OREM, Utah — Utah Valley University will send five student-athletes to the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships this week at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The Wolverine men qualified for the 4×100 relay, while Kelsi Oldroyd will throw in the javelin finals.

The men’s relay squad of Gavin Stafford, Cameron Franklin, Kade Thompson, and Gabe Remy won their second straight WAC title and made their second straight NCAA Regionals appearance. The quartet recorded the eighth-fastest time at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in College Station, Texas, breaking a school record and finishing in 39.13 seconds.

The group is slated to run in the national semifinal, which opens the action on the track on Wednesday at 4:05 p.m. PT. They’ll run in lane eight in the third of three heats and will need to finish in the top two in the heat or have one of the next three best times to advance to Friday’s final. The race will air live on ESPN and ESPN+.

Oldroyd’s appearance in the javelin finals comes after she earned her third straight WAC title and NCAA Regional appearance. Oldroyd, who competed last summer at Hayward Field in the U.S. Olympic Trials, will throw on Thursday in the second of two 12-person flights in the third spot. The first flight is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. PT and will live air on ESPN+.

Oldroyd was second at the NCAA West national semifinal in the javelin, and her school-record mark of 57.72 meters also ranks eighth in the country this season.

The five will each earn All-America status, with their placement dependent on their final results at the championships. Athletes who finish in the top eight of their events — including as a member of a relay — will earn First-Team All-America honors, while places nine through 16 will be second team, and spots 17 through 24 will receive honorable mention.

Utah Valley Outdoor T&F NCAA All-Americans All-Time

DeKALB, Ill. — Northern Illinois University Volleyball head coach Sondra D’Amore has announced the 2025 schedule for the Huskie volleyball program today (June 9). 

The Huskies will start their schedule with an exhibition on August 22 as they host DePaul in the NIU Convocation Center before starting the season on August 29 at Stetson. 

NIU will see first time opponents this season in Southern Miss, Merrimack, Gonzaga, Bellarmine, and IU-Indianapolis. 

“I am very excited to get the 2025 season underway. We have a lot of new faces on the team this fall and wanted to give the group an opportunity against a variety of competition to prepare us for MAC play. The goal for non-conference is to gain experience playing high level volleyball while building confidence as a young group. We are eager to give everything we have one last time in the MAC!” said D’Amore.  

New and returning fans can purchase general admission, family 4-pack, or courtside seats to watch the Huskies this fall with general admission tickets starting at just $35. The Family 4-Pack is available for $90 ($22.50 each). Courtside seats are priced at $180 for the season. To purchase tickets online, please click here.

The Huskies are set to open the 2025 season in the Sunshine State as they compete at the Stetson Hatters Invitational, August 29 and 30. The Huskies will take on Lamar and Stetson on August 29 before facing off against Southern Miss on August 30. 

Hosting the NIU Invitational in the Convocation Center, the Huskies will see Merrimack, Indiana State, and SIUE visit DeKalb. NIU takes on Merrimack and Indiana State on September 5 as they close the tournament with SIUE on September 6. 

Action continues in the Midwest as NIU concludes non-conference action at the IU-Indianapolis tournament, September 12 and 13. NIU takes on Gonzaga and Bellarmine on September 12 as they conclude the tournament with the hosts IU-Indianapolis. 

Mid-American Conference action starts in Victor E. Court (VEC) for NIU as they place host to Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan on September 25 and 26. 

The Huskies will play seven of their 10 games in the month of October on the road, beginning with Ball State (Oct. 2) and Miami (Oct. 3). NIU briefly returns to DeKalb for a midweek game against Western Michigan on October 7 before traveling to Bowling Green for a two-game series on October 9 and 10. The Huskies host Toledo on October 17 and 18 for two games before traveling to Akron on October 24 and 25. NIU makes the trip to Kalamazoo on October 28 for their second midweek game against Western Michigan. 

