High School Sports
FFRF calls foul on La. high school basketball shirts featuring Christian cross
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling out the Jefferson Davis Parish Schools system in Jennings, La. for using a Christian cross on official district athletics attire. A concerned community member informed FFRF that the Lacassine High School boys’ basketball team warm-up gear features a Christian cross on the back, additionally noting that these shirts […]

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling out the Jefferson Davis Parish Schools system in Jennings, La. for using a Christian cross on official district athletics attire.
A concerned community member informed FFRF that the Lacassine High School boys’ basketball team warm-up gear features a Christian cross on the back, additionally noting that these shirts are worn during games.
FFRF contacted the district after learning of this constitutional violation.
“Religious imagery on official school attire sends the message that the district is promoting religion,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi has written to Jefferson Davis Parish Schools Superintendent John Hall.
It is well settled that public schools may not show favoritism towards or coerce belief or
participation in religion. A public school may not use religious imagery to demonstrate favoritism toward Christianity — as the district does here. Further, having minor children wear religious imagery on their assigned uniform may infringe their free speech rights, especially if they would be retaliated against for refusing to wear a Latin cross.
FFRF also points out that student athletes are especially susceptible to coercion. When their school’s athletic program assigns uniforms featuring religious imagery, the students undoubtedly feel that wearing those images is essential to pleasing their team’s coach. That places athletes in a difficult position: They must either express that religious message — against their conscience — or openly dissent at risk of their standing. That ultimatum is exactly what the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause guards against.
Religious coercion occurring within the district is particularly troubling for those parents and students who are not Christian or who are nonreligious. Nearly half of Generation Z (those born after 1996) is nonreligious, which may be quite a few of the district’s athletes.
FFRF asserts that in order to respect the First Amendment rights of students, the district must instruct the athletics department to refrain from using religious imagery on official athletic gear.
“The school district has a constitutional obligation to remain neutral regarding religion,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says. “The district must not include religious iconography on student athletics attire in order to create an environment welcoming to all students — whether they are religious or nonreligious.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members, including more than 100 members in Louisiana. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
High School Sports
The best Virginia high schools for athletes? According to one study, these are the top 25
Virginia high school athletics ranks as one of the greatest heritages in the U.S., producing Hall-of-Fame talents like Moses Malone, Ralph Sampson, Kim Graham-Miller, Bruce Smith, Mia Hamm, and Lawrence Taylor. Other elite talents like Michael Vick, Justin Verlander, Kam Chancellor, Tisha Waller, and Fran Tarkenton roamed the high school halls of the Old Dominion […]


Virginia high school athletics ranks as one of the greatest heritages in the U.S., producing Hall-of-Fame talents like Moses Malone, Ralph Sampson, Kim Graham-Miller, Bruce Smith, Mia Hamm, and Lawrence Taylor.
Other elite talents like Michael Vick, Justin Verlander, Kam Chancellor, Tisha Waller, and Fran Tarkenton roamed the high school halls of the Old Dominion State.
And while those athletes of yesteryear made their impact, today’s athletes are also keeping Virginia’s high school scene on the map, with the high school setting the scene for the next generation of legends.
Which Virginia high schools are currently the best for athletes?
According to one study, which accounts for survey feedback from students and parents—accounting for “reviews of athletics, number of state championships, student participation in athletics, and the number of sports offered at the school”—and data from the U.S. Department of Education, these are the top 25.
25. Lake Braddock Secondary School (Burke)Total number of sports: 2324. Benedictine College Preparatory (Richmond)Total number of sports: 1323. South County High School (Lorton)Total number of sports: 2222. Oscar F. Smith High School (Chesapeake)Total number of sports: 2421. Douglas S. Freeman High School (Richmond)Total number of sports: 2620. Walsingham Academy (Williamsburg)Total number of sports: 1619. Louisa County High SchoolTotal number of sports: 2418. St. Christopher’s School (Richmond)Total number of sports: 1517. St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School (Alexandria)Total number of sports: 2416. Auburn High School (Riner)Total number of sports: 2015. James Madison High School (Vienna)Total number of sports: 2414. Highland School (Warrenton)Total number of sports: 2013. Bishop O’Connell High School (Arlington)Total number of sports: 2812. Lafayette High School (Williamsburg)Total number of sports: 2311. Salem High SchoolTotal number of sports: 3610. Blue Ridge School (St. George)Total number of sports: 159. Liberty Christian Academy (Lynchburg)Total number of sports: 108. E.C. Glass High School (Lynchburg)Total number of sports: 257. Cape Henry Collegiate (Virginia Beach)Total number of sports: 236. Norfolk AcademyTotal number of sports: 225. Stone Bridge High School (Ashburn)Total number of sports: 254. St. Catherine’s School (Richmond)Total number of sports: 143. St. Paul VI Catholic High School (Chantilly)Total number of sports: 252. Western Albemarle High School (Crozet)Total number of sports: 231. Woodberry Forest SchoolTotal number of sports: 18Data via Niche survey statistics
High School Sports
UFC Fight Night results, highlights
Kamaru Usman took advantage of his UFC Fight Night main event with Joaquin Buckley to prove he is still one of the elite welterweights in the world. Usman took a unanimous decision win over Buckley on the strength of his wrestling base in the upset. From the early rounds, Usman patiently worked to avoid Buckley’s […]


