DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. –  Kasie Ugeh of B-CU and Micheal Walker of B-CU Track & Field has been named Wildcats of the Week for the week of May 2 – May 18, 2025. 

This past week, the Wildcats traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where they competed in the 2025 SWAC Championships. Kasie Ugeh finished second in the javelin with a mark of 40.08m. She also finished third in the discus with a mark of 42.70m.

Micheal Walker placed first in the javelin with a mark of 52.70. It marks his personal best of the season.

Each week, The Bethune-Cookman Office of Athletic Communications recognizes one male and one female student-athlete through the Wildcats of the Week award.

2024-25 Wildcats of the Week

May 12 – May 18

M: Micheal Walker, Track & Field

W: Kasie Ugeh, Track & Field

May 5 – May 11

M: Andrey Martinez, Baseball

W: Kendall Macauley, Softball

April 28 – May 4

M: Jose Fernandez, Baseball

April 21 – April 27

M: Edwin Sanchez, Baseball

W: Kasie Ugeh, Track & Field

April 13 – April 20

M: De’Quon King, Track & Field

W: Katie Robinson, Women’s Golf

April 7 – April 13

M: Shanard Walker, Track & Field

W: Alyssa Lopez, Softball

March 31 – April 6

M: Andrey Martinez, Baseball

W: Alyssa Lopez, Softball

March 24 – March 30

M: Joel Core, Baseball

W: Kasie Ugeh, Track & Field

M: (CO) Xavier Bogan, Track & Field

March 17 – March 23

M: Sytrevion Dyer, Track & Field

W: Kasie Ugeh, Track & Field

March 10 – March 16

M: Edwin Sanchez, Baseball

W: Zahara El-Zein, Tennis

March 3 – March 9

M: Nehemiah Armstrong, Track & Field

W: Zion Harvey, track & Field

February 22 – March 1

M: Armani Newton, Baseball

W: Shanai Owens, Softball

February 17 – February 23

M: Joel Core, Baseball

W: Lauren Johnson, Track & Field

February 10 – February 16

M: Joel Core, Baseball

W: Emma Bradley Tse, Softball

February 3 – February 9

M: De’Quon King, Track & Field

W: Molly Blackwood, Softball

January 27 – February 2

M: Xavier Bogan, Track & Field

W: Keona Burley, Women’s Tennis

January 20 – January 26

M: Victor Kibet, Track & Field

W: Valencia Butler, Track & Field

January 12 – January 19

M: Trey Thomas, Men’s Basketball

W: Asianae Nicholson, Women’s Basketball

January 6 – January 12

M: Xavier Bogan, Track & Field

W: Alyssa Wiliams, Track & Field

December 30 – January 5

M: Brayon Freeman, Men’s Basketball

W: Janessa Kelley, Women’s Basketball

December 16 – December 22

M: Reggie Ward Jr., Men’s Baskeball

W: Daimoni Dorsey, Women’s Basketball

December 9 – December 15

M: Daniel Rouzan, Men’s Basketball

W: Asianae Nicholson, Women’s Basketball

December 2 – December 8

M: Victor Kibet, Track & Field

W: Alyssa Williams, Track & Field

November 25 – December 1

M: Brayon Freeman, Men’s Basketball

W: Asianae Nicholson, Women’s Basketball

November 18 – November 24

M: Dennis Palmer, Football

W: Ktyal Price, Volleyball        `    

November 11 – November 17

M: Brayon Freeman, Men’s Basketball

W: Mecca Freeman, Volleyball

November 4 – November 10

M: Dallaz Corbitt, Football

W: Asianae Nicholson, Women’s Volleyball

October 28 – November 3

M: Joshua Thornhill, Football

W: Mecca Freeman, Volleyball

October 21 – October 27

M: Victor Kibet, Cross Country

W: Valencia Butler, Cross Country

October 14 – October 20

M: Dennis Palmer Jr., Football

W: Elizabeth Philips, Volleyball

October 7 – October 13

M: Victor Kibet, Cross Country

W: Elizabeth Phillips, Volleyball

September 30 – October 6

W: Ashlie Hobbs, Women’s Golf

W: Ktyal Price, Volleyball

September 16 – September 22

M: Victor Kibet, Cross Country

W: Valencia Butler, Cross Country

September 9 – September 15

M: Darnell Deas, Football

W: Jasmine Robinson, Volleyball

September 2 – September 9

M: Raymond Woodie III, Football

W: Elizabeth Phillips, Volleyball

August 26 – September 1

M: Dearis Thomas, Football

W: Niara Hightower, Volleyball

For all the latest Bethune-Cookman Athletics news, follow us on Twitter (@BCUathletics), Instagram (@BCUathletics) and www.bcuathletics.com. 