NIU ends the month of October and starts November as they host Buffalo on October 31 and November 1. The Huskies welcome Ohio to the VEC for their final two home games on the season on November 7 and 8 before concluding regular season action at Kent State on November 14 and 15. 

The 2025 Mid-American Conference volleyball tournament takes place November 20-23 in Bowling Green, Ohio. 

Need more Huskies Volleyball? Follow us on Twitter/X at @NIUVolleyball, on Facebook at NIU Volleyball, and on Instagram at @NIUVolley.

 

The men’s waterpolo qualifiers hosted in Malta started earlier today as Team Malta seeks a sixth qualification for the water polo European championships.

In a press conference organised by the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta (ASA), President Karl Izzo explained that over the next days both the men’s and women’s national water polo teams will be working on separate objectives.

The men’s team is aiming to qualify for the 2026 European championships and will be playing three games in a qualification group this week against Portugal Ukraine and France in that order.

The games of this group will all be played at the National pool complex at Tal- Qroqq. The first two teams in the group will qualify for the much anticipated 2026 edition of the European water polo championships being held in Belgrade from the 10th to 25th January.

Coach Milan Cirovic was happy to see the return of two veteran players namely Stevie Camilleri and Matthew Zammit who have decided to accept the call up for the National team after they had both decided to retire from international duties. Although this is not being considered to be a comeback from retirement it’s still a big asset for the Malta team. Both players had been actively playing with Neptunes and San Gillian respectively over the last four years when they had not been in the Malta national team due to their personal decisions at the time.

President Karl Izzo said next 3 days were very important for ASA and for Maltese waterpolo as reaching qualification for the 6th consecutive time would be a great achievement for such a small country like Malta.

He reminded the general public that entrance for the Malta men’s senior team games on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday will be free of charge at Tal-Qroqq and the general public is encouraged to attend and support the Maltese players.

Tag a waterpolo fan in the comments.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Director of Athletics Todd Stewart announced the hiring of Lee Wood as Director of Cross Country/Track & Field on Monday.

“We are excited to name Lee Wood our next Director of Cross Country/Track & Field,” Stewart said. “Coach Wood guided the program admirably this spring following Coach Chumbley’s passing, with steadfast leadership and exhibiting a daily commitment and care for our student-athletes. His prior experience as a head coach, along with his vision for the future of the program, made him stand out among our strong pool of candidates. We are confident having him leading our program going forward.”

Wood had been serving in the interim role since the passing of Brent Chumbley on January 30, 2025. He guided the Hilltopper men to a fifth-place finish at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships, their best finish since 2019. Four Hilltopper men qualified for the NCAA East Preliminaries at the end of the season (Kaison Barton, hammer throw; Kameron Horton, 100m and 200m; Van Thrasher, 110mH; and Sterling Weldon, long jump). Last fall, Wood coached Kinley Kunkel and Mary Dye to all-conference honors and NCAA Regional berths during the cross country season.

“It is a great honor to be the next Director of Cross Country and Track and Field at WKU,” Wood said. “This team has had a great amount of success and winning tradition in the past, and I’m ready to build on the foundation that has been set. I want to extend a thank you to Todd Stewart, John McCammon and the entire hiring committee for trusting me and believing in me to lead this program. I can’t wait to get to work! Go Tops!”

Wood was hired to lead the WKU Cross Country and distance teams in December of 2023. Wood came to The Hill from Drury University where he had served as the head track and field and cross country coach since 2021.

Wood started his coaching career at Rogers High School and Heritage High School, winning seven state championships in 12 years including a Triple Crown in 2005 with Rogers. Following his stint at the high school level, he was hired at NCAA Division II national distance powerhouse Western Colorado University, where he coached men’s and women’s teams that finished on the podium year after year. As an assistant he helped coach over 25 All-Americans and coached numerous individual national champions and the national champion DMR team (2018).

In 2021, he took the position as head men’s and women’s cross country/ track and field coach at Drury University where he came in and changed the culture of the team, while also leading athletes to over 70 school records. He guided the 2023 men’s and women’s team to the highest finishes in the conference in school history with the women finishing runner-up and the men finishing third.