Kamaru Usman took advantage of his UFC Fight Night main event with Joaquin Buckley to prove he is still one of the elite welterweights in the world. Usman took a unanimous decision win over Buckley on the strength of his wrestling base in the upset.
From the early rounds, Usman patiently worked to avoid Buckley’s dangerous strikes and pick his moments to drive in for takedowns. Once the fight hit the ground, it was clear Buckley had no defense to what Usman brought to the table.
Usman was able to score the takedown in the first four rounds. Every time the fight hit the ground, Buckley was unable to work back to his feet. Usman worked ground and pound every round, opening cuts over Buckley’s right eye and in his mouth. The fight was never in danger of being finished, but Usman was able to grind out round after round on the strength of his wrestling base.
Buckley finally avoided the takedown in the fifth round, allowing him to get his striking going. But it was too little, too late for Buckley as the former welterweight champion had already build a massive lead on the official scorecards.
After the conclusion of the fifth and final round, Usman was awarded the victory by scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47.
“It feels good. It’s been a while,” Usman said after picking up his first win since losing his welterweight title to Leon Edwards in August 2022. “I needed to get that monkey off my back. I know I’m still able to do this at the highest level. You have to pull off the skills and use the experience. I feel good.”
Usman now moves back into position to attempt to regain the welterweight championship, having lost to Edwards twice before a majority decision loss to Khamzat Chimaev in a fight Usman took on 10 days’ notice at middleweight.
“I expected him to be really, really tough, which he was,” Usman said of the fight. “I know what it takes to work and get in here. Thank you to him for bringing everything he brought. I know it’s a running joke for everyone to get on the internet and say, ‘his knees, his knees,’ well shut the f— up.”
CBS Sports was with you the entire way on Saturday, bringing you all the results and highlights from the UFC Fight Night below.
UFC Fight Night card, odds
- Kamaru Usman def. Joaquin Buckley via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)
- Rose Namajunas def. Miranda Maverick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Edmen Shahbazyan def. Andre Petroski via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Raoni Barcelos def. Cody Garbrandt via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Cody Brundage via third-round TKO (punches)
- Alonzo Menifield def. Oumar Sy via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Rodolfo Bellato vs. Paul Craig ends in no contest after illegal strike
- Michael Chiesa def. Court McGee via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Malcolm Wellmaker def. Kris Moutinho via first-round knockout (punch)
- Jose Ochoa def. Cody Durden via second-round knockout (punch)

High School Sports
Highlights
Highlgiths include Justice Alexander (Concord Academy), Kyndoll English and Cooper Cox (Grace Christian of Sanford), Ginny Anne Dumont (Providence Day), and Lila Kelly (Forsyth Country Day). Web Editor : J. Mike Blake Posted 2025-06-15T07:08:29-0400 – Updated 2025-06-15T07:10:05-0400 0

Highlgiths include Justice Alexander (Concord Academy), Kyndoll English and Cooper Cox (Grace Christian of Sanford), Ginny Anne Dumont (Providence Day), and Lila Kelly (Forsyth Country Day).
Web Editor : J. Mike Blake
Posted
High School Sports
'This is a culture'
Since seeing thousands of comments justifying the recent murder of a teenage TikTok star in Pakistan, Sunaina Bukhari is considering abandoning her 88,000 followers. “In my family, it wasn’t an accepted profession at all, but I’d managed to convince them, and even ended up setting up my own business,” she said. Then last week, Sana […]


