Sports
Elon’s newest volleyball head coach looks to build player-coach connections
When Matt Troy took the head coaching job for Elon University’s volleyball team, he saw it as an opportunity to grow as a coach. Troy previously hadn’t heard much about Elon’s volleyball program but after watching film of the team, he believed they had potential that could be built upon once the season begins in […]

When Matt Troy took the head coaching job for Elon University’s volleyball team, he saw it as an opportunity to grow as a coach. Troy previously hadn’t heard much about Elon’s volleyball program but after watching film of the team, he believed they had potential that could be built upon once the season begins in August. Last year, Elon finished 11-18.
While Troy does plan on incorporating a few things such as an up-tempo offense, he isn’t looking to change everything about the team. Elon will have 11 returning players next year, and Troy recognizes how tight-knit most of the players are going back to former head coach Mary Tendler’s tenure. Tendler spent the last 22 seasons coaching Elon where she won over 300 games.
Troy said he made it a priority to know the players on the team so he could get a better understanding of who they are. He and his staff have also started recruiting players in preparation for the fall.
“One of the first things I did coming in is I started to put meetings into play,” Troy said. “Once we started in February, I have them in my office every week and just get to know them.”
Troy said he’ll typically ask the players questions about their lives such as their personal interests or how they’re doing in school. He doesn’t want to know them as only volleyball players.
“We’re invested in them as players of course, but also as people,” Troy said.
When it comes to volleyball, Troy finds it easier to apply his offense from his previous coaching jobs, which he acknowledges is different from the offense they ran in the fall. During Troy’s most recent stint at Johns Hopkins, he compiled a 151-17 record which included an appearance in the 2019 NCAA Division III Championship. His career record in 14 seasons is 357-96.
Troy said he uses practices as an opportunity to get the players accustomed to his offense. The practices resemble most game simulations with lots of gameplay in an attempt to replicate game-like scenarios.
Although Troy recognized it might take some time to be fully effective, he is fine with this philosophy.
“In practice, it’s a lot of six on six and learning within the gameplay,” Troy said. “We’re willing to take some chances in our practices, and we might make some mistakes but we’re going to be better because of that.”
Troy also counts on the players to express their thoughts in practice. He believes that giving them ownership of the team will allow them to be more invested going forward.
So far players including junior Cameron Lanier have admired Troy’s efforts in building connections with everyone on the team. She said Troy has been friendly and said she has gotten to know him better through one-on-one meetings.
“Almost every week we do one-on-one meetings with him, and we watch film or go over questions that we have,” Lanier said. “That’s been really nice because he cares about us and wants us to get better.”
Troy said he’s invested in watching film of plays. He believes it’s an opportunity to really break down everything without worrying about performing a particular skill.
Lanier said Troy hasn’t been afraid to incorporate new ideas during practice either. She believes the team has already shown glimpses of how effective Troy’s up-tempo strategy could be.
She also said Troy sets high expectations for practice when the team is scrimmaging against each other. She said Troy expects everyone to practice the way they’d compete in an actual game.
“He holds us to a high standard in practice and wants us to hold each other to a high standard,” Lanier said. “He’s always mentioning that which is nice because it’s true.”
Through Troy’s first few months on the job, he has found the players to be very receptive of his approach toward building connections along with the style of practices.
He hopes to continue developing relationships among the players before the season through team activities whether it’s having dinner at his house or team road trips.
“They’re brought into it pretty well,” Troy said. “One of my hopes is that a lot of our activities start taking place in the fall. And I think it’s fun when they’re a bit more genuine and not always planned.”
Sports
World Aquatics Championships: E. coli bacteria to blame for postponed Sentosa open water race
Hours before the event was due to begin on Tuesday, it was announced that the race would be postponed as water quality levels failed to meet “acceptable thresholds”, organisers said. In a press release in the early hours of Tuesday, World Aquatics announced that the decision was made in the “utmost interest of athlete safety”. […]