While with Drury, Wood coached two All-Americans: Claire McCune (Cross Country), Katie McCune (800 indoor and outdoor), and conference champion Bradley Weimer (Cross Country). Weimer was also a national qualifier that season.

Wood resides in Bowling Green with his wife Sara. They have three sons: Woodrow, Hunter, and Braden. They also have a daughter, Iris.

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 9, 2025) – Fourteen members of the U.S. Men’s National Team are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this week for the 2025 Volleyball Nations League (VNL).

Volleyball Nations League features the world’s top 18 men’s teams clashing over three weeks of preliminary play, with the top eight advancing to the Final Round.

GET TICKETS TO WATCH THE U.S. MEN COMPETE JUNE 25-29 IN HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS

2024 Olympic middle blocker Jeff Jendryk leads a roster that contains several athletes with VNL experience.

Opposite Gabi Garcia, setter Quinn Isaacson, liberos Mason Briggs and Kyle Dagostino, outside hitters Ethan Champlin and Jordan Ewert, and middle blockers Patrick Gasman and Matthew Knigge have all competed in VNL.

Five athletes have competed for the senior U.S. National Team in NORCECA events: setter Andrew Rowan, middle blocker Merrick McHenry and outside hitters Nolan Flexen and Cooper Robinson.

Opposite Kyle Hobus is the only newcomer on the squad. He was on the 2023 U.S. Men’s Collegiate National Team but will make his senior team and VNL debut in Rio.

The U.S. Men are currently ranked No. 3 in the world and have medaled four times in VNL history, including silver medals in 2019, 2022 and 2023 and bronze in 2018.

U.S. Men’s Week One Roster for 2025 VNL

No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)
3 Mason Briggs (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State, Southern California)
4 Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago, Great Lakes)
6 Quinn Isaacson (S, 6-2, Plainfield, Ill., Ball State, Great Lakes)
9 Gabi Garcia (OPP, 6-7, San Juan, Puerto Rico, BYU)
10 Kyle Dagostino (L, 5-9, Tampa, Florida, Stanford Univ., Florida)
15 Kyle Hobus (OPP, 6-7, San Pedro, Calif., CSUN, Southern California)
17 Andrew Rowan (S, 6-7, Trabuco Canyon, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
18 Cooper Robinson (OH, 6-7, Pacific Palisades, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
19 Patrick Gasman (MB, 6-10, Clovis, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii, Northern California)
23 Nolan Flexen (OH, 6-9, Rio Rancho, N.M., UC Irvine, Southern)
24 Merrick McHenry (MB, 6-7, Bedford, Texas, UCLA, North Texas)
25 Ethan Champlin (OH, 6-3, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
28 Matthew Knigge (MB, 6-7, New Egypt, N.J., Vassar, Garden Empire)
29 Jordan Ewert (OH, 6-5, Antioch, Calif., Stanford, Northern California)

Head Coach:  Karch Kiraly
Assistant Coach: Luka Slabe
Assistant Coach: Javier Weber
Performance Analyst: Nate Ngo
Physiotherapist: Aaron Brock
Senior Strength and Conditioning Coach: Tim Pelot
Senior Sports Dietitian: Shawn Hueglin
Mental Performance Coach: Andrea Becker
Team Manager: David Dantes
Consultant Coach: Chris McGown
Consultant Coach: Marv Dunphy
Team Doctors:  Eugene Yim, Mark Hutchinson, Michael Shepard, Warren Young

U.S. Men’s Schedule for the 2025 Volleyball Nations League
Matches will be shown live and on-demand on VBTV, CBS Sports Network and Big Ten Network
(All times PDT)

Week 1: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 11 at 10 a.m. vs. Ukraine
June 12 at 5 p.m. vs. Iran
June 14 at 9:30 a.m. vs. Slovenia
June 15 at 1 p.m. vs. Cuba