 

IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 Conference has selected Surprise Stadium, the spring training home of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals, as the new host site for the Big 12 Baseball Championship beginning in 2026. Located in Surprise, Arizona, Surprise Stadium was recently ranked #1 in USA Today’s Best Spring Training Facility rankings.  

“We are excited to continue our partnership with REV Entertainment as the Big 12 Baseball Championship moves to a world-class venue in Arizona,” said Big 12 Chief Competition Officer Scott Draper. “Surprise Stadium is a premier facility that will create a great atmosphere and experience for our student-athletes and fans.”

The 10,714-seat venue offers lawn seating, air-conditioned suites and other premium seating areas. Surprise Stadium has hosted MLB spring training for two decades as well as the Arizona Fall League and an annual college baseball tournament that will be operated by REV Entertainment in partnership with the City of Surprise beginning in 2026.

The Big 12 Baseball Championship has been hosted at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas since 2022 in conjunction with REV Entertainment. The Big 12 will continue its partnership with REV Entertainment for the planning and operation of its baseball championship at Surprise Stadium.

“Bringing the Big 12 Baseball Championship to Surprise Stadium represents an exciting new chapter in our partnership with the Big 12 Conference and the City of Surprise,” said Jared Schrom, Senior Vice President of REV Entertainment. “We look forward to creating a new tradition in Arizona starting in 2026.” 

The 2026 Big 12 Baseball Championship will make its debut at Surprise Stadium with its 12-team field May 20-23.

A four-year member of the George Mason women’s volleyball team, Ewelina Gacek is clearly a talented athlete, having helped the Patriots this year to their most successful season since 2010, but she’s also so much more. While competing at the D1 level, she has been a cadet for the George Mason police force and an advocate for mental health awareness. This is her story.

When she came to George Mason, Gacek entered as a criminal justice major with plans to apply to law school after finishing her undergrad. It was her sophomore year that ended up shaping Gacek’s future. She describes it as “probably my lowest point […] nothing brought me happiness.”

She took a chance while at her lowest and ended up getting into the police cadet program, which she describes it as the best thing for her. “After that is when I realized I had a worth outside of my sport and I can do things outside my sport that makes me happy,” said Gacek.

Though it doesn’t seem like it, volleyball and law enforcement intersect in very interesting ways. They both can increase in leadership skills as well as working as a team to do things like winning a game or trying to serve the community. According to Gacek, “I feel like student-athletes are put into a bubble that like that is all that they are.”

Gacek is going against that bubble. While being a police cadet she “realized the importance of doing something outside of the one thing that defines you.” As time went on with her job as a police cadet, it gave her a thing that she neglected in her freshman and sophomore years: connecting with other people outside of her normal sphere. It helped spread her wings and she was able to branch out in the George Mason community.

One of the benefits of being more connected in the community is that Gacek could used her voice as a volleyball player and a police cadet to try and spread mental health awareness. As an ambassador for the Morgan’s Message club on campus, she helped organized a Morgan’s Message dedication game this fall, and the police program came out to the event to support her.

According to fellow student and Cadet LT Ellen Hailey, “we try to come out to her games and support her in that way, but also to [Morgan’s Message] kiosks and show her that different areas in her life can be supported here.”

Having her police program come out to the Morgan’s Message dedication game meant a lot to Gacek. She reflected on it, saying, “it’s one step toward our goal of getting more training for police departments to raise mental health awareness, training for them to work with people having these mental health crises, and knowing that they have their own outlets to get help themselves so they no longer have to silence their thoughts due to their field.”

Mental health is a thing that a lot of people struggle with and that is no different with police officers. “They work in a field that asks a lot of them and are the ones that are supposed to be almost like a role model with people looking up to them to the serve the public and not show signs of weakness,” said Gacek. “A lot of police departments are talking more about mental health especially for police officers recently. There have been a lot of officers in the past year that have taken their own live due to the stress of the job.”

Gacek has seen this and has stepped up to try to raise awareness of mental health in general and to try to find ways to help others with improving it. She recovered from her own struggles with mental health and wants to help people recover from similar struggles. According to Gacek, she’s trying to “just show people that it is okay, talk about it, bring the conversation up. I think it has been successful recently.”

After graduating from George Mason in the spring, Gacek plans to get her master’s in criminal justice and to continue playing beach volleyball next year. With how much outreach she has been able to do as a police cadet, she is “thinking about doing victim advocacy work – working in a police department but not really being a uniform patrol officer.”

Ewelina Gacek’s story is one of perseverance. Of a student-athlete dealing with mental health issues, to being the one that stepped up to advocate for others. She says she hopes to continue to be impactful and “be the change and shed a light on this issue.”

