Sports
Ethan Strand Named Bowerman Semifinalist
NEW ORLEANS – Ethan Strand’s historic track season continues to bring home more awards as he was named a semifinalist for The Bowerman Award by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Thursday, June 26. This is the second straight season in which a Tar Heel has been named a semifinalist, following […]

NEW ORLEANS – Ethan Strand’s historic track season continues to bring home more awards as he was named a semifinalist for The Bowerman Award by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Thursday, June 26.
This is the second straight season in which a Tar Heel has been named a semifinalist, following Parker Wolfe’s selection last season. The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009, is named after former Oregon Head Coach Bill Bowerman and is presented annually to the most outstanding male and female NCAA track and field athletes in the nation.
Strand’s historic track season kicked off by setting two NCAA records in his first two races of the year. He is the only student-athlete to set the NCAA record in the mile (3:48.32) and the 3000m (7:30.15) in the same year. Strand won the Atlantic Coast Conference title in the men’s 5000m, setting the meet record (13:26.60). Strand was also part of the national runner-up DMR squad that set an unratified American Indoor Record (9:17.17), earning First Team All-American honors. He followed that up by winning the national championship in the men’s 3000m (7:52.03).
After the indoor season, the national champion received numerous awards, including the ACC Indoor Men’s Track Athlete of the Year and the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. Strand also became the first Tar Heel to win USTFCCCA National Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. Shalane Flanagan won the award for the Tar Heels in cross country in 2002 and 2003.
The historic success continued into the outdoor season as he ran the second-fastest 1,500m time in NCAA history (3:33.22) at the Duke Twilight. Strand entered the postseason on a high note. The senior became the first Tar Heel and only the fourth in ACC history to win the 1,500 three times at the ACC Outdoor Championships. Strand was also the ACC runner-up behind his teammate Wolfe in the 5,000m. Strand earned a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 5,000m and 1,500m. Strand finished as the national runner-up in the 1,500m, earning his third First Team All-America honors of the year.
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Sports
2025 Daily Journal All-Area Boys Track and Field – Shaw Local
First team Wences Baumgartner (Submitted by B) Wences Baumgartner, Beecher, jr. Baumgartner placed first in the high jump (1.67 meters) in his first meet of the season on April 9. He finished the year strong, too, placing second at the River Valley Conference Meet (1.77) before setting a school and personal record and sectional title-winning […]

First team
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Wences Baumgartner, Beecher, jr.
Baumgartner placed first in the high jump (1.67 meters) in his first meet of the season on April 9. He finished the year strong, too, placing second at the River Valley Conference Meet (1.77) before setting a school and personal record and sectional title-winning jump of 1.80 meters.
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Keegan Cooper, Bishop McNamara, sr.
A state qualifier in the discus, Cooper placed first three times this season and second three more times. He won a Chicagoland Christian Conference title, placed 21st at state and threw a personal-record 44.26 meters at the Herscher Invite on May 2, placing first.
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Tyrell Berry, Bradley-Bourbonnais, so.
No one in the area threw a discus farther than Berry this season. His PR throw of 46.39 meters came in the sectionals and had him just shy of a state berth. He won an All-City title with a throw of 44.57 meters and also placed first at the Gary Haupert Invitational.
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Lyzale Edmon, Bradley-Bourbonnais, jr.
An All-City champion in the 100 (11.47 seconds) and 200 meters (22.60) this season, Edmon moved into fourth in school history in both events. His PR in the 100 meters (10.94) was set at the Gary Haupert Invitational, and his PR in the 200 (22.07) came in the Blue Smoke Invitational.
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Malachi Lee, Bradley-Bourbonnais, so.
Lee proved himself to be one of the top long jumpers in Illinois this season. He set the school record and then broke it twice, with his PR winding up at 7.30 meters, the sixth-best in the state regardless of class. He won 11 of his 13 meets, placed fifth at state (6.93) and was named the 2025 Daily Journal Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
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Joel Morrical, Bradley-Bourbonnais, jr.
Morrical placed first or second in the shot put at 10 of his 12 meets this season. He was the All-City shot put champ with a PR throw of 14.93 meters. He finished second at the SouthWest Suburban Conference Meet (14.42), earning all-conference honors.
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Julian Micetich, Coal City, jr.
Micetich won Illinois Central Eight Conference titles in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, also qualifying for state in both events. He ran a school-record 14.74 seconds in the state prelims of the 110 hurdles, finishing seventh in the finals the following day. His 300 PR was 41.52.
