GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay is seeking NCAA approval to compete in The Basketball Tournament, an event that typically features former college basketball players and offers a $1 million prize to the winning team.

ESPN says that Green Bay is seeking an NCAA waiver that would enable it to compete in this event rather than going on an international tour. NCAA rules allow college teams to make an overseas trip to play in exhibition games once every four years.

Green Bay athletic director Josh Moon told ESPN that the request was about providing the team more opportunities to play and suggested the prize money could go to a charity if the Phoenix happened to win the single-elimination tournament.

According to ESPN, Green Bay made the same request last year but received a denial that arrived too late for the school to file an appeal. Green Bay went 4-28 last year in the inaugural season of Doug Gottlieb’s coaching tenure.

The Basketball Tournament started in 2014 and often features teams of former college or pro players representing their alma maters.

This year’s championship game will take place Aug. 3.

Colleges cutting sports programs

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Purdue Fort Wayne joined a line of schools dropping sports because of budget cuts and the looming era of revenue sharing with athletes, announcing Friday it would discontinue its baseball and softball programs immediately.

The university announced $6 million in budget cuts Thursday, and discontinuing the two sports will save about $1 million.

The Mastadons are members of the Horizon League and Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and will sponsor 14 Division I sports.

Athletic director Kelley Harley-Hutton said budget challenges across the university, in combination with changes in the NCAA model, led to a re-evaluation of the athletic program.

Stephen F. Austin announced Thursday it would drop bowling, men’s and women’s golf and beach volleyball. Eastern Illinois announced on May 12 it would discontinue men’s and women’s tennis.

Berlin thinking 2036 Games

BERLIN — Berlin is making a bid to host the Olympics again, possibly 100 years after the city hosted the 1936 Games under the Nazis.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner is to present bid plans, with help from four other German states, on Tuesday at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

The invitation sent on Friday to the presentation does not mention which Games the city is bidding for, but the next available edition will be in 2036 — the 100th anniversary of the Berlin Games. The German Olympic Sports Confederation has said a German bid for the 2040 Games is also possible.

Los Angeles is hosting the 2028 Olympics and Brisbane the 2032 Olympics.

Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, known as Olympiastadion in German, was built for the 1936 Games.

Isles hire new GM from Tampa

The New York Islanders hired Mathieu Darche as their general manager on Friday.

Darche joins the Islanders after spending the past six seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He has two Stanley Cup rings during his time as director of hockey operations and was also assistant GM to Julien BriseBois for the past three years.

The 48-year-old former player was considered the top NHL assistant who has never held a job running a team in the league.

Darche beat out more experienced executive Marc Bergevin for the job. He succeeds Lou Lamoriello in the role after the 82-year-old longtime executive’s contract was not renewed.

He played 268 regular-season and playoff games from 2001-12 as a winger with Columbus, Nashville, San Jose, Tampa Bay and Montreal.

Geneva, Ohio – May 24, 2025 – Springfield College senior Samantha Paul (Albany, N.Y.) represented the Pride at the 2025 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships on Saturday afternoon in the triple jump.

Paul, who entered her second appearance this year on the national stage seeded 13th in the triple jump, registered a mark of 11.54-meters (37 feet, 10.5 inches) this afternoon to finish in 20th place.

Paul had a very successful senior campaign that saw her claim NCAA Second Team All-America honors in the triple jump at the 2024 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championships. She also set the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship meet record and claimed a gold medal in the triple jump with a leap of 11.93-meters.

For the latest on Springfield College Athletics, follow the Pride on social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  Be sure to tune into all Springfield College Athletic events by subscribing to FloSports. 

 

MANHATTAN BEACH — Sequels rarely live up to the standard set by the original and that was evident in the rematch between the Huntington Beach and Mira Costa boys volleyball teams.

Eight days ago in the CIF-SS Division 1 final, Huntington Beach went toe-to-toe with the Mustangs in a five-set thriller that the Mustangs won.

But on Saturday night, the Oilers were swept by MaxPreps’ top-ranked team in the nation, 26-24, 25-20, 25-16, in the CIF Southern California Regional Division I final at Mira Costa High.

With the victory, the Mustangs (36-2) earned a trip to Fresno for the inaugural CIF State Championships for boys volleyball on Saturday May 31.

Huntington Beach (36-5) was rolling in the first set but was unable to hold on to its nine-point lead and also lost Colin Choi at a crucial point in the frame.

According to Oilers coach Craig Pazanti, Choi didn’t step on his teammates’ foot, he just rolled his ankle on his own after a big swing at the net. He returned in the second set but was unavailable for the final part of the first set.