Hours before the event was due to begin on Tuesday, it was announced that the race would be postponed as water quality levels failed to meet “acceptable thresholds”, organisers said.
In a press release in the early hours of Tuesday, World Aquatics announced that the decision was made in the “utmost interest of athlete safety”.
The race, which was planned for 8am on Tuesday, is now scheduled for 10.15am on Wednesday. Singapore Olympian Chantal Liew and youngster Kate Ona were scheduled to compete in the race.
The decision followed a review involving representatives from World Aquatics, the Singapore 2025 Organising Committee, the World Aquatics Sports Medicine Committee and the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Technical Committee, said World Aquatics.
“While testing in recent days has consistently shown water quality at the venue to meet World Aquatics’ acceptable thresholds, analysis of samples taken on Jul 13 surpassed these thresholds,” said the sport’s governing body in a press release.
“The decision to postpone racing was made in the best interests of athlete health and safety, which remains World Aquatics and the Singapore 2025 Organising Committee’s top priority.”
National head coach Gary Tan said he and his athletes were informed of the postponement at about 11.45pm on Monday.
“Our team promptly communicated the update to the affected athletes and worked with them on next steps,” he said.
Mr Tan, who is also the performance director of swimming at Singapore Aquatics, said postponements were not uncommon in international open water swimming competitions.
“Our athletes are well accustomed to managing such changes. They remain in good spirits, and while the race will now take place at a later time slot, they have trained under similar conditions and are well prepared to adapt.”
At last year’s Paris Olympics, pollution in the Seine after heavy rains caused the men’s triathlon race to be postponed for a day, after swimming practice sessions were cancelled two days in a row.
There are plans in place should contamination levels continue to exceed acceptable standards, said Mr Nowicki.
“We have a variety of different options that we can use in so far as locations that we’ll look at. It could be in Sentosa, it could not be in Sentosa. It’s not something that we’re planning right now,” he added.
“So it’s bit premature to talk about alternative sites on or off Sentosa.”
Sports
World Aquatics Championships: sea races back on in Singapore after water quality delays
The men’s and women’s 10km open water swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships will finally get under way on Wednesday after multiple delays owing to unacceptable levels of E coli bacteria in Singapore’s seas. Initially scheduled for Tuesday, the women’s 10km was called off hours before the expected start after water samples drawn at […]
The men’s and women’s 10km open water swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships will finally get under way on Wednesday after multiple delays owing to unacceptable levels of E coli bacteria in Singapore’s seas.
Initially scheduled for Tuesday, the women’s 10km was called off hours before the expected start after water samples drawn at the race site off Sentosa island, on the southern coast of the city state, showed “exceeding levels” of the Escherichia coli (E coli) bacteria.
The race was then moved to Wednesday morning, hours after the scheduled start of the men’s race, but both were delayed again late on Tuesday after the water quality levels exceeded the “acceptable thresholds outlined in the World Aquatics competition regulation”.
On Wednesday, World Aquatics and the Singapore 2025 Organising Committee said races could proceed at 1pm for the men’s 10km race and 4pm for the women’s.
Water samples showed a significant improvement, organisers said, with levels of E coli falling between the ranges of “good” to “excellent” according to World Aquatics and the World Health Organization (WHO) regulations.

They added that the regular water quality monitoring and testing would continue throughout the competition period.
Sports
Garrett Scantling – Assistant Coach – Staff Directory
Director of Illinois track, field and cross country Petros Kyprianou has announced the hiring of Olympian Garrett Scantling as an assistant coach on Tuesday (July 15). Scantling will primarily assist Kyprianou with coaching the jumps and combined events crews. Scantling finished fourth in the decathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with a score of […]

