenging, even for the pros sometimes, so it was no wonder the up-and-coming Brits couldn’t carry on their great run in the evening when they faced off with Slovenia.

The hosts would have been the favourites anyway, but taking on an inexperienced rival who had to play their second match of the day made it even easier. It was all over by half-time, as the Slovenians stormed to an 8-2 lead and never looked back to secure another appearance at the Europeans with a powerful 16-6 victory.

The strongest team in Kranj, the Netherlands, passed their double test with ease, netting 64 goals in total against Czechia (35-4) and Poland (29-3) to qualify as expected.

*Great Britain captain Dan Paddon scored twice against Poland in the morning session. Photo: Gorazd Kavčič (Gorazd Kavcic/www.rezultat.si)*

In Group B, Slovakia have already reached safe waters and need just a win against Finland on Wednesday to finish top. This group is the only one where the second spot is yet to be decided.

Hosts Türkiye and Germany warmed up for their final day showdown by each hitting 30 goals against their respective Nordic opponents – the Türks thrashed Sweden 7-30, while the Germans blew away the Finns 5-30.

Elsewhere, neither Georgia, nor Israel had any hardships in Tbilisi, as they both added three more points from their matches to advance from Group C.

Georgia downed the Swiss 29-5, while Israel finished the job by half-time against Bulgaria, leading 8-1, and maintained that seven-goal gap until the end (16-9).

Something similar happened in Gzira, where France and Malta clinched the necessary wins to go through. France cruised to a 10-24 victory against Ukraine, while the hosts jumped to a 3-10 lead against Portugal in the first half, and their rivals could never get any closer than four during the rest of the match, as Malta triumphed 13-17.

In these two groups, the first place will be at stake on the closing day.