“You know, we lose our best passer at the end of set one,” Pazanti said, “and who knows, would’ve, should’ve, could’ve, but I’m guessing if he doesn’t get hurt, we win set one. And you know, maybe it’s a different mental approach to the rest of the match. But give them (Mira Costa) a ton of credit.”

Mira Costa coach Greg Snyder concurred with Pazanti about Choi’s brief absence from the court.

“I think Colin injuring his ankle in that first set really was a change.” Snyder said. “I think we were coming back, but that opened the door and just our momentum completely shifted when that happened. And I honestly think that first set probably would have been won by Huntington if that didn’t happen. And this match would have been completely different.”

Oilers outside hitter Logan Hutnick had a match-high 17 kills and opposite Ben Arguello had nine kills.

Cooper Keane had a team-high 16 kills and Grayson Bradford added seven kills and 5.5 blocks.

The 6-11 Bradford was a towering figure at the net for Mira Costa, which had a 7-4 advantage in total blocks over the Oilers.

Pazanti looked back on the Oilers’ accomplishments this season, which include winning the Sunset League for the first time since 2016 and finishing the season 36-5 as a CIF SoCal Regional finalist.

“We played, including tonight, and if you include the Top 10 in CIF, including the two teams that finished in the finals of Division 2, played 21 matches against the Top 10 in CIF this year and we were 17-4, against the top (teams),” Pazanti said. “So we don’t duck anybody. Year to year, we’re going to play against the best competition, and that’s how we get better. It would have been nice to get one more match, but you can’t be disappointed when you have that kind of a season.”

RESULTS

GENEVA, Ohio – The Bethel Royals earned two national titles – one from Grant Nelson in the 400m dash, and 4x400m relay. 

Nelson won his first individual national title as he ran down John Carroll’s Barsheer Alharami in the final 80m and held off UW-LaCrosse’s Collin Conzemius to win in a time of 46.678 seconds. Conzemius was 2nd in 46.680, Alharami was 3rd in 46.80, and Bethel’s Jacob Parent was 4th in 47.01.

The 4x400m relay team of Jacob Parent, Josh Thomsen, Victor Lelinga, and Grant Nelson earned the Royal’s back-to-back  national titles in the event, this time, in a Division III record time of 3:06.52. Parent got out to a strong start and handed off to Thomsen in the lead. Thomsen battled with UW-LaCrosse’s Andrew Hackbarth through leg 2, and closed hard to hand off in the lead. Victor Lelinga had the fastest split of his life (46.84) to hold onto the lead into the final exchange. Grant Nelson once again held off UW-LaCrosse’s Collin Conzemius with the best split of the race, 45.34 seconds to give the Royals the title.

Jayson Ekiyor wrapped up his Bethel career with a 4th place finish in the 110H. Ekiyor hit hurdle 2 in the 110H, but managed to work his way through the field and into 4th with his time of 14.24. Ekiyor also placed 9th in the 400H with his time of 53.35.

Kelsie Sealock added two more All-Americans to her trophy case as she totalled 15 All-Americans in her career. Sealock placed 4th in the 100H with a time of 13.90 seconds, and 8th in the 400H with a time of 62.01.

Shalom Sulungaine made Bethel history, becoming the 1st Royal to earn All-American status in the women’s outdoor 400m dash. Sulungaine ran a program record 54.69 seconds to place 8th.

Anna Speratos ended her season with a top-10 finish in the hammer throw. Speratos had the 2nd best mark of her career with 52.00m / 170’7″, placing her 10th overall.

Scenes of a previous ‘Monday Night at the Pit’ where Lab summer interns and the like meet and greet and enjoy a free picnic and play sand volleyball. Courtesy/UCLA

By GEORGIA STRICKFADEN
The United Church of Los Alamos

• Food and sand volleyball, at The United Church of Los Alamos

Starting June 2, The United Church of Los Alamos is kicking off our tradition of “Monday Night at the Pit” where Lab summer interns and the like meet and greet and enjoy a free picnic.

We’ve got sand volleyball and a place to hang out and meet each other. This will continue every Monday all summer.

Join us at the volleyball court picnic tables near the corner of Canyon and Central, across from the Aquatic Center.

Dinner’s on us starting at 5:30 p.m. – we’re all about having fun and making you feel welcome!

Check us out at www.UnitedChurchLA.org.

After winning the past two IHSA girls state water polo championships, undefeated No. 1-ranked Stevenson (36-0) was going for the three-peat Saturday evening against No. 5 Lyons in its home pool.

Trailing 4-2 after three quarters, the Patriots’ dynasty was in jeopardy of a huge upset by the Lions. But they came through in the fourth quarter to pull out a 6-5 victory to raise the first-place trophy for the seventh time in school history.