Director of Illinois track, field and cross country Petros Kyprianou has announced the hiring of Olympian Garrett Scantling as an assistant coach on Tuesday (July 15). Scantling will primarily assist Kyprianou with coaching the jumps and combined events crews.
Scantling finished fourth in the decathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with a score of 8,611 points. He recorded personal bests in the 400m (48.25) and 1500m (4:35.54) as part of that decathlon. To qualify to the Olympics, he won the U.S. Olympic decathlon trials in Eugene, Ore. with a score of 8,647 points.
In 2022 he won two national titles: first in the indoor season at the 2022 US Indoor Championships in the heptathlon with 6,382 points and then later that summer in the decathlon at the 2022 USA Combined Events Championships with 8,867 points. Both point totals are his personal-best scores in their respective disciplines.
Scantling saw great success at the NCAA level competing for the Georgia Bulldogs under Kyprianou. Highlighted by being the national runner-up in the heptathlon at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships scoring 6,068 points. In his senior year he earned bronze in the heptathlon at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships (5,951 points). His first NCAA medal came in his freshman year where he was the bronze medalist in the heptathlon at the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships (6,017 points).
In the fall of 2019, Scantling returned to Georgia to work as an assistant coach with Kyprianou on the track and field team, where he stayed until 2021. In 2022 he returned to Episcopal School of Jacksonville where he was the strength and conditioning coach while coaching three sports: football, girls weightlifting and track and field.
Sports
Pair of Beavs Earn Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year
CORVALLIS, Ore. – 54 Oregon State athletes across baseball and track & field were named to the 2025 Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll. Earning the title of 2025 Pac-12 Women’s Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the conference’s Women’s Top Performer of the Year, Oregon State’s Sara Sanders capped off her season […]

Earning the title of 2025 Pac-12 Women’s Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the conference’s Women’s Top Performer of the Year, Oregon State’s Sara Sanders capped off her season with an Honorable Mention All-America finish in the javelin. In her first-ever NCAA Championship appearance, the senior placed 18th overall with a mark of 48.47m/159-0 after missing two seasons due to injury. Earning her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology with a minor in Chemistry, Sanders was named to the Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll each year since 2022.
Earning the title of 2025 Pac-12 Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Wilson Weber was named an All-American and First-Team Academic All-American in 2025, his last year with the Beavers. A catcher, he batted .326 with 15 doubles, 12 home runs and 58 RBI. He earned his degree in business administration while the Beavers were competing in the Men’s College World Series in Omaha.
To be eligible for the Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must be on their respective roster with a cumulative GPA of at 3.3 and have served at least one year in residence at the institution.
Baseball
James DeCremer, Political Science
AJ, Hutcheson, Finance
Bryce Johnson, Business Administration
Nelson Keljo, Digital Communication Arts
Jacob Krieg, Psychology
Dallas Macias, Digital Communication Arts
Laif Palmer, Finance
Tyce Peterson, Human Development & Family Science
Chase Reynolds, Animal Sciences
Eric Segura, Business Administration
Andrew Talavs, Communication Studies
Easton Talt, Business Administration
Gavin Turley, Business Administration
Wilson Weber, Business Administration – Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Track and Field
Maryann Ackerman, Forestry
Maya Baechler, Pre-Apparel
Delaney Bahn, Sociology & Psychology
Audrey Biggerstaff, Chemistry
Ruby Broadbent, BioHealth Sciences
Sage Brooks, Mathematics
Gracie Buzzell, Teaching
Erin Cosgrove, Public Health
Erika Cunniam, Nutrition
Eliza Eckman, Environmental Arts & Humanities
Isabelle Esler, Business Information Systems
Mia Fowler, Public Health
Katie Gelston, Mechanical Engineering
Jamie Hamlin, Political Science
Hannah Hernandez, Construction Engineering Management
Ainsley Herron, Public Health
Ellie Hull, Psychology
Lexi Hunt, Sociology
Jada Hurley, BioHealth Sciences
Molly Latincsics, Women, Gender & Sexuality
Kate Laurent, Human Development & Family Science
Claire Lee, Human Development & Family Science
Ruby Lorenz, Animal Sciences
Meagen Lowe, Non-Degree Graduate
Noemi Lundgren, Marketing
Eimy Martinez, Kinesiology
Ava McKee, Teaching
Lilia Montiel, Animal Sciences
Reese Morkert, Kinesiology
Delaney Neufeld-Griffin, Public Health
Riley Patera, Psychology
Abigail Pradere, Environmental Engineering
Grace Proudfoot, BioHealth Sciences
Ellie Quintana, Business Administration
Grace Rubio, English
Sara Sanders, Business Administration – Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Track and Field Performer of the Year
Payton Smith, Kinesiology
Sophia Stubblefield, Business Administration
Sydney van der Zee, Microbiology
Paige Wiley, Computer Science
Kate Yahn, Business Administration
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
Sports
MLB trying to work out 'logistics' for players to participate in 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles
Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday that Major League Baseball is “trying to iron through (the) logistics” that would allow MLB players to participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. MLB officials met with Olympic representatives earlier this week and both the league and players have interest in Olympic participation. Here’s what Manfred said about the […]


Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday that Major League Baseball is “trying to iron through (the) logistics” that would allow MLB players to participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. MLB officials met with Olympic representatives earlier this week and both the league and players have interest in Olympic participation.
Here’s what Manfred said about the 2028 Olympics on Tuesday (via MLB.com):
“I think that the idea of playing in L.A. in ’28, regardless of the merits of the possibility of ongoing Olympic participation in another location, that there’s some merit to it,” Manfred said Tuesday during a Q&A session with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “I think it is an opportunity to market the game on a really global stage.”
Tony Clark, director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, similarly said his team is trying to work out a plan.
“We do know players are interested in playing, whether it’s for Team USA or for any number of other teams around the world,” he said. “We’ve got the WBC, which players are telling us they’re interested in playing in, as well. There’s just a lot of conversation that needs to be had sooner rather than later to see how viable this is, but we’re hopeful that we can figure out a way to do it.”
Currently, only amateurs and professional players not on the 40-man roster are allowed to participate in the Olympics. Team USA’s roster in 2020 featured minor-league journeymen, a few top prospects, and several unsigned free agent veterans. Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization halted their regular seasons so professionals could play in the 2020 Olympics, during which Japan beat USA in the gold medal game.
The schedule and insurance would likely be the biggest logistical issue. The 2028 schedule, released Monday, set games for July 15-20 at Dodger Stadium, which would likely fall around the All-Star break but stretch longer than the typical Midsummer Classic.
The NHL has paused its season for the Olympics in the past and their players will participate in the 2026 Olympics for the first time since 2014. The hiatus was related to insurance, among other things. The NHL wanted the International Olympic Committee to cover the salary of any injured players, the IOC refused, so on and so forth. MLB may also have to work through similar insurance issues.
“There’s nothing more worldwide than the Olympics,” Phillies star Bryce Harper said about the Olympics last year. “I watch the most random sports in the Olympics because it’s the Olympics, and that’s really cool. I love hockey. It’s one of my favorite sports to watch. To see (the NHL) take that three-week break and let those guys go play, that’s another big goal that we should have as Major League Baseball.”
Baseball was a full-time Olympic sport from 1992-2008. Cuba has won three gold medals (1992, 1996, 2004) and South Korea (2008), Japan (2020), and USA (2000) have one gold medal apiece. As a minor leaguer, former Milwaukee Brewers ace Ben Sheets threw a complete game shutout against heavily favored Cuba in the 2000 gold medal game.
Sports
SUMMER FUN: Young swimmers invited to Watford Water Polo’s summer camp
Watford Water Polo and Next Level Swimming Academy are inviting residents to their upcoming summer camp. Boys and girls are welcome to the five-day camp from August 4 to 8. The Cadets camp will take place at Habs’ Girls’ School between 8.45am and 12.30pm. Attendees must be at least nine years old. The U12 and […]

Watford Water Polo and Next Level Swimming Academy are inviting residents to their upcoming summer camp.
Boys and girls are welcome to the five-day camp from August 4 to 8.
The Cadets camp will take place at Habs’ Girls’ School between 8.45am and 12.30pm. Attendees must be at least nine years old.
The U12 and U14 camp will take place at Habs’ Boys’ School from 12.45pm to 5pm. The minimum age is those starting secondary school in September 2025.
The camp costs £124. For more information, please email info@nextlevelswimming.co.uk or watfordwaterpolo123@gmail.com
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