Since seeing thousands of comments justifying the recent murder of a teenage TikTok star in Pakistan, Sunaina Bukhari is considering abandoning her 88,000 followers.
“In my family, it wasn’t an accepted profession at all, but I’d managed to convince them, and even ended up setting up my own business,” she said.
Then last week, Sana Yousaf was shot dead outside her house in the capital Islamabad by a man whose advances she had repeatedly rejected, police said.
News of the murder led to an outpouring of comments under her final post — her 17th birthday celebration where she blew out the candles on a cake.
In between condolence messages, some blamed her for her own death: “You reap what you sow” or “it’s deserved, she was tarnishing Islam”.
Yousaf had racked up more than a million followers on social media, where she shared her favourite cafes, skincare products and traditional shalwar kameez outfits.
TikTok is wildly popular in Pakistan, in part because of its accessibility to a population with low literacy levels. On it, women have found both audience and income, rare in a country where fewer than a quarter of the women participate in the formal economy.
But as TikTok’s views have surged, so have efforts to police the platform.
Pakistani telecommunications authorities have repeatedly blocked or threatened to block the app over what it calls “immoral behaviour”, amid backlash against LGBTQ and sexual content.
TikTok has pledged to better moderate content and blocked millions of videos that do not meet its community guidelines as well as at the request of Pakistan authorities.
After Yousaf’s murder, Bukhari, 28, said her family no longer backs her involvement in the industry.
“I’m the first influencer in my family, and maybe the last,” she told AFP.
– ‘Fear of being judged’ –
Only 30 percent of women in Pakistan own a smartphone compared to twice as many men (58 percent), the largest gap in the world, according to the Mobile Gender Gap Report of 2025.
“Friends and family often discourage them from using social media for fear of being judged,” said a statement from the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF).
In southwestern Balochistan, where tribal law governs many rural areas, a man confessed to orchestrating the murder of his 14-year-old daughter earlier this year over TikTok videos that he said compromised her honour.
In October, police in Karachi, in the south, announced the arrest of a man who had killed four women relatives over “indecent” TikTok videos.
These murders each revive memories of Qandeel Baloch, dubbed Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian and one of the country’s first breakout social media stars whose videos shot her to fame.
After years in the spotlight, she was suffocated by her brother.
Violence against women is pervasive in Pakistan, according to the country’s Human Rights Commission, and cases of women being attacked after rejecting men are not uncommon.
“This isn’t one crazy man, this is a culture,” said Kanwal Ahmed, who leads a closed Facebook group of 300,000 women to share advice.
“Every woman in Pakistan knows this fear. Whether she’s on TikTok or has a private Instagram with 50 followers, men show up. In her DMs. In her comments. On her street,” she wrote in a post.
In the fifth-most-populous country in the world, where 60 percent of the population is under the age of 30, the director of digital rights organisation Bolo Bhi, Usama Khilji , says “many women don’t post their profile picture, but a flower, an object, very rarely their face”.
“The misogyny and the patriarchy that is prevalent in this society is reflected on the online spaces,” he added.
A 22-year-old man was arrested over Yousaf’s murder and is due to appear in court next week.
At a vigil in the capital last week, around 80 men and women gathered, holding placards that read “no means no”.
“Social media has given us a voice, but the opposing voices are louder,” said Hira, a young woman who joined the gathering.
The capital’s police chief, Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, used a press conference to send a “clear message” to the public.
“If our sisters or daughters want to become influencers, professionally or as amateurs, we must encourage them,” he said.
jma/sbh/ecl/lb
High School Sports
WATCH
Nebraska High School Rodeo Athletes put a bow on their 2024-2025 season at the NEHSRA Finals held in Valentine, Nebraska June 11-14. The top four athletes in each event punched their ticket to the National High School Finals Rodeo that will take place in Rock Springs, Wyoming July 13-19, 2025. Video spotlights from the Champion’s […]


Nebraska High School Rodeo Athletes put a bow on their 2024-2025 season at the NEHSRA Finals held in Valentine, Nebraska June 11-14. The top four athletes in each event punched their ticket to the National High School Finals Rodeo that will take place in Rock Springs, Wyoming July 13-19, 2025.
Video spotlights from the Champion’s Circle are brought to you by Ravenscroft Red Angus.
Meet this year’s class of state champions below!
All-Around Cowgirl, Breakaway Roping, and Team Roping State Champion | Reagan McIntyre – Grand Island, NE
All- Around Cowboy | Kaddo Schrunk – Pender, NE
Bareback Riding State Champion | Koltdyn Heath – Minden, NE
Barrel Racing State Champion | Kallan Cox – Purdum, NE
Boys Cutting State Champion | Cash Cooper – Kilgore, NE
Boys Cutting State Champion | Ava Smith – Pender, NE
Goat Tying State Champion | Tatum Reid – Crawford, NE
Heeling State Champion | Owen Littau – Newport, NE
Light Rifle State Champion | Karsyn Chesley – Harrisburg, NE
Nebraska High School Rodeo Queen | Felycia Kerkman – Atkinson, NE
Pole Bending State Champion | Rylee Nall Sillivan – St. Paul
Reined Cow Horse State Champion | Callie Olson – Bloomfield, NE
Saddle Bronc Riding and Bull Riding State Champion | Grady Gorwill – Hyannis, NE
Steer Wrestling State Champion | Cotter Johnston – Stapleton, NE
Tie Down Roping State Champion | Tyler McCauley – Pender, NE
Trap Shooting State Champion | Case Shane
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