Hope College juniors Sara Schermerhorn and Liam Danitz have qualified to sprint at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week: 

SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, is hosting the three-day meet that runs Thursday-Saturday, May 22-24.

Watch the meet live on ncaa.com.

Schermerhorn (Traverse City, Michigan / Traverse City West HS) will race in the 200-meter prelims on Thursday at 6:55 p.m. and in the 400-meter prelims on Friday at 3:15 p.m., aiming to qualify for Saturday’s finals in both events.

The exercise science major will make her third trip to outdoor nationals. In 2024, Schermerhorn finished fifth in the nation in the 400 and earned All-America First Team accolades, and 14th in the 200 and received All-America Second Team honors.

In March, Schermerhorn placed seventh in the nation in the 400 at the NCAA Indoor Championships and ninth in the 200.

Danitz (West Branch, Michigan / Ogemaw Heights) has qualified for outdoor nationals for the first time and will compete in the men’s 200 meters.

The exercise science major will race in Thursday’s prelims at 6:45 p.m.

At this year’s NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, Danitz placed seventh in the nation in the 200 meters and claimed All-America honors.

The Mira Costa boys volleyball team is the No. 1 seed in the Southern California Regional for the CIF SoCal Regional playoffs, with a chance at winning the first CIF State championship.

The Mustangs, who won the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 championship Saturday, will host No. 8 Beckman in the first round Tuesday at 6 p.m. Mira Costa defeated Beckman in three sets in CIF-SS pool play April 30. If the Mustangs won, they would face either No. 4 Carlsbad or No. 5 Newport Harbor in the regional semifinal Thursday.

The regional final, set for Saturday, could be a rematch of the CIF-SS final, assuming both Mira Costa and No. 2 Huntington Beach win their first two matches. The Mustangs, as the top seed, would host the final.

Redondo is the No. 7 seed and will open at Huntington Beach. The Oilers swept the Sea Hawks in pool play May 6.

In Division IV, CAMS, the CIF-SS Division 9 champion, is the eighth seed and will face top-seed Mater Dei Catholic of San Diego Tuesday.

Usually, the regional final would mark the end the season, but this year for the first time, the regional final winners from Northern and Southern California will meet in the first boys CIF State Final, May 31 at Fresno City College.

An abandoned building on Highway 49 in Hattiesburg is being repurposed into the Mississippi Hub Complex.

An abandoned hotel off Highway 49 is being transformed into a community resource center for individuals experiencing homelessness and for others who are in need of support.
Reona Burnett, founder of the Mississippi Hub Complex, said the building will serve as a day center and community hub. Plans include showers, case workers, a therapist, legal services, a laundry room, pantries and a day center for those seeking assistance.
Burnett’s husband, Eric Burnett, who manages donations for the complex, found the space and purchased it with the goal of turning it into a facility that meets the needs of underserved populations.
Reona Burnett said the complex will also include an event space available for rental, and a restaurant to help fund the facility’s operations. The couple refers to the dining component as “dine-in with a cause.”
“The restaurant and the event space, we believe in thinking outside of the box, and we don’t want to depend on anyone to fund us,” Reona said. “Our whole journey has been self-funded since we started back in 2020, and so we want to continue that and not be obligated or having to depend on grants.”
The project will span three years and is divided into six phases. The first phase includes opening offices to begin offering services as soon as possible, particularly ahead of rising summer temperatures and potential storms.
Plans for the initial phase also include operating showers, installing mailboxes so individuals can use the address for benefit applications, and adding lockers for safe storage of personal belongings.
The Burnetts are encouraging involvement from University of Southern Mississippi students and the Hattiesburg community. They are seeking volunteers, sponsors, and donations, including clothing, hygiene products, undergarments and cleaning supplies.
“There are all kinds of ways the community can get involved to get it up and running,” Reona said. “They can volunteer, of course, they can donate, and they can sponsor a room.”
The couple is also asking for help with painting the building and assisting construction crews during upcoming renovations.
“We’re going to do all the painting ourselves,” Eric said. “The contractors won’t do any painting, so we want the community to come in and grab a brush and roll paint. I think that’ll be fun.”
Additional volunteers are needed to support marketing efforts and act as ambassadors to spread awareness about the project.
“You know, the biggest thing right now is that the community know what we are trying to do, but there are a lot of community members that don’t know,” Reona said. “So, we want to bridge that gap with our marketing team and get them out, and our ambassadors get them out, and just letting people know what we’re doing and how this is going to impact and benefit those in need.”
More information on how to get involved is available on the group’s Facebook page, “MS Hub Complex.”