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Brayden Shepard, Herscher, sr.
Shepard took first in the 1,600 meters at the Manteno Invite, the ICE Conference Meet and the Herscher Relays this season. He finished second at sectionals with a PR of 4:32.37, the second-fastest in school history, to qualify for state in the 1,600.
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Clifton Martin, Kankakee, sr.
Martin won an All-City title in the 300-meter hurdles and also as part of two of the Kays’ relay teams, including the 4×400 relay that later qualified for state. His PR (39.92) in the 300 hurdles at the Kankakee Co-Ed Invite is the second-fastest time in school history.
Dominic White, Kankakee, jr.
A state qualifier as part of the 4×200 relay, Martin also made the trip to Charleston in the high jump. He won an All-City high jump title with a jump of 1.85 meters. He finished second at the Southland Athletic Conference Boys Championships with a PR of 1.95 meters.
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Briggs Cann, Manteno, so.
Cann finished first or second in the 400 meters in each of his meets except state this season. He won an ICE title (52.04) and two weeks later put up a PR of 50.30 to win a sectional title and advance to state. At state, he reached the finals and placed ninth overall (51.28).
Drew McTaggart, Watseka, sr.
The area’s top distance runner this season, McTaggart qualified for state in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. He set a PR in each event at state, placing 15th in the 1,600 (4:28.94) and 16th in the 3,200 (10:18.84). His 1,600 PR also set a school record.
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Bishop McNamara relays
A pair of Fightin’ Irish relay teams made the trip to state this season. Dashaun Whiters, Jackson Kirchner, Rhys Landsmann and Willie Felton took the 4×100 relay to state with a second-place sectional finish. Their fastest time of 44.67 seconds ranks fifth in school history. The 4×800 team of Sebastian Cortes, Justice Provost, David Quigley and Jack Purcell also placed second at sectionals to qualify for state, where they ran an 8:38.61 to rank fourth in school history. Quigley and Provost also ran the 4×400 relay.
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Bradley-Bourbonnais relays
Seth Teague, Isaac Allison, Jordan Fitch and LyZale Edmon ran a scorching 4×100 relay, setting a school record of 42.49 seconds to finish third at the SWSC Boys Championships. They also earned an All-City title at 42.56. The group of Allison, Fitch, LyZale Edmon and Kyren Edmon also cracked the top five in school history in the 4×200. Their time of 1:29.19 at the Oswego East Invite ranks fourth all time.
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Kankakee relays
The Kays had two of the top relays in school history this season. The 4×400 relay group of Clifton Martin, Zyon Turner, Phillip Turner and Dominic White won a sectional title (3:25.03) and finished 14th in the prelims at state (3:21.49), the second-best time in school history. The 4×100 relay team of Zyair Turner, Phillip Turner, Zyon Turner and White set a school record of 1:27.85 at the SAC Championships, earning a conference title.
Honorable mention
Brock Clott, Bishop McNamara; Cale Hamilton, Bishop McNamara; Jamir Burt, Bradley-Bourbonnais; Kyler Savini, Bradley-Bourbonnais; Sully Westover, Bradley-Bourbonnais; Jake Thompson, Central; Jonathan Randles, Central; Parker Jakovec, Coal City; Jackson Kruse, Herscher; David Perez, Iroquois West; Skyler Estay, Milford-Cissna Park; Michael Tincher, Momence; Aden Pinson, St. Anne; Dennis Goodman, Watseka; Billy Moore, Wilmington; Hunter Kaitschuck, Wilmington
Sports
USA drops first match | News, Sports, Jobs
USA Volleyball OSIJEK, Croatia –Crestview High School graduate and University of Pittsburgh freshman Abbey Emch and Team USA did not have the greatest time on July 4 in the U19 Volleyball World Championships. The Red, White and Blue suffered its first setback of the tournament as Poland stunned the defending champs 25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-27, […]

USA Volleyball
OSIJEK, Croatia –Crestview High School graduate and University of Pittsburgh freshman Abbey Emch and Team USA did not have the greatest time on July 4 in the U19 Volleyball World Championships.
The Red, White and Blue suffered its first setback of the tournament as Poland stunned the defending champs 25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-27, 16-14 on Friday.
Emch played in the third, fourth and fifth sets and had six kills.
The U.S. (2-1) will return to the court at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday against Bulgaria (2-1). Poland, who brought a boisterous crowd with it, is now 3-0 in Pool C.