It was the 15th top-three trophy for Stevenson since taking second place in 2005, and its seventh first-place trophy since 2015.

After losing to the Patriots 18-9 on March 15, Lyons (23-6-1) played a fantastic game. Junior Avery Watanabe lofted a shot into the left corner of the net for a 4-2 lead 20 seconds into the third quarter.

The second goal by Stevenson’s Victoria Duncan from close range cut the lead to 4-3 with 6:25 left to play in the defensive struggle. Then Stevenson’s Jillian Carlson scored on a rebound goal to deadlock the score at 4-4 with 4:52 remaining.

Stevenson junior Olivia Spieth missed a penalty shot with 4:13 to go, but she got her own rebound and scored to give the Patriots the lead for good at 5-4. Then Spieth scored her third goal off of a Lyons turnover for a 6-4 lead with 1:19 left.

“I think it was definitely a challenge for us. We came back strong and we definitely wanted it,” said Spieth. “Honestly it was our defense that did it because offense wins games, but defense wins championships is what our coach (Jeff Wimer) always says.”

The Lions kept their hopes alive when freshman Maddie Wieczorkiewicz scored on a rebound goal past goalie Elsa Kusevskis to cut the gap to 6-5 with 35 seconds to play. But the Pats were able to run out the clock to seal the win and set off a huge celebration by the home crowd.

“They had a great game plan. We played into their hands, and fortunately we were able to overcome it,” said Wimer, who has 13 top-three trophies at Stevenson since 2008. “We’re very resilient, many times they’ve been down in games and they’ve come back and both goalies (Lyons goalie Delaney Judkins) played outstanding.”

Senior Maya Mladjan scored the first two goals for Lyons before teammate Isabella Recker’s goal gave the Lions a 3-2 lead which they held at halftime.

“All I can say is we tried our best and the last time we played Stevenson we lost by like 10 goals,” said Lyons coach Megan Jacobs, whose team beat York 14-11 in overtime in the semifinals. “We got all of our nerves out on Thursday (in the quarterfinals), and we’re ecstatic to take second.”

No. 2-ranked Naperville North (28-7-1) lost to Stevenson 9-7 in the semifinals before defeating York (22-6) 12-9 in the third-place game. Ava Podkasik scored 4 goals for the Huskies in the third-place game while teammate Payton Schrier had 3 goals. Emily Jensen had 4 goals for the Dukes while the Huskies got 4 assists and 2 goals from Molly Depies.

Boys championship

The IHSA boys state water polo championship was a game for the ages Saturday night at Stevenson as No. 2-ranked Naperville North trailed No. 1-ranked two-time defending state champion New Trier 6-2 at halftime.

But the Huskies (32-4) completely outplayed the Trevians (32-3) by shutting them out 5-0 in the second half to take home their first state championship in school history by a score of 7-6.

Naperville North’s stunning comeback started innocently enough as a goal by Mason Hofmann 51 seconds into the third quarter cut the lead to 6-3. But then Hofmann scored again just 27 seconds later to pull within 6-4.

Senior Jack Reif, whose Mom (Kelly Reif) is Naperville North’s head coach, cut the lead to 6-5 with 2:59 left in the third quarter before Hofmann’s third goal from the point tied the game at 6-6 with 5:32 to play.

Then came what proved to be the game-winning goal as Caden Tsao scored from close range to the left of goalie Zach Asinski. Huskies goalie Caleb Uson was flawless in the second half.

“We’ve been in situations like this and we never gave up,” said Hofmann, whose team took third in the state last year and now has five top-three trophies in school history. “We really just opened up the middle in the second half and it allowed our center (Reif) to drive in without a double team.”

The Huskies took a 1-0 lead 1:14 into the contest on a goal by John Riordan (2 first half goals). But New Trier rolled off five unanswered goals for a 5-1 lead midway through the second period.

“To be able to shut them out in the second half was incredible. We just had a lock down plan on No. 11 (Hank Woodman), and if we could limit his chances we could win a state championship,” said Kelly Reif, whose team was outshot 24-20 overall. “I feel very pleased to have the opportunity to be Mom and coach, and it is such a special bond I have with this team.”

The Trevians did have a shot hit the crossbar with 1:14 to play, but the Huskies were able to run out the clock after a save by Uson with eight seconds to go.

“They made a good defensive adjustment, and we just sort of ran out of time in the second half,” said New Trier coach David Rafferty-Flatter. “They have a lot of good players on that side of the pool, but I’m super proud of our guys.”

York (28-7) won the third-place game 9-5 over Whitney Young after losing to New Trier 8-6 in the semifinals. The Huskies beat Whitney Young 17-10 in the semifinals. Tim Jensen had 4 goals and 2 assists for the Dukes in the third-place game.