The match was as close statistically as the final score would indicate with Poland holding a narrow margin in kills (64-62), the U.S. leading by one in aces (6-5) and each team totaling eight blocks.
Outside hitter Cari Spears scored a team-high 21 points, 13 of which came in the fourth and fifth sets, with 16 kills, a match-best four blocks and an ace. Opposite Henley Anderson paced the team with 19 kills.
Setter Genevieve Harris was all over the court setting, playing defense and contributing seven points with two kills, three blocks and two aces. Outsider hitter Kelly Kinney (seven kills, one ace) and middle blocker Gabrielle Nichols (six kills, one block, one ace) each scored eight points.
Outside Lameen Mambu added four kills.
“Congratulations to Poland on a well-fought match,” U.S. head coach Keegan Cook said. “This is the exact match we hoped for this group to experience in pool play. We will be better for it. We will also need to learn some lessons quickly as Bulgaria and Turkey are both strong opponents. I’m looking forward to seeing our USA team respond.”
The U.S. scored five of the first seven points of the match, but Poland responded with a 7-2 run to take a lead it would not relinquish in the first set. The lead grew to seven, 22-15, before a huge U.S. rally (8-2) made it 24-23 but Poland was able to get a kill to end the set.
Nichols scored five points on four kills and a block that finished a 4-0 run to cut the deficit from seven to three. Kinney and Spears each had three kills and four points.
A Kinney kill on an overpass in set two gave the U.S. its first lead, 7-6, since leading by the same score in the opening set. A Harris block and a Poland timeout evened the score at 14 and led to a Poland timeout. Kinney scored on a kill off a block and Spears followed with two aces, the second dribbling off the tape, for a three-point U.S. lead.
Back-to-back aces by Harris gave the U.S. a 21-17 lead. Poland scored the next three points and had a swing to even the set but a great dig by Harris led to an Anderson kill. Poland did eventually tie the set at 23 but Anderson put a ball down and an opposing hitting error gave the U.S. the set to square the match at one set apiece.
Anderson scored five points on kills, while Harris scored four points on a kill, a block and her two key aces.
With the U.S. leading 8-7 in the third set, Poland scored six of the next seven points to take a 13-9 lead. The U.S. pulled within three points on another Harris block, 15-12, but Poland went on a 5-1 run lead to take control of the set. Anderson produced four kills in the set.
The fourth set was close throughout with the U.S. denying two match points. Spears scored the team’s last five points. The first tied the set at 23 and the second staved off the first match point after Poland could not convert a free ball. Her kill off the block again saved match point and this time tied the set at 25. Spears recorded a block to give the U.S. its first set point and send the match to a fifth set with her 10th point and seventh kill of the set.
An Anderson kill gave the U.S. a 3-2 lead in the deciding set but it would be its last lead of the match. Poland led 13-10 before a kill by Emch and a hitting error brought the U.S. within a point. A tough Anderson serve led to a kill by Mambu to even the set at 13 apiece. Service errors on the last two U.S. serves opened the door for Poland to seal the match. Spears recorded three more kills in the set and Emch added two.
Sports
Harbor continues to grow on and off the football field
During the first half of last summer, Nyck Harbor blazed his way through the NCAAs, to earn a spot in the US Olympic Track and Field Trials. However, Harbor decided before the end of June that his track season was finished. He bypassed the trials – he would’ve been a long-shot to make the Olympics […]

During the first half of last summer, Nyck Harbor blazed his way through the NCAAs, to earn a spot in the US Olympic Track and Field Trials.
However, Harbor decided before the end of June that his track season was finished. He bypassed the trials – he would’ve been a long-shot to make the Olympics – and rejoined the football team at South Carolina. It’s been all football in the 12 months or since then.
The 6-foot-5 wide receiver, who turned 20 on July 5, was a steady presence at the Gamecock football facility while camps were going on during the month of June. Like several player on the team, Harbor was spotted with his position coach, helping campers run through drills.
Sports
Rising freshman at Lovett makes Team USA’s U19 volleyball roster
Knotts noticed a “huge leap” in Kari’s development this season. “People were constantly saying, ‘She’s a great athlete, she’s a superstar, she’s a generational player,’ but I didn’t know what that really meant until maybe this year.” Kari, a rising freshman at The Lovett School, recently became the youngest member of Team USA’s U19 squad. […]

Knotts noticed a “huge leap” in Kari’s development this season.
“People were constantly saying, ‘She’s a great athlete, she’s a superstar, she’s a generational player,’ but I didn’t know what that really meant until maybe this year.”
Kari, a rising freshman at The Lovett School, recently became the youngest member of Team USA’s U19 squad. From that group, she was one of 12 selected for the U.S. roster for the Pan American Cup, which took place in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada, and helped America to a first-place finish in Saturday’s gold medal match.
Kari was named the tournament’s most valuable player and had 24 points, 19 kills, three aces and two blocks in the 3-0 win vs. Mexico on Sunday. She was also named the tournament’s best spiker.
“It was so much fun,” Kari said. “It was really competitive, playing with the best players across the country. It was a really good learning experience. It helped me grow as a person.”
Obviously Kari’s measurables make themselves known, but her coach for Team USA, Jamie Morrison, spoke to her motivation level.
“I think there’s a volleyball piece and a physical piece, and that obviously stands out for someone her age,“ Morrison said. ”You often forget how old she is, but I think that there’s something inside, a drive, a motor that’s unique, that’s a little bit different, and I think for me if she stays humble through all of the attention that she’s getting and uses that drive, the sky’s the limit for her.“
Kari started playing volleyball at the local YMCA when she was about 8 years old.
Despite all the “you must play basketball” comments she hears because of her height, that’s the one sport Kari didn’t try out for at the risk of introducing too much competition between her two younger brothers, both of whom already played basketball. She tried gymnastics, softball, flag football, tennis, soccer, swimming and track, but with her height, volleyball was the perfect fit.
Fast forward to now, and Kari has helped her club team, A5, to consistent success, including a win at the 2025 Triple Crown Championship (with Kari bringing home MVP).
If you watch her play, club coach Helen Walker said, the first thing to jump out might be her sheer physical ability, particularly how high she can jump and the power behind her hits.
“But really, what makes her special is how all-around she is,” Walker said. “She can really, at 14 years old, she can do everything. Blocking, hitting, setting, defense, back row pass, everything. She hits back row attack at really like a college level. … Based on my experience, she’s one of a kind. She’s a unicorn.”
Walker also spoke to Kari’s drive.
“The young players who look up to her, I always want them to remember that Kari works really hard,” Walker said. “She has very high expectations of herself and she puts that into action. So she works very hard and is very humble. … She’s a very good player, but she really betters her team. And she really always tries to help her teammates. So I think that’s the quality I want everybody to know, other than her volleyball ability, because talent is one thing, character is another thing.”
Kari inherited most of her height from her dad, Larry Knotts who is 6-foot-5 and played basketball at Washington Adventist University, formerly Columbia Union College. Her mom stands at 5-foot-9.
“At first I was like, like sometimes when I watch her play, I’m like, ‘She did that,’” her dad said. “And I’m in like, awe. I can’t believe she did that. I’m like, ‘Wow.’”
On Mondays, Kari trains with her dad. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she practices with her club team. On Fridays she works with a personal trainer, and Saturday or Sunday is usually another team training. Wednesday is an off day.
It’s a packed schedule, and she misses out on time with friends on occasion, but for Kari, it pays off.
“Sometimes I’m a little frustrated, but then I see all the effort and hard work I’m putting in, so it’s worth it in the end,” she said.
Despite all the attention coming her way, her parents work to keep her grounded and make sure she knows her whole identity isn’t rooted in the sport.
“I think we just kind of tell her that this is a blessing. … That you have this talent that God has given you, and that you should work your craft, and if you love it, and you just continue with your craft, you be kind to people, you’re nice to people,“ her mom said.
Kari’s volleyball goals are lofty, hoping to win a championship in college and one day to make the Olympic team.
“It’s just like the first step to my journey there,” she said of making the Team USA squad.
Sports
Why Roberts and Gorsuch may decide the Supreme Court's blockbuster transgender sports case
The Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to weigh in on transgender sports bans will put two conservative justices in the spotlight in coming months, both because of what they have said in past cases involving LGBTQ rights – and what they haven’t. Only two justices have written majority opinions involving transgender Americans – Chief Justice John […]

The Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to weigh in on transgender sports bans will put two conservative justices in the spotlight in coming months, both because of what they have said in past cases involving LGBTQ rights – and what they haven’t.
Only two justices have written majority opinions involving transgender Americans – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch – and both avoided revealing their thoughts about the sports cases last month when, in a blockbuster ruling, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans youth.
For the second time in as many years the high court will wrestle with a heated legal dispute involving young transgender Americans at a time when they are facing severe political backlash driven in part by President Donald Trump and conservative states. The court agreed to hear appeals in two related cases challenging laws in West Virginia and Idaho that ban transgender girls and women from competing on women’s sports teams – including one that was filed by a middle school student at the time.
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While the court swerved around fundamental questions about trans rights in last month’s decision in US v. Skrmetti, it will be far harder to do so in the sports cases.
And that could put enormous focus on Roberts and Gorsuch.
“Even though the court ruled against the transgender plaintiffs in Skrmetti, it did not decide the larger and more important question of whether discrimination based on transgender status triggers more searching judicial review,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
“Everything,” Vladeck predicted, “is going to come down to where Roberts and Gorsuch are.”
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In some ways, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on June 18 upholding Tennessee’s ban on certain transgender care was limited. That opinion, written by Roberts, explicitly declined to decide if the law discriminated against transgender youth. Tennessee’s policy, Roberts reasoned, instead drew boundaries based on age and medical procedures that were well within a state’s power to regulate.
That logic avoided thorny questions about whether the law violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause if it specifically targeted transgender minors for different treatment.
Tennessee’s law, Roberts wrote, “classifies on the basis of age” and “classifies on the basis of medical use.”
But it will be more difficult for the court to duck those broader questions in the sports cases, several experts said.
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“It is notable that the court seemed to go out of its way to avoid endorsing the idea that the law discriminated against transgender people and instead found that the Tennessee law had drawn lines based on age and medical diagnoses,” said Suzanne Goldberg, a Columbia Law School professor and an expert on gender and sexuality law.
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“The new cases squarely present the discrimination questions in ways that will be hard to avoid,” she said.
“It’s important,” she said, “not to lose sight of the fact that these cases involve kids trying to make their way through school and life like every other kid.”
Barrett, Kavanaugh talk sports
Gorsuch, who was Trump’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, joined the majority opinion in the Tennessee case but did not write separately to explain his position.
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His silence was significant given that one of the key arguments at stake was how – or whether – to apply the landmark 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County that he authored. In that decision, the court ruled that transgender workers are covered by federal protections against discrimination based on sex because discrimination against a transgender person is, by extension, necessarily also discrimination based on sex.
The Biden administration and transgender teenagers fighting Tennessee’s law asserted that the same logic should apply when it comes to gender identity care bans. But the court has never extended its reasoning in Bostock beyond the workplace, and the decision drew immediate and sharp criticism from the right at the time.
John Bursch, a veteran Supreme Court litigator and senior counsel at the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, predicted that both Roberts and Gorsuch will ultimately back the state bans on transgender people participating in sports that align with their gender identity given their votes in the Tennessee dispute.
“If they were in agreement that Tennessee’s law did not discriminate based on gender identity, I would assume that both of them would come to the same conclusion here when it comes to sports,” Bursch said. “But you never know for sure, and anytime that we go to the court, we assume that all nine justices are in play.”
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Alliance Defending Freedom is a co-counsel in both sports cases the Supreme Court agreed to hear.
“Our hope is that we would get a unanimous ruling to protect women’s sports in favor of both West Virginia and Idaho in their laws,” Bursch added.
Other members of the court’s six-justice conservative wing – including two who are often decisive votes – have more clearly signaled their thoughts on anti-trans laws.
In the Tennessee case, Justice Amy Coney Barrett penned a concurring opinion making clear that she opposed granting transgender status the same anti-discrimination protections that race and sex have under the 14th Amendment. She also was the only member of the court’s majority that day to raise sports in an opinion.
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“Beyond the treatment of gender dysphoria, transgender status implicates several other areas of legitimate regulatory policy – ranging from access to restrooms to eligibility for boys’ and girls’ sports teams,” Barrett wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. “If laws that classify based on transgender status necessarily trigger heightened scrutiny, then the courts will inevitably be in the business of ‘closely scrutiniz(ing) legislative choices’ in all these domains.”
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a concurrence arguing against extending Bostock’s reasoning to constitutional cases.
During oral arguments over Tennessee’s law in December, Justice Brett Kavanaugh – another justice who is sometimes seen as a swing vote – mentioned sports as he peppered the lawyer for the Biden administration with skeptical questions about her position.
A transgender rights supporter takes part in a rally outside of the US Supreme Court as the high court hears arguments in a case on transgender health rights on December 4, 2024 in Washington, DC. – Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“If you prevail here,” asked Kavanaugh, who has frequently noted that he coached his daughters’ basketball teams, “what would that mean for women’s and girls’ sports in particular?”
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“Would transgender athletes have a constitutional right, as you see it, to play in women’s and girls’ sports, basketball, swimming, volleyball, track, et cetera, notwithstanding the competitive fairness and safety issues that have been vocally raised by some female athletes?” Kavanaugh pressed.
In response, then-Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar attempted to distinguish the sports cases from Tennessee’s law. She noted that some lower courts had already held that the sports bans triggered a higher level of judicial scrutiny.
Kavanaugh also dissented from Gorsuch’s decision in Bostock.
The court’s three liberals dissented in the Tennessee case, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing that the majority had pulled back from “meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most” and instead “abandons transgender children and their families to political whims.”
A sixth grader sues
In the West Virginia case, then Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, signed the “Save Women’s Sports Act” in 2021, banning transgender women and girls from participating on public school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Becky Pepper-Jackson, a rising sixth grader at the time, who was “looking forward to trying out for the girls’ cross-country team,” filed a lawsuit alleging that the ban violated federal law and the Constitution.
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The Richmond-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that West Virginia’s ban violated Pepper-Jackson’s rights under Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex at schools that receive federal aid. The court also revived her constitutional challenge of the law.
Two years ago, the Supreme Court denied West Virginia’s emergency docket request to let it fully enforce its ban. Alito and Thomas dissented from that decision, though the focus of their objection was that neither the Supreme Court nor the 4th Circuit had offered an explanation for their decisions.
In Idaho, Republican Gov. Brad Little signed the state’s sports ban in 2020. Lindsay Hecox, then a freshman at Boise State University, sued days later, saying that she intended to try out for the women’s track and cross-country teams and alleging the law violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
In this 2020 photo, more than 100 people rallied at the Capitol in Boise, Idaho, in support of transgender students and athletes. – Katherine Jones/Idaho Statesman/TNS/Sipa USA
A federal district court blocked the law’s enforcement against Hecox months later and the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision last year. Idaho appealed to the Supreme Court in July.
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State officials in West Virginia and Idaho praised the court’s decision to take up the cases.
“Idaho was the first state to step out and ban boys and men from competing with girls and women in organized athletics,” Little said on Thursday, describing the law as a “common sense” policy intended to “protect the American way of life.”
Lawyers for the transgender athletes described the laws as discriminatory and harmful.
The Supreme Court will likely hear arguments in the cases later this year or in early 2026 and is expected to hand down a decision by the end of June.
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Sports
News – Water Polo Australia
Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers captain Zoe Arancini has announced her retirement from international water polo, concluding an illustrious 16-year career that has cemented her as one of the sport’s most respected figures. Arancini made her debut for the Aussie Stingers in 2009 and went on to amass 330 international caps (highest WA female athlete capped), […]

Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers captain Zoe Arancini has announced her retirement from international water polo, concluding an illustrious 16-year career that has cemented her as one of the sport’s most respected figures.
Arancini made her debut for the Aussie Stingers in 2009 and went on to amass 330 international caps (highest WA female athlete capped), representing Australia at the highest level across four Olympic cycles. Her career highlights include three Olympic Games appearances – Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 – and seven FINA World Championships, where she claimed a silver medal in 2013 and bronze in 2019. Her career culminated in a silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Having achieved podium success at every major international competition in world water polo, Arancini said the timing felt right to step away, with the Stingers’ recent Olympic silver providing the perfect bookend to her journey.
“I’ve done this for 16 years now, and to finish on such an amazing note at Paris 2024 is pretty special,” Arancini said.
“I’m ready for the next chapter of my life… I know it’s the right decision because I’m happy, I’m content, and it’s my choice. I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved, and I’m so excited for the next generation to step in.”
Reflecting on her journey, Arancini said it’s the people and memories along the way that will stay with her the most.
“I still remember making the Aussie Stingers squad for the first time – it doesn’t feel that long ago, but it was 2009!” Arancini said.
“Winning silver at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona was incredibly special, especially after missing out on the London Olympics. Then to be selected for Rio 2016 was a dream come true, and to captain the team to silver in Paris 2024 – that’s something I’ll carry with me forever.”
“There have been some amazing and challenging moments that have shaped not only my career but also the person I’ve become. Thank you to everyone who’s played a part in this journey, which started way back when I was a 12-year-old playing Flippa Ball at Melville.”
Although stepping back from the international stage, Arancini won’t be lost to the sport. While focusing on her next chapter outside the pool, she will continue to give back by playing domestically for Melville and Fremantle next summer – helping to support and mentor the next generation of Australian